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Post by auntym on May 20, 2016 16:02:31 GMT -6
www.armytimes.com/story/entertainment/2016/05/18/armys-new-recruitment-drive-sign-up-maybe-fight-aliens/84453406/ Army's new recruitment drive: Sign up, maybe fight aliens by Kevin Lilley, www.armytimes.com/author/kevin-lilley/Army Times 6:09 p.m. EDT May 18, 2016 ![](http://www.gannett-cdn.com/-mm-/67369be21bfc317600b9ceb00317be696572fe35/r=x408&c=540x405/http/cdn.tegna-tv.com/-mm-/6e14d60f21e1a830224663a047a1c7a11c118c6c/c=266-0-2664-1803/local/-/media/2016/05/16/GGM/MilitaryTimes/635990096909970462-ARM-Independence-Day-2016-1.JPG) Want to join Liam Hemsworth in the Earth Space Defense? There's a website for that ... and it links to the Army's recruiting efforts. (Photo: Claudette Barius/Twentieth Century Fox) The Army’s latest recruiting effort dips into a parallel universe, attempting to engage young sci-fi fans who may not be aware of the service’s high-tech career paths. The partnership with Twentieth Century Fox puts Army recruiters on the front lines of the promotional push behind “Independence Day: Resurgence,” the sequel set to hit theaters June 24. In the movie universe, the forces of a united Earth prepare for the return of aliens that laid waste to much of the planet in 1996, before being dramatically defeated at the last minute by heroes who looked remarkably like Will Smith and Jeff Goldblum. The Army’s involvement – which includes both Army- and film studio-produced commercials, as well as a website with interactive games for potential recruits – came about as movie marketers attempted to bridge the gap between the two films. “They were at a loss to explain to America that how is it, 20 years later, that the Earth is in a better place to defend itself against an alien invasion than they were before,” said James Ortiz, director of marketing for the Army Marketing and Research Group. “If you recall the end of the last movie, the Earth was pretty well devastated. What happened in the last 20 years that they can automatically pick up with now in 2016? “When they looked around, and rightfully so, it was their belief that it took an institution like the United States Army to do one of two things: One was to advance the technology to a state where we were able to defend another attack … and the second was, who put the world together – if you look at [the movie’s Earth Space Defense force], ESD is a multicultural, multi-nation force.” From the partnership sprang JoinESD.com, a website that offers mini-games that can unlock exclusive “Resurgence” content for movie fans and details on related Army careers: Pilot an unmanned aerial vehicle past some alien ships and learn about becoming an unmanned systems operator, or crack an alien code and find out more about Army cryptology. You’ll also get promoted along the way – one click and you’re an ESD private (no medicine ball throws necessary), and completing all the games makes you a full-bird ESD colonel. Sharing the experience on social media can unlock further exclusive “Resurgence” clips. Cross-platform play The Army hopes to double traffic to GoArmy.com with the promotion, Ortiz said, pushing visitors past the 3 million mark. He said the clicks so far have met expectations, “although the data points are very early.” The campaign launched last week with an Army-produced television commercial featuring the proud father of an ESD soldier. A veteran of the first alien encounter, he explains over soft music that the “planet is safer because she’s defending it” before viewers are directed to JoinESD.com. The video is featured on the movie’s official YouTube channel, alongside an Earth Day spot from Goldblum’s character – ESD Director David Levinson, the movie universe’s answer to Ash Carter – trailers and a 90-second ESD recruiting spot entitled “United We Survive.” WATCH VIDEOS & CONTINUE READING: www.armytimes.com/story/entertainment/2016/05/18/armys-new-recruitment-drive-sign-up-maybe-fight-aliens/84453406/
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Post by auntym on Jun 2, 2016 15:29:01 GMT -6
www.defensetech.org/2016/06/01/air-force-chief-us-must-be-ready-to-fight-in-space/Air Force Chief: US Must be Ready to Fight in SpacePosted By: Bryant Jordan / www.defensetech.org/author/bryant-jordan/ June 1, 2016 ![](https://images03.military.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/defensetech-thumbnails/2016/06/high-energy-laser.jpg?itok=r2udajYm) Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Mark Welsh said the U.S. Air Force needs to be ready to engage in space combat. “Other nations are preparing to use space as a battlefield, a big battlefield, and we’d better be ready to fight there,” Welsh said last week in Arlington, Virginia. “We don’t want to fight there but we better be ready for it because other people clearly are posturing themselves to be able to do that.” Welsh, who will be retiring on July 1 after just over 40 years of service, made his comments Thursday morning in Arlington, Virginia, at an Air Force Association breakfast. His comment about space as a battlefield came in the context of what the U.S. needs to be able to do to win future fights. One of the absolutes in modern warfare, he said, is firepower – “more of it, more quickly and more precisely.” And the Air Force needs to have that not only in the air domain but in cyber and space domains. Welsh credited Air Force Space Command with taking the lead “in at least thinking about the space domain as a warfighting domain.” But Space Command has been thinking about space warfare for quite some time. In the 1990s, Air Force Gen. Joseph Ashy, then head of Space Command, told lawmakers that space would become a battleground, according to Air Force Maj. William L. Spacy II, who quoted Ashy in “Does the United States Need Space-Based Weapons?” “Some people don’t want to hear this, and it sure isn’t in vogue … but — absolutely — we’re going to fight in space. We’re going to fight from space and we’re going to fight into space,” Ashy said. A 1967 Outer Space Treaty stipulates that space is to be used for peaceful purposes. Just what that means has never been defined, though the 1945 U.N. Charter defined “peaceful purposes” to include the inherent right of self-defense, Spacy wrote. That freed up space-pioneering countries including the Soviet Union and the U.S. to place military communications and early-warning system satellites into space. But both also went farther than that, developing and testing – but never deploying – anti-satellite weapons before and after the 1967 treaty was adopted. But in recent years the idea of space engagements has grown more real as both China and the U.S. successfully demonstrated the capability to take out a satellite with a weapon. China destroyed one of its own weather satellites with an anti-satellite weapon in 2007. A year later the U.S. took down one of its own damaged satellites using a SM-3 missile fired from the USS Lake Erie. www.defensetech.org/2016/06/01/air-force-chief-us-must-be-ready-to-fight-in-space/
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Post by lois on Jun 2, 2016 21:20:53 GMT -6
I don't believe we will ever have battles with Aliens. There are witnesses who state we do have good aliens protecting earth from bad aliens.
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Post by auntym on Sept 26, 2016 13:08:43 GMT -6
spacenews.com/rogers-planning-major-reform-for-national-security-space/Rogers planning “major reform” for national security space by Mike Gruss September 23, 2016 MAUI, Hawaii – The head of a key U.S. House oversight committee said he is planning a “major reform” of national security space as part of next year’s defense authorization bill. Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Ala.), the chairman of the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee, said in a Sept. 23 press release that next week’s hearing ““National Security Space: 21st Century Challenges, 20th Century Organization,” is the first step in that effort. “Modern warfare is moving to new heights and it is all-too-clear that our military is not organized and prepared to fight and win a war in space,” he said. “This hearing is the first step in what I anticipate will be a major reform effort leading to the FY18 National Defense Authorization Act.” The Sept. 30 hearing is expected to include testimony from John Hamre, a former deputy secretary of defense, Jim Ellis, a retired Navy admiral who led U.S. Strategic Command, and Martin Faga, a former director of the National Reconnaissance Office, which builds and operates the country’s spy satellites. Rogers has become a vocal critic of the national security space community while at the helm of the subcommittee. He’s played a key role in discussions on a new launch system to replace the Russian RD-180 rocket engine used on United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 rocket, which launches a majority of national security payloads. He’s also been a proponent of the Defense Department more effectively using commercial satellite operators for its communications needs. Most notably, he has pushed the Air Force for a long-term strategy for its weather satellites. But in the press release, Rogers said he is concerned about a July report from the Government Accountability Office in which Defense Department leaders suggested improving the management and oversight of the national security space enterprise, by creating a single space force, one that would handle duties currently divided between the National Reconnaissance Office and at least seven other Defense Department agencies.“Recently, the Government Accountability Office released a new assessment on the state of DOD national security space acquisition management.,” Rogers said in the release. “The GAO detailed the 60 different stakeholders who are involved in decision making about space programs. No system can function well when so many actors have the ability to say ‘no’ and no one is truly accountable for doing so. As we see serious foreign space threats increasing and a pattern of significantly delayed and over budget national security space programs, we cannot permit this status quo to continue.” While debating the best organizational structure for the Pentagon’s space programs has been a decades long exercise for the national security space community, the GAO said in July that national security experts and Defense Department leaders have recommended a series of reforms. The congressional watchdog agency studied three of those ideas, which included: *Starting a Defense Space Agency that would combine military space functions currently spread out over eight agencies but would leave the NRO intact. *Creating a Space Acquisition Agency that would combine the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center, which handles the majority of the Defense Department’s space acquisitions, with the NRO, which performs the same tasks for the intelligence community. *Standing up a Space Force that would combine all military space agencies, including the NRO, and would be led by a civilian secretary. “Given the long-standing fragmentation in space leadership and consequent challenges faced by DOD in synchronizing its extensive space enterprise, proposals such as these that may entail disruptive changes may nevertheless deserve a closer look,” the report said. CONTINUE READING: spacenews.com/rogers-planning-major-reform-for-national-security-space/
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Post by auntym on Apr 26, 2018 14:22:17 GMT -6
www.military.com/dodbuzz/2018/04/25/space-force-study-be-ready-august-dod-official.html 'Space Force' Study to Be Ready by August: DoD OfficialMilitary.com 25 Apr 2018 By Oriana Pawlyk / can be reached at oriana.pawlyk@military.com. Follow her on Twitter at @oriana0214. Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan speaks during the Defense Intelligence Agency change of directorship ceremony at Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling in Washington. D.C., Oct. 3, 2017. (DoD photo/Brigitte N. Brantley)The Pentagon hopes to deliver an interim report to Congress by August on whether it's feasible to carve out a separate "Space Force" branch from the U.S. Air Force, according to a top Defense Department official. Deputy Secretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan told reporters Tuesday the Pentagon, in conjunction with the Air Force, has spent the past six months weighing the fundamental transitions that would be needed. "We'll finish the analysis [and] what changes we'll have to make in our organization, in our acquisition process, in our architectures, in how we integrate across the services, what offensive ... and defensive capability we'll need. And, based on the changes that are required, we'll say, 'What's the right construct?' " Shanahan said during a breakfast with reporters in Washington, D.C. "We're on track to have our interim assessment June 1. We will provide our report to Congress in August, and the Air Force has been very, very responsive," he said. Shanahan said developing an organizational chart and simply checking boxes is easy. But implementing a brand-new structure may create more risk than reward. "Do we have the right leadership? Do we have the right changes?" he said, referring to setting up space systems "for a tactical advantage." The Pentagon has been scrutinizing not only how the Air Force intends to beat back adversaries such as Russia and China in space, but also how it plans to buy new space systems in the future. "If they can't do it, maybe it suggests we have to go a different way," Shanahan said. "And this is where we've been putting the Air Force and others to the paces: What changes can you commit to? And then really exploring the feasibility of those changes." In March, President Donald Trump said he had an idea for a "space force," or separate military service for space. His comments came a few months after the Air Force indicated it was done talking about a separate military force for space. Also known as "Space Corps," the concept is something some lawmakers have pushed the service to create in hopes of taking adversarial threats in space more seriously. When asked about the issue Tuesday, Air Force Secretary Wilson said she has full confidence in the service and the latest budget request to know the Air Force is the right branch to handle the job. "We are open to discussing ideas that people have in this realm," Wilson said during a Senate Armed Service Committee on Air Force posture. "I think the most important thing is not the organization, but what we actually do, and that is to defend ourselves on orbit and make clear to any adversary that, if they take us on in space, we will prevail," she said. "With respect to the bold moves and the changes, we are accelerating defendable space to deter, defend and prevail against anyone who seeks to deny our ability to freely operate in space." "There's an 18 percent increase from the fiscal year '18 five-year defense plan to the fiscal year '19 five-year defense plan in space. And there's a significant changes there," she added. www.military.com/dodbuzz/2018/04/25/space-force-study-be-ready-august-dod-official.html
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Post by auntym on May 3, 2018 13:21:32 GMT -6
www.space.com/40471-trump-teases-military-space-force-again.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social Trump Teases 'Space Force' Idea Again for US MilitaryBy Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer May 2, 2018 President Trump just laid some more groundwork for his "Space Force" idea. At a White House ceremony yesterday (May 1) honoring the Army Black Knights college football team, Trump again floated the possibility of creating a new branch of the United States military dedicated to securing American supremacy in space. "You will be part of the five proud branches of the United States Armed Forces — Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force and the Coast Guard," the president told the football players, who were joined by their coach along with West Point Superintendent Lt. Gen. Bob Caslen. [The Most Dangerous Space Weapons Concepts] "And we're actually thinking of a sixth, and that would be the Space Force," Trump added. "Does that make sense? The Space Force, General. You probably haven't even heard that. I’m just telling you now. This is perhaps — because we're getting very big in space, both militarily and for other reasons, and we are seriously thinking of the Space Force." Trump first mentioned the Space Force idea in mid-March, during a speech to service members in San Diego. The nature and context of those remarks left open the possibility that the president was joking, or merely riffing. But an administration official confirmed a few days later that Trump was indeed serious. The president "has prioritized space. He recognized the threats that have evolved, and the pace at which they evolve. He's very interested in exploring any options that can provide enhanced capabilities," Kenneth Rapuano, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and global security, said during a hearing of the House Armed Services subcommittee on strategic forces on March 15. "The assessment of the space corps is one of those options that is getting close attention, among others." The way the U.S. military is currently set up, the Air Force — specifically, the branch's Space Command — is responsible for dealing with conflicts that may arise in the final frontier. The purpose of Tuesday's event was to present the Black Knights with the Commander-in-Chief's Trophy, which is awarded every year to the Army, Navy or Air Force college football team — whichever service academy performs best in the games the three teams play against each other. You can read the entirety of Trump's speech to the Black Knights here. www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/remarks-president-trump-presenting-commander-chiefs-trophy-u-s-military-academy-football-team/www.space.com/40471-trump-teases-military-space-force-again.html?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social
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Post by auntym on Jun 19, 2018 15:02:23 GMT -6
www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-orders-space-force-signs-space-traffic-policy/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sa-editorial-social&utm_content=&utm_term=space_&sf192145231=1 Trump Orders “Space Force,” Signs Space-Traffic Policy The President’s proposal could create a new branch of the armed services meant to assure “American dominance” in space By Sarah Lewin, SPACE.com / www.scientificamerican.com/author/sarah-lewin/ June 19, 2018 President Donald Trump directed officials Monday (June 18) to establish a military Space Force before signing a new U.S. policy for space traffic control. The measure, he said, is another step forward in U.S. leadership in space. Trump spoke at the third public meeting of the newly-reinstated National Space Council, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence and hosted at the White House, and officially signed the council’s third space policy directive. This document concerns monitoring objects in orbit and sharing the information so spacecraft can avoid collisions. But near the beginning of his remarks, Trump focused on the security implications of operating in space. “The essence of the American character is to explore new horizons and to tame new frontiers,” Trump said in his opening remarks. “But our destiny beyond the Earth is not only a matter of national identity, but a matter of national security so important for our military. ... When it comes to defending America, it is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space.” He then directed the Department of Defense and the Pentagon to establish a Space Force as the sixth branch of the armed forces. Next, he moved on to the directive of the day, whose goal is to reduce encroaching space debris. “I am instructing my administration to embrace the budding commercial space industry,” Trump said. “We are modernizing out-of-date space regulations … and today we’re taking one more step to unleash the power of American ingenuity. In a few moments, I will sign a new directive to federal departments and agencies. They will work together with American industry to implement a state-of-the-art framework for space traffic management—but don’t let [the regulations] get too out of control, please.” The administration’s first space policy directive, signed Dec. 11, 2017, called for NASA to focus on returning humans to the moon. The second directive, signed May 24 of this year, called for new regulations for launch and re-entry that would encourage more commercial-spaceflight operations. Scott Pace, the executive secretary of the National Space Council, offered more details in an email about the directive and how it would be budgeted. “Each agency will continue to have their own budgets for space traffic management,” Pace told Space.com. “In general, NASA will be doing supporting research, Defense will be doing more work related to national security, Transportation will be streamlining its licensing processes, and Commerce will be putting more resources into public and industry interfaces.” “In general, I would expect Commerce to need more resources to carry out its new responsibilities,” he added. “Any issues will be dealt with in the FY2020 [fiscal year 2020] budget process, so it’s hard to say now what the final numbers will be.” Trump—echoed by others later in the meeting—reiterated that the United States is heading back to the moon and emphasized that it will be for the long haul. (NASA’s current next step for the moon, the Deep Space Gateway, would be an orbiting outpost for research and missions to the surface.) “This time, we will do more than plant our flag and leave our footprints. We will establish a long-term presence, expand our economy and build the foundation for an eventual mission to Mars, which is actually going to happen very quickly,” he said. Trump mentioned that he’d be just as happy if U.S. private space industries reached Mars before NASA. “If you beat us to Mars, we’ll be very happy and you’ll be very famous,” he said. During the body of the meeting, panelists discussed work on commercial remote sensing licenses, launch regulations that will stem from the second space policy directive, the best strategies to return to the moon and future exploration missions. NASA astronauts Eileen Collins, Terry Virts and Scott Parazynski also spoke, calling for a clear action-plan toward the country’s space exploration goals. Virts also told the council that the Deep Space Gateway was the wrong approach for the agency; he said it replicated what the International Space Station had already achieved. They all emphasized the importance of international collaboration and a detailed long-term plan that can last beyond one administration. Trump’s final words in the introductory speech addressed the space industry representatives and others in the room who are making spaceflight possible. “You will go out there, and you will take that frontier, which is largely unknown, by man or woman, and you will learn everything there is to know about it,” he said. “What you’re doing is so important, remember—economically, militarily, scientifically, in every way, there’s no place like space.” www.scientificamerican.com/article/trump-orders-space-force-signs-space-traffic-policy/?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=sa-editorial-social&utm_content=&utm_term=space_&sf192145231=1
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Post by jcurio on Jun 20, 2018 9:53:40 GMT -6
This time, we will do more than plant our flag and leave our footprints. We will establish a long-term presence, expand our economy and build the foundation for an eventual mission to Mars, which is actually going to happen very quickly,” he said. Trump mentioned that he’d be just as happy if U.S. private space industries reached Mars before NASA. “If you beat us to Mars, we’ll be very happy and you’ll be very famous,” he said. Read more: theedgeofreality.proboards.com/thread/6495/space-force#ixzz5IyuTL2Zo
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Post by auntym on Jun 20, 2018 12:05:16 GMT -6
www.space.com/40941-what-is-space-force-trump.html Donald Trump Wants a 'Space Force,' But America Already Has OneBy Brandon Specktor, Live Science Senior Writer / June 20, 2018 Donald Trump's proposed 'Space Force' will not be engaging in laser battles anytime soon — if it ever gets created. Credit: Corey Ford/Stocktrek Images/GettyIn a meeting of the National Space Council yesterday (June 18), President Donald Trump ordered the Pentagon to get cracking on building a sixth branch of the U.S. military called the Space Force. This ambitious project, which Trump has been teasing for several months now, would result in the first new branch being added to the U.S. military since the Air Force was created in 1947. But what exactly will this Space Force do? Who will pay for it, when will it launch and — most important — will it involve lightsabers? None of that is really clear yet. Since first bringing up the idea for a Space Force in March, Trump hasn't provided many concrete details about the project, save for some philosophical talk about recognizing space as "a war-fighting domain" and assuring "American dominance" there. While this sort of language might conjure up images of interstellar laser battles or armadas of hovering battleships, the reality of American space security is far less scintillating. According to Laura Grego, a senior scientist in the Global Security Program at the Union of Concerned Scientists, space security mainly involves keeping other countries away from American satellites. [22 Weirdest Military Weapons] "The U.S. military is strongly underpinned by a very capable satellite fleet," Grego told Live Science. "And the U.S. is in the middle of trying to figure out what its strategy should be to keep its satellites safe. I see this push to have a Space Force as just one other feature of doing this." What is space security?Since 1984, the U.S. Air Force has put more than 280 satellites into orbit. (The most recent one — a missile-detection satellite named USA-282 — was launched in January.) These satellites do everything from predicting the weather, to monitoring ballistic-missile launches, to helping soldiers call their families, Grego said. They are crucial for surveillance, reconnaissance, navigation and communication — and every branch of the military relies on them. Certainly, preventing foreign nations frominterfering with these satellites — say, by jamming their sensors or hacking into their networks and stealing information — is a paramount national security concern, Grego said. A Space Force, presumably, would take charge of protecting and maintaining America's space capabilities. The trouble is, the U.S. military already has an agency that does this."The Air Force does most of this," Grego said. In 1982, the Air Force formed a new agency called The Air Force Space Command (AFSPC). According to the AFSPC's website, the command's mission is "to provide resilient and affordable space and cyberspace capabilities for the Joint Force and the Nation." This portfolio includes commanding and controlling government satellites, helping NASA and private companies conduct rocket launches, monitoring space junk that could interfere with American space missions and generally "maintaining space superiority." Today, the agency employs more than 35,000 people. The final frontier of bureaucracySo, why separate space security from the Air Force after more than 30 years? To Grego, the reasoning is not clear. If created, the Space Force runs the risk of adding another layer of bureaucracy to an already complicated system, she said. "Space and space access right now are really part and parcel of the other things that the military does," Grego said. "Space Force holds them separate where they might be better integrated." The Pentagon tends to agree."The Pentagon is complicated enough," Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson told reporters last June, after dismissing an armed services bill that proposed the creation of a new space-based military branch. "This will make it more complex, add more boxes to the organization chart and cost more money. If I had more money, I would put it into lethality, not bureaucracy." Originally published on Live Science. www.space.com/40941-what-is-space-force-trump.html
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Post by swamprat on Jun 21, 2018 20:34:33 GMT -6
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Post by plutronus on Jun 25, 2018 3:50:47 GMT -6
Well...since no one seems to be paying attention to reality....
The:
- US Army has tanks, helicopters and tank-killer airplanes, - US Airforce has airplanes, and helicopters, - US Marine Corp has tanks, helicopters, & jump-jets
- US Navy has ships, helicopters, and fighter jets - US Coast Guard (closest to America where the wealthy & Senators' sons serve), has ships, and helicopters, - US Space Command?
As for tactical weaponry...nuclear weapons were 1960s technology and it ain't guided missiles...
plutronus
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Post by auntym on Jun 26, 2018 23:50:17 GMT -6
deGrasse Tyson: Trump's 'Space Force' not a weird idea
CNN Published on Jun 24, 2018
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson says President Donald Trump's idea to create a "space force" is not a fundamentally flawed idea if the US Air Force, which currently manages all the US GPS and space capabilities, feels overwhelmed and can no longer handle the load as technology use in space evolves.
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Post by auntym on Jan 27, 2021 15:18:34 GMT -6
www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/01/space-force-trump-biden/617812/ What Happens to the Space Force Now? President Biden is inheriting one of Trump’s pet projects.by MARINA KOREN / www.theatlantic.com/author/marina-koren/JANUARY 26, 2021 ![](https://cdn.theatlantic.com/thumbor/GtJdACT9Tm1cWVTNKEMGtDE2h_A=/0x0:2500x1406/720x405/https://cdn.theatlantic.com/assets/media/img/mt/2021/01/GettyImages_1170990782/original.jpg) CHIP SOMODEVILLA / GETTY The headquarters of the United States Space Command was supposed to be based in Colorado. Since then-President Donald Trump revived the command in 2018, the state had been its temporary home, and last February, when the search for a permanent location was still on, he had teased that the current arrangement could win out. “I will be making a big decision on the future of the Space Force as to where it is going to be located, and I know you want it,” Trump said at a rally in Colorado Springs last February. “You are being very strongly considered for the space command, very strongly.” The Space Command is not the same thing as the Space Force, which was created in 2019 (and which, by the way, is not the same thing as NASA, either). The Space Force trains service members, some of whom serve under Space Command. But in Trump’s mind, they are wrapped up together, as one of his signature accomplishments. Space is cool and flashy, and who doesn’t love Mars? When Trump mentioned the Space Force at a rally, the crowd erupted in cheers. A new Space Command headquarters would, in theory, help cement part of his legacy—Trump, the president who made space great again. Instead, Trump leaves behind a small controversy. On the day he was impeached for the second time, his administration announced that the headquarters would not stay in Colorado, but would relocate—to Alabama. The Air Force, the department overseeing the search, had twice recommended Colorado over other sites under consideration, in late 2019 and again this year, according to a former senior defense official who served in the Trump presidency. (The Atlantic agreed to grant the official anonymity in order to speak about internal deliberations.) But when then-Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett came to the White House with that recommendation earlier this month, Trump ordered officials to go with Huntsville. “This was a political decision by the White House,” the former defense official told me. “The service recommended Colorado, and everyone expects the new administration will reopen this.” The decision roiled Colorado lawmakers in both parties; Democrats said out loud that Trump had prioritized politics over the command’s 1,400 military and civilian workers and their families. Florida Senator Rick Scott said in a statement to The Atlantic that he’s disappointed his state wasn’t chosen, and that he is “reviewing the decision.” Alabama Senator Richard Shelby said in a statement to The Atlantic that “it’s our understanding that Huntsville was, in fact, the recommendation of the Air Force, and for good reason.” Barrett, who no longer serves as Air Force secretary, said in a statement that the process included “insights from the national security leadership” and senior military commanders, and that “careful deliberation” went into her selection of Huntsville. An Air Force spokesperson would not comment on “pre-decisional recommendations,” but said that Trump “was informed and consulted during the decision-making process." Read: How exactly do you establish a Space Force? www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2018/06/trump-space-force-national-space-council/563042/The Biden administration could have an easy time unwinding the headquarters decision, one of the many Trump-era policies it will likely roll back. But though the Space Force has often been treated as the butt of a bad joke, it is one Trump initiative that will last. It may not be the grand, legacy-making organization Trump imagined, but the Space Force isn’t going anywhere. In the last year, the Space Force has slowly transformed into a real military service. The branch, which primarily oversees satellite operations, has debuted its own seal, organizational structure, and terminology. It has already deployed its first troops—not into space, but to the Middle East, where they’ll support combat operations that rely on space systems. Abolishing the force would require an act of Congress, and the legislature doesn’t seem to have an appetite for that. At Biden’s inauguration ceremony, the Space Force flag appeared on the Capitol along with the flag of the other armed forces. “Nobody’s debating whether the Space Force should exist,” Jared Zambrano-Stout, an aerospace consultant and a former chief of staff for the Trump administration’s National Space Council, told me. “They’re debating about what it should be doing.” \ Which puts President Joe Biden in an interesting predicament. The Space Force has always been more boring than its name implies, amounting to some organizational reshuffling of Air Force personnel and operations. But Trump has used it to fuel his own vision of American bravado, which his supporters have adopted. On the day of the Capitol attack, some supporters in Washington, D.C., and around the country complemented their Trump regalia with Space Force flags. With Trump gone, the new administration now finds itself having to embrace a piece of government saturated with MAGA spin and disdained by the left, and make it seem as ordinary as it actually is. The Space Force seemed like a Trump whim at the outset. “I was saying it the other day—’cause we’re doing a tremendous amount of work in space—I said, ‘Maybe we need a new force. We’ll call it the Space Force,’” he said in March 2018, speaking to an audience of marines in California. “And I was not really serious. And then I said, ‘What a great idea. Maybe we’ll have to do that.’” But an armed service dedicated to space operations is not a Trump invention. The concept emerged in the 1990s as the United States began relying on satellites during ground combat, and in 2001, a commission chaired by the former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld considered the suggestion. A pair of lawmakers in the House resurrected the idea of a space corps a few years ago, but it didn’t take off until Trump glommed on, and then it was all hands on deck. “The vice president put us to work and said, ‘Okay, the president wants this, so we need to figure out what’s the best way for us to put it together,’” Zambrano-Stout said. CONTINUE READING: www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/01/space-force-trump-biden/617812/
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Post by jcurio on Feb 6, 2021 8:49:36 GMT -6
Well...since no one seems to be paying attention to reality....
The:
- US Army has tanks, helicopters and tank-killer airplanes, - US Airforce has airplanes, and helicopters, - US Marine Corp has tanks, helicopters, & jump-jets
- US Navy has ships, helicopters, and fighter jets - US Coast Guard (closest to America where the wealthy & Senators' sons serve), has ships, and helicopters, - US Space Command?
As for tactical weaponry...nuclear weapons were 1960s technology and it ain't guided missiles...
plutronus
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Post by auntym on Jul 29, 2021 18:22:09 GMT -6
mysteriousuniverse.org/2021/07/warning-to-aliens-get-ready-for-the-space-marines/Warning to Aliens — Get Ready for the Space Marinesby Paul Seaburn / mysteriousuniverse.org/author/paulseaburn/July 30, 2021 ![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/E7eVhu3XIBM-0B8?format=jpg&name=small) Aliens thinking about invading Earth need to be ready to start hearing cries of “Semper Fi!” now that a select group of “space Marines” have commenced training at the Army’s Space and Missile Defense School in Colorado Springs, Colorado, where they will prepare to fight our country’s battles from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tranquility … on the Moon and beyond. Someday soon, if extraterrestrials ever look on heaven’s scenes, they will find our skies are guarded by United States Marines. “We are in our initial building stage of SOPs (standard operating procedures) and TTPs (tactics, techniques, and procedures) and force structure. Right now this is a capability that doesn’t exist in the Marine Corps. It’s always us reaching out to the joint force to provide it.” It wouldn’t be a military announcement without acronyms, so the press release quotes Marine Capt. Jacob Loya, a communications officer with a background in satellite communications working with 1st Space Brigade to train the Marines, had a few to say. The Marines are part of the newly activated Marine Corps Forces Space Command at Offutt Air Force Base in Omaha, Nebraska, and after training will embed with Army Space Support Teams. The training will include, situational awareness of space capabilities, space assets, space products, and the impact of space on operations. According to the press release, the goal is from the Marines to eventually establish their own autonomous Marine Space Support Teams. ![](https://mysteriousuniverse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/jet-6234694_640-570x348.jpg) What about the Space Force? “With the renewed emphasis on space and the standing up of the Space Force and Space Command, the Marine Corps needs to have skin in the game. We want to be able to operate independently and that starts by learning all the TTPs built out by 1st Space Brigade. It’s a knowledge base we just don’t have.” The Space Force is a separate branch of U.S. uniformed services, although it’s considered to be a sister-branch of the U.S. Air Force. It’s responsible for organizing, training, and equipping space forces, which are then deployed by the United States Space Command. So, according to the chain of command and distribution of responsibilities, it appears the Space Force trained the Army’s Space and Missile Defense School personnel which then trains its own Army and Marine space support teams, which in this case are the Space Marines – although that’s not their official designation. According to Task and Purpose, the space Marines will be a part of the Army Space Support Team (ARSST) providing enhanced “intelligence and operation planning capabilities” for units in the field, especially in the area of space-based military capabilities like satellite intelligence and communications. They will also be able to jam enemy communications and take part in “navigation warfare.” ![](https://mysteriousuniverse.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/ap-16275700125253.jpg) John Glenn It’s the 100th anniversary of his birth, so we’ll salute the most famous space Marine – John Glenn. Glenn trained as a Navy pilot, but accepted a transfer to the Marines and flew missions in World War II and the Korean War before becoming a test pilot and eventually one of the first U.S. astronauts – the first American to orbit the Earth. (That’s real space travel, Bezos and Branson.) Would John Glenn be interested in becoming an official Space Marine and fight alien invasions? He never hesitated to serve when his country called, so it’s easy to answer that question. “From dawn to setting sun; We have fought in every clime and place Where we could take a gun.” mysteriousuniverse.org/2021/07/warning-to-aliens-get-ready-for-the-space-marines/
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Post by paulette on Aug 1, 2021 11:25:28 GMT -6
Space: the final frontier. These are the voyages of the starship Enterprise. Its five-year mission: to explore strange new worlds. To seek out new life and new civilizations. [And enslave or kill them]
To boldly go where no man has gone before! [and probably not come back in any foreseeable future.]
Five year mission? By whose count?
Anyway...having trained alien killers is SOOOOOOO American. Even though those little guys can, if the many stories are mostly true, appear in a room and remove its occupant - through the wall, out a closed window. And beam them up to their scout ship. Ditto find interesting livestock and beam them up and remove strange parts of their anatomy (and their blood). I fail to see how even a high powered weapon would be in a fair fight.
What might be better would be to have the equivalent of Dianna Troy - trained empath, able to communicate with beings who don't want to bother to learn the earth patois. (Which seems to be English.)
Ok. There's my grumpy take on this.
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Post by auntym on Aug 16, 2021 0:14:57 GMT -6
www.politico.com/news/2021/08/09/space-force-ufo-military-mission-502843DEFENSE 'They want people to take them seriously': Space Force wary of taking over UFO missionThe newest branch is among a number of military and intelligence organizations in the running to take over the investigation of unexplained aircraft.![](https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1426193987652759558/xVBWeOsW?format=jpg&name=small) A United States Space Force flag hangs from a pole, with flags of other armed service branches, outside the Minnesota State Capitol building on May 22, 2021 in St. Paul, Minnesota. | Stephen Maturen/Getty Images By BRYAN BENDER / www.politico.com/staff/bryan-bender08/09/2021 The Pentagon is considering giving the Space Force a greater role in a stepped-up effort to track and investigate reports of UFOs. But the newest military branch isn't over the moon about the idea. Space Force leaders are still struggling to rebrand an organization that has been lampooned since before its birth. Now, they are conflicted about becoming the military's go-to on what the Pentagon now calls "unidentified aerial phenomena," according to five current and former officials taking part in the discussions. Advocates for the Space Force taking over for the Navy, which is currently leading the Pentagon's task force responsible for studying them, believe the new service is better suited to oversee a more robust effort aimed at collecting information on UFOs, and that its association with a topic of such public fascination, particularly among young people, could even boost recruiting. "It makes perfect sense," said one former intelligence official who is advising the military in the planning, citing its more expansive geographic responsibilities than other military branches and access to global — and even galactic — surveillance technologies through the U.S. Space Command. "There is no limit to the Space Force mission. It doesn't have a geographic boundary like the other services." But the former official also said some fear it will only deepen the branch's public relations challenge by providing more material for the jokes, science-fiction-themed memes and other forms of popular ridicule that the Space Force has endured since it was championed by then-President Donald Trump in 2018, who made it an applause line in his political rallies. "They really are sensitive to that," the former official said. "They want people to take them seriously. They don't want to do anything that is embarrassing. But this is national security. This is their job." The deliberations over what to do next about the unexplained sightings of high performance aircraft are part of a new push to establish a more permanent government research effort. A June report to Congress from the director of national intelligence concluded that all but one of 144 UFO sightings that were reviewed could not be explained, including 18 that appeared to exhibit advanced properties. The unclassified summary stated that "we currently lack sufficient information in our dataset to attribute incidents to specific explanations." It also concluded that the unknown craft "clearly pose a safety of flight issue and may pose a challenge to U.S. national security." In response, the undersecretary of defense for intelligence and security is developing a plan to "formalize the mission" after being instructed by Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks. In a memo to senior military leaders following the report's release, Hicks sought a plan "for the establishment and operation of the new activity, to include the organizational alignment, resources and staffing required, as well as any necessary authorities." ![](https://static.politico.com/dims4/default/9de00a1/2147483647/resize/1920x/quality/90/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fstatic.politico.com%2F00%2Fbe%2F7a3137a94a2a81119e531f63e5eb%2Fgettyimages-1233050480-1.jpg) The issue has primarily been overseen by a temporary Pentagon UAP Task Force that was stood up in 2020 and led by the Navy, whose pilots, radars and other surveillance systems have compiled most of the recent reports of unexplained sightings. The Pentagon has provided few details about the deliberations over what will replace the task force. "Planning for an activity to take over the UAPTF’s mission is ongoing," said Pentagon spokesperson Susan Gough. The Space Force declined to address the internal deliberations. The Department of the Air Force, which oversees the Space Force, also deferred questions to Gough. Congress, which requested the UAP report, is also planning to play more of a role. The Senate's version of the fiscal 2022 Intelligence Act includes several provisions on the subject, including requiring classified reports to Congress on UAP sightings and analysis every quarter, as well as calling on all agencies to share any data they have so that a more comprehensive UFO file can be compiled for further study. A congressional staffer also told POLITICO the classified portion of the bill includes a provision outlining more parameters for tackling the subject over the longer term, including recommending additional funding to finance the effort. A former Pentagon official also said he expects there will also be legislative guidance on UAPs in a final version of the National Defense Authorization Act. But in addition to the Space Force, which works in tandem with the newly reestablished U.S. Space Command, officials are considering a number of military and intelligence organizations at this early stage that could take the lead or combine their efforts in a new organization. One is the secretive Space Security and Defense Program, which reports to both the Pentagon and the director of national intelligence, which oversees all spy agencies. The outfit has a broad writ to assess potential space threats and also has authority to award contracts to develop new collection capabilities. Other candidates for a greater role in overseeing UFO issues are the Defense Intelligence Agency, which studies foreign weapons systems and has a history of researching such sightings, as well as the North American Aerospace Defense Command in Colorado, which is responsible for defending the nation's airspace. Chris Mellon, a former senior Pentagon intelligence official and congressional staffer who has been advising the military on the topic, said whoever is tasked with leading a more permanent effort needs to be willing to work closely with numerous military, intelligence and law enforcement agencies across the government as well as the academic and scientific communities and the public. "annaD would seem to make sense, but again its willingness to share information with other organizations is questionable. Still, they have money and contracting authority and the heft needed to make changes to the status quo if they were willing to aggressively pursue the issue," he wrote in a recent blog post. "Regardless," he added, "the first and most important step for Congress to take is to either identify a permanent home for the mission or require DoD and the [intelligence community] to do so and to explain their resulting rationale with the oversight committees. CORRECTION: A previous version misstated the Pentagon's description of UFOs. www.politico.com/news/2021/08/09/space-force-ufo-military-mission-502843
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Post by auntym on Oct 21, 2021 14:04:36 GMT -6
