At the outset, the U.S. Navy, U.S. Marine Corps, and USCG agreed to recruit and to train the members of their respective women's reserves together, using existing Navy facilities. For recruiting purposes, the SPARS would utilize the Offices of the Naval Officer Procurement. Their first recruiting efforts got underway in December 1942, but they were hampered somewhat by the absence of SPAR recruiting personnel. Their absence resulted from the agreement between the Navy and the USCG, whereby the SPARS would receive its first personnel by transfer from the WAVES. A total of 15 WAVE officers and 153 WAVE enlisted women requested and were discharged from the WAVES to become the first SPARS. Eventually, SPAR officers were assigned to most of the Naval Officer Procurement offices. The recruiting information about SPARS was disseminated with WAVES publicity materials and it was also done separately. But it became apparent that the job of selling the SPARS included selling the USCG as well.