CDR Terry M. Johns enlisted in the Coast Guard in 1982.  His early tours of duty include Station Channel Islands, California, Cutter DECISIVE, Seventh District Operations Center Miami, and Group Mayport, FL.

In 1992 CDR Johns earned his commission upon graduation of Officer Candidate School in Yorktown, VA and was subsequently assigned to the Cutter GALLATIN in Governors Island, NY as Deck Watch Officer and Assistant Navigator.

In 1999, CDR Johns was accepted for the Coast Guard’s Advanced Computers and Electronics Program (ACET) and completed an Associates Degree in Computer Science and a Bachelor of Science in Business Management at Charleston Southern University.

In 2002, CDR Johns served as Commanding Officer of USCGC GALVESTON ISLAND in Guam. While on board, the cutter was credited for the apprehension and seizure of a hijacked fishing vessel and completion of several training and humanitarian missions to seven remote islands of the Federated States of Micronesia and Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.  

In 2004, CDR Johns represented the Coast Guard as Coast Guard Liaison Officer to the U.S. Embassy in Nassau, The Bahamas.

Following his tour as CGLO, CDR Johns served as Executive Officer, USCGC DEPENDABLE in Cape May, NJ where he led the ship to a 60% improvement in training readiness while obtaining nearly $300,000 additional funds for habitability improvements. Also while aboard DEPENDABLE, CDR Johns completed a Masters of Science in Business through the University of Maryland Distance Learning Program.

His most recent tour of duty is as Coast Guard Liaison to Department of State.  He is one of two Principal Facilitators in the U. S. Government’s Maritime Operational Threat Response (MOTR) process and serves as the Competent Authority of the U.S. in support of drug interdiction.  

His tour of duty at DOS concluded in 2010 and he has been reassigned as Director of the Coast Guard Auxiliary for the Fifth Coast Guard District.