www.politico.com/news/2021/10/21/space-national-guard-political-battle-516422Battle brews over creating Space National GuardLawmakers say the Space Force needs it. But the White House says no way.By BRYAN BENDER / www.politico.com/staff/bryan-benderand CONNOR O’BRIEN / www.politico.com/staff/connor-obrien10/21/2021 ![](https://pbs.twimg.com/card_img/1451181740995850240/wCG9r-5q?format=jpg&name=small) The Space Guard proposal is being spearheaded in part by Rep. Doug Lamborn, who maintains that for the Space Force to carry out its mission it needs a dedicated cadre like other branches to support it in wartime. | Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images The Space Force is here to stay. But the debate over whether the military's newest branch should have its own weekend warriors has turned into the latest space-based political brawl. Lawmakers from Colorado, Florida, Hawaii and other states that are home to space operations are pushing for a dedicated Space National Guard that can provide a talent pool for the technical space branch — while also benefiting from some of the additional spending that would go with it. The House recently passed bipartisan defense policy legislation mandating that a Space Guard be established within 18 months. But the White House “strongly opposes” the move, arguing it “would not deliver new capabilities” and only “create new government bureaucracy.” The Pentagon is also not eager to create a new organization. Some active-duty leaders are reluctant to have to contend with another powerful lobby in Washington pushing parochial interests and projects, according to current and former military officials and experts. The new Space Guard would likely draw from the roughly 2,000 troops that now carry out space missions in the Army and Air National Guard in eight states. “The Space Guard issue is being forced by governors and elected officials,” said Mir Sadat, who oversaw space policy on the National Security Council during the Trump administration and is now a researcher at the Atlantic Council. He called the debate “highly politicized.”. ‘Modern relevance’ The Space Guard proposal is being spearheaded by Democrat Jason Crow and Republican Doug Lamborn of Colorado, who maintain that for the Space Force to carry out its mission it needs a dedicated cadre like other branches to support it in wartime, including troops with high-tech skills from their private-sector jobs. The pair, who both sit on the House Armed Services Committee, won adoption of the proposal as an amendment to annual defense policy legislation last month. The Space Force needs a dedicated Guard component to be “a full-blown equal branch of the military,” Lamborn argued in an interview. "It’s important for the Space Force to have parity with the other military branches and essential in remaining competitive with China’s space advances,” Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.), who co-sponsored the House provision, said in a statement. Guard leaders at the state and national level have also been vocal proponents. The chief of the National Guard Bureau, Gen. Daniel Hokanson, told lawmakers this spring that establishing a standalone Space National Guard is "among my most pressing concerns." Others have said leaving space troops in the Army and Air National Guard risks separating them from the service they are supposed to support. “The delay in creating a National Guard Space Force could have disastrous impacts — potentially orphaning our existing space units from their logical parent service and negatively impacting readiness, retention and morale,” Maj. Gen. James Eifert, Florida’s adjutant general, wrote last summer. A Space National Guard, advocates also say, will also bring in citizen guardians with private-sector experience. “We do have people that are doing space work that are perfect fits to be in the National Guard and doing it on that kind of basis as well as balancing their other job,” Lamborn said. Sadat referred to it as “having guardians converge their civilian and reserve military careers at about the same time and rise through the ranks of both institutions.” “In this line of thinking, the Space Force needs a National Guard component to be the equal of the Army and Air Force and to ensure the militia’s modern relevance,” explained Brent Ziarnick, associate professor of spacepower at the Air Force’s Air Command and Staff College. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket carrying the Landsat 9 satellite onboard launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base. ‘Humoring the notion’ But opposition has been building, particularly from the White House, which calls the proposal a waste of money. In a message to Congress last month, the Biden administration stressed that when the Space Force was created, Congress “emphasized the need to minimize administrative expenses and prioritize the development of space capabilities.” “This Administration remains committed to that approach,” it added. The White House cited an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office last year that it would cost upwards of $500 million per year if the Space National Guard was about one-third the size of the Space Force, or on par with the other branches’ Guard forces. The CBO said a smaller version, more in line with a plan that the Air Force put together in 2020 for 1,500 personnel drawn from existing National Guard units, would cost an extra $100 million per year, along with a one-time cost of about $20 million to build new facilities. But the administration wants to keep part-time space personnel in the Air National Guard and the Air Force Reserve, asserting they “have effectively performed their roles with no adverse effect on DOD’s space mission since the establishment of the Space Force.” The Senate Armed Services Committee, meanwhile, is backing a more limited plan in its version of the defense bill, which would simply rename the Air National Guard the Air and Space National Guard. It requires the Pentagon to report back to Congress with a plan for carrying out any necessary organizational changes. The panel described the move as "the most efficient use of scarce funding based on the number of personnel performing space missions in the existing Air National Guard and the size of the Space Force." The Space Force maintains that the current structure is sufficient. Space personnel in the Army and Air National Guard and separate reservists “are aligned to support the Space Force and remain critical to the space mission performed by the U.S. military,” said Air Force Col. Catie Hague, chief spokesperson for the Space Force. “The Department of the Air Force continues to work with partners across the Department of Defense, Office of Management and Budget, Air Force Reserve, National Guard Bureau and Congress to define the way ahead, which will be outlined in a report to Congress,” she added. The Space Force falls under the Department of the Air Force.Retired Lt. Col. Peter Garretson, a former Air Force space strategist, sees deep resistance among the Air Force and Pentagon leadership, which wants to retain more control of the part-time National Guard, which exerts enormous influence over Congress. The state militias’ “strong representation in D.C. has checked [DoD’s] hand on what kind of equipment they buy and where they put it,” said Garretson, who is a senior fellow in defense studies at the American Foreign Policy Council. “They may want to be in a position where they can take their time and maximize their choices.” Ziarnick, a member of the Air Force Reserve, similarly suspects the Space Force also doesn’t really want a dedicated Space National Guard. “They are bowing to the pressure the National Guard Bureau and the states have brought to bear to build a Guard by humoring the notion of a Space National Guard,” he said. 'A little premature'? Even among backers of a separate Guard, there isn’t agreement whether the time is right to force the issue. The top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee, Rep. Mike Rogers of Alabama, predicted Congress may wait a year to formally set up a Guard component, citing his conversations with Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond. Rogers added he would have “made sure” the provision was included in the original defense bill — rather than added by an amendment — if the Space Force chief wanted it immediately. "My guess is it's probably going to be next year. … The Senate's not there yet,” Rogers said in an interview. “Gen. Raymond wanted to wait until next year anyway, so I think that's probably what's going to end up being the case.” Sadat also pointed out that one major issue that remains unresolved before setting up a Space National Guard is what to do about the additional 1,600 space troops in the Air Force Reserve. “Unless there is a plan to stand up a competitive reserve component within the Space Force, these space reservists will have to convert to other Air Force career fields” in order to join the Guard, he said. “If this matter is not resolved before its creation, then we will have a Space Force reserve system that is inferior in every way to their active duty counterparts and also their reserve peers in the other services.” What seems clear is that the debate will not be settled in the short term. House Armed Service Chair Adam Smith (D-Wash.) said he believes establishing a separate Space Guard is “a little premature right now.” “Does it have to be a separate Guard?” he asked. “No. So, I think we can negotiate, talk about it and get to a place that does it in the most cost-effective and intelligent manner.” www.politico.com/news/2021/10/21/space-national-guard-political-battle-516422
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Post by auntym on Oct 21, 2021 14:57:06 GMT -6
U.S. Space Force Commercial LaunchPremiered Aug 24, 2021 U.S. Air Force Recruiting Guardians wanted. Are you up for the challenge? www.airforce.com/spaceforce
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Post by auntym on Feb 2, 2022 16:18:01 GMT -6
futurism.com/the-byte/space-force-annoyed-not-taken-seriouslySPACE FORCE MEMBERS ANNOYED THAT NOBODY TAKES THEM SERIOUSLY"SPACE FORCE? IS THAT REAL?"Military.com | By Thomas Novelly ![](https://images04.military.com/sites/default/files/styles/full/public/2022-01/ApNewsroom_Space_Force_51731.jpg?itok=Ip07P07n) A Space Force captain traveling with their spouse stood stunned at the Spirit Airlines ticket counter this past October hoping to take advantage of the company's waived baggage fees for active-duty service members. But there was a problem: The Spirit employee didn't believe the Space Force exists. The officer showed a military-issued ID card, pulled up the official website on their phone and explained the recent history of the Space Force. The desk attendant believed the service member was no longer active in the Air Force, couldn't comprehend the existence of the new branch and didn't want to issue the discount. "In the moment, I was flabbergasted," said the officer, who spoke to Military.com on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal by Space Force superiors. "We tried to take it on methodically and convince him that the Space Force was real." It wasn't until a Spirit supervisor got involved that the Guardian finally received the discount and the couple went on their way without paying the baggage fees. A few days later, the Space Force officer received an emailed apology from the airline, which was reviewed by Military.com. The incident illustrated what many Guardians have found all too familiar: a public that doesn't understand America's newest military branch or believes it's just a tepidly reviewed Netflix series. It's been two years since former President Donald Trump signed a defense policy bill and created the United States Space Force, a separate service branch that is under the Department of the Air Force. But Guardians have taken to social media and told Military.com about how civilians seem befuddled by the concept of the new branch. And while the Space Force's mission -- to protect and defend the massive U.S. satellite fleet -- is crucial in everything from the country's reliance on GPS to detecting abnormalities in the Earth's orbit, many in the general public haven't grasped it. Conor William Deans, a Space Force ROTC cadet at The Citadel in Charleston, South Carolina, is the first student from the historic military college to accept a commission for the branch. One day, he was sitting at a burger restaurant with his fellow cadets when a patron stopped by the table and asked them which branch of the military they planned on joining. Deans proudly told the man he was joining the Space Force. "'Space Force? Is that real?'" Deans recalled the man asking. "I tried to explain to him what it was, but he seemed even more confused." Deans said he was encouraged to join the Space Force in 2019 when Gen. John Raymond, then with the Air Force, came to campus to talk about his military career. When Raymond became the first chief of space operations, The Citadel cadet said he wanted to be a part of history. But he said the public has been slow to catch on to the role of the new branch. "In a lot of ways, it's still lumped in with the Air Force," Deans said. "It's still new and hasn't expanded its own culture yet, but I think that'll grow and change." Some recent comments from senior military leaders have muddled the relationship between the Air Force and the Space Force. Earlier this month, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall spoke about the relationship between the branches at a Center for a New American Security virtual event Jan. 19. "We want the Space Force to be an independent, separate service," Kendall said. "But we also want it to stay as tightly coupled to the Air Force and the Department of the Air Force as it's necessary for it to be a success." Some Guardians complained about Kendall's comment on social media and said they want the Space Force's top leadership to help shape a distinct identity for the service to the general public. Raymond, speaking at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event also on Jan.19, said the Space Force can't become just a carbon copy of the Air Force. "If we go into this and just iterate our way down the path and become nothing more than an Air Force, changes a little bit here and there, we've missed a huge opportunity," Raymond said. Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Security Project at the nonprofit Center for Strategic and International Studies, said many Americans don't know what the military does, let alone the semantics of the service branches. But he added that there needs to be a concerted effort from Space Force leadership to make their mission explicitly clear to the public. "Space Force needs to make an internal culture that is distinctive from the Air Force," Harrison said. "They need to separate themselves from NASA and from the Netflix parody and communicate, 'This is what we do.'" Space Force Col. Matthew Morand, an officer who runs the branch's ROTC program at The Citadel, said many of his friends and family were confused, too, when he transferred from the Air Force. "I've had people ask me while I'm standing there in my military uniform, 'Is Space Force a real thing?'" Morand said. "A lot of folks don't understand what we do, and there aren't many of us. We're tiny." The Space Force currently has around 6,800 Guardians and 6,700 civilian employees. By comparison, the Air Force has around 650,000 personnel. The service began transferring members from the Army, Navy and Marine Corps, after focusing the first year on transfers from the Air Force. "We're going to be tied to the hip with the Air Force for some time," Morand said. "But culture takes time, and we're working on that culture." Chief Master Sgt. Roger Towberman, the Space Force's highest noncommissioned officer, told Military.com in an interview that, while many in the public sphere may not know what the branch does, he believes the mission is important and hopes that, with time, it will change. "I would say the awareness is growing all the time, and that makes me really happy," Towberman said. "What I see in the Space Force, specifically, is this slow evolution of this really special thing that we're trying to do." www.military.com/daily-news/2022/01/28/space-force-real-guardians-still-struggling-unconvinced-public.htmlSPACE FORCE CELEBRATES 2nd BIRTHDAY: www.military.com/daily-news/2021/12/20/happy-birthday-guardians-space-force-celebrates-its-second-birthday.html
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