Space Force Is Obsessed With Being Space Force
Can you imagine your loved ones coming down from the attic with your medals, achievements and honors asking about the time you shaped the strategic environment?
How would you even begin to explain that–by being part of the shaping. pic.twitter.com/EaTooBQz1B— United States Space Force (@SpaceForceDoD) August 12, 2020
Keith’s note: These Space Force folks are clearly obsessed with medals, uniforms, ranks, logos, TV advertising, StarFleet etc. The comments posted in response to this tweet are priceless. I am not sure if the Space Force folks totally understand that many of their tweets are just begging for mockery.
– Military Space Guys Argue Over The Whole Space Force Rank Thing, earlier post
– Space Force Really Wants To Be Star Fleet, earlier post
– Now Space Force Wants Its Own Starfleet Admirals, earlier post
– Space Force Really Wants To Take Over All Of NASA’s Stuff, earlier post
– TV’s Space Force Looks Like More Fun Than The Real One (Or Artemis), earlier post
– More Space Force postings
“Space Force is Obsessed with Being Space Force”
Good! Great! Until many of the details of its organization, operations and development are sorted out, those who don’t understand the need for American dominance in space as a deterrent to the aggressiveness of our potential adversaries, Space Force will likely be the butt of jokes, critics and opponents. I wasn’t quite old enough to be aware of what went on when the Air Force separated from Army aviation in 1947, but I’d bet similar things went on.
Space Force does NOT want to take over the functions of NASA. That is not their purpose, and I seriously doubt they would want it if it was forced on them. It would be a distraction.
Actually the USAF had just proven its worth by the key role it had in WWII so there was no laugher then.
There was still plenty of opposition to the separation.
Also, the US was among the last of the major powers to establish a separate Air Force (the RAF was already 30 years old) but it is the first to establish a separate Space Force.
You are right, because that’s the central point after all. The USN wants to sail carrier battle groups, and the USAF wants to fly fighters and bombers. Space to both of these services is merely an adjacent domain.
I wonder who was the nasawatch witness in 1947 when the AF was intent on establishing its credibility & vision?
Different time, but people are people. Been that way for 200,000+ years.
Of course the nascent USAF had the one and only General Curtis (Bombs Away) LeMay in their court.
Well, just to set the record straight and taking nothing away from Ol’ Iron @$$ (who built SAC up from virtually nothing to the strategic deterrent force which heritage continues as Global Strike Command), Gen. Henry H. “Hap” Arnold, USAF’s first Chief of Staff was a major proponent of and driving force behind separation. And BTW, Lemay swore in most of the members of my AFROTC class in 1964 (I had another year of engineering to go, but was a “completed cadet” and witnessed the ceremony).
Great info! I know LeMay was a very public figure at the time (immediately after WWII).
An interesting lecture about Hap Arnold as presenter described how he began when many aircraft of the Army Air Corps were pretty outdated in terms of capability. Was able to build up the force during WWII which by June 1944 the US had global air superiority, and still does to this day. https://www.c-span.org/vide…
I’ll start with a disclaimer. I’ve never really understood why people hanker for objectified (that is, physical objects) recognition for their work. Medals, plaques, photos of the honoree shaking hands with a VIP…. it all adds up to ephemera — for me. For me, if I’ve done a good job, that matters way more than whether I’m recognized for having done it.
Obviously, any recognition goes into an individual’s personnel folder, and is a factor in promotion, job assignment, and overall favorable regard from management/command structure. But we have to realize that in the military, it goes way beyond that, and my intention is not to denigrate that in any way. I am reminded of a story the author James Jones told about the regard his buddies in the pre-WW II army felt about the Medal of Honor, the only decoration in their view worth caring about: If you were still alive you didn’t deserve it.
I’m happy to have the ones that include cool space photos or items flown on the missions. I have a few others on the ‘ego wall’ as I call it, but some I keep in the file cabinet. My most prestigious medal (to my best perception) is still in the case it was handed to me in. It helps to prop up my notepad cover (the non-electronic notepad) on the corner of my desk just so.
While it is true that factors you describe can be read in a military person’s jacket file, the medals/ribbons on the uniform tell a story at a glance for those meeting another service person. Insignia of rank or paygrade does tell the observer something about the wearer, the ribbons can show whether you are talking to someone special, or perhaps not so experienced. Up until around WWI, the Medal of Honor was the only decoration for valor in combat. Tom Custer actually was awarded two! It became obvious that lesser acts of heroism and bravery were appropriate, which is why Bronze Stars, Silver Stars and AF, Navy, Distinguished Service Crosses were created. The criteria for those awards has changed over time, in some instances depriving those worthy of an award until many years later, if at all. In some cases, awards have been upgraded upon review. For those of us who “simply” served in certain jobs, a qualification badge tells others some of what we did. I am proud of my Missileer’s “Pocket Rocket”, earned as a missile maintainer on our strategic forces. No, I’m no hero, but I did my job, and the badge tells people with what I was involved.
Gee Keith, this is a MILITARY organization….it needs to get organized. That means setting up rank and protocol, just like all of the other branches of the US Armed Forces. It also needs to set up an organizational chart so that it can function. You should realize this. This new branch is just getting started, about all it has is what was handed over from the USAF and how long ago was that? Just a few months ago? I think some slack is needed here as they’re trying to set up and recruit young minds as well.
All they do is marketing marketing marketing.
They have no shortage of people asking for recruitment information, for when they start doing it separately from the Air Force later this year.
And that is the point of the marketing.
Pretty disappointing to see you openly mocking members of our military… I disagree with much posted here,but I always thought I was respectful in my interactions. The total disrespect shown here is beyond the pale. I sit here stunned.
Get a grip. I am not being disrespectful of the military. If the bothers you then go read another website and you will feel better. Have a nice day.
hey, maybe they have their first Pentagon assignment – investigate those UFO sightings.
The problem with Twitter is that it represents only a slice of America and that slice is toxic and distorted. IMO it’s fruitless to glean any useful information about the mindset of middle America by the responses to content on that platform.
– Or reader comments on blogs.
Unlike comments on this blog, there is no real moderation on Twitter. Aside from YouTube, I believe the most uncivil and cruel comments happen on Twitter.
I don’t understand these comments below about how “it’s all just marketing to create a distinctive identity, so who cares.” That’s nonsense.
Space Force is not a new idea. The proposal of centralizing military space operations in one new service goes back a long time, but was discussed in ever greater detail in the 2010s due to geopolitical developments. The late Senator John McCain was not a fan. Why? Not because he was opposed to the idea, but because the definitions of its area of responsibilities, it’s purpose, its organization were lacking. The “Space Force” was an idea that was inevitable to execute, but whose time had not yet come.
It’s creation was probably premature for exactly the reasons John McCain figured.
The perception that Space Force is tied up in what amounts to the wallpaper of their new house, confirms how premature the creation of it probably is. Instead, they should be talking a lot more about organization, purpose, platforms, potential missions. Rather than discussing uniforms and logos and “deltas”, they should be standing up the service with room to grow – like any new organization or company – and answering those things that John McCain wanted answered before its creation.
This reminds me a heck of a lot of NASA’s Journey to Mars stuff from 5 or 6 years ago. It’s good looking on the surface – so long as you don’t ask many questions. Go one level deeper you find it’s what’s always been there, and a lot of if of dubious relevance to the actual goal.
I think USSF is in a no-win situation for the foreseeable future. They need to establish in the public eye that they are a new branch of the armed forces, but they really don’t have anything to easily show the public what their tax dollars are buying (the way the USAF was able to show off squadrons of shiny new B-45s and F-80s) So the marketing is going to be vague space images and Star Trek wannabe concepts, which opens them to merciless “space cadet” mockery. But if they do nothing, they open themselves to “why do we need a Space Force? They aren’t doing anything” snark.
This is along with what I was thinking. The Army Air Corps was a considerable force already, employed armies of officers and enlisted, the reserves were in the millions. Plus lotsa people employed in companies that built aircraft. Also years ago talking with a WWII and Korean war veteran and he was in the AAC when it transitioned to the USAF. He said in many ways the AAC was pretty much a separate agency from the ground Army so the big change in 1947 didn’t feel much of a big change. Obviously at the general staff level it was.
Seems to me Space Force consists mainly of small number already assigned to places like the Space Command, big changes are for those officers and Academy grads. For those in the private sector (ULA, SpaceX, etc.) some changes. For most people struggling with economic hardship, USSF is as distance as StarFleet Command.
The mission is expanding, if you read between the lines. “Orbital warfare,” frex.
That’s easy to solve, they just need to buy a few Starships.
“How to talk to your kids about shaping the strategic environment”
https://www.militarytimes.c…
The need for a space force is pretty obvious. Criticism to be expected of anything that is revolutionary, particularly by those who don’t like anything the current administration does.
Two things – firstly commentators need to give the US Space Force time to develop their strategy, concept of operations, which will identify capability and resources needed. I get the impression that critics are happy to mock space force simply because its new rather than recognizing that any new military organisation will go through a period of development before it matures. Be patient – this could take some time.The USAF also took some time before it really got on top of its future vision.
Secondly, critics are attacking space force because its looking ahead and trying to plan for what the military space environment might be ten or twenty years now. Well they should be a forward-looking organisation – that’s essential to them achieving the first goal noted above. They’d not be doing their job if they were only focused on the immediate to short-term environment or weren’t thinking about a long-term vision to guide strategy, policy and capability development.
I can’t help but wonder whether the critics would be so vocal if Space Force wasn’t a Trump concept. I’m not a Trump supporter (I’m not even an American), and I disagree with most of what Trump has done whilst in power, but I think he did the right thing in promoting Space Force, as a response to growing counterspace threats from adversary major powers. I do also get the impression that there is a strong arms-control element among the critics that somehow cling on to the outdated notion that space shouldn’t be militarized. Thing is.. its been militarised since the 60s, and its not US military space that is driving weaponisation – its China and Russia’s counterspace development. If we scrapped Space Force tomorrow, Beijing and Moscow would still be busy developing and testing counterspace capability.
Space is an operational warfighting domain – its not a sanctuary, serene and untouched by geopolitical rivalry below. President Biden (if he wins) would be wise to preserve Space Force and help it develop an approach to achieve national security objectives in space.
“I can’t help but wonder whether the critics would be so vocal if Space Force wasn’t a Trump concept.”
The strange thing is that it was *not* Trump’s concept!
It was brought to him, after being dissed in the Obama WH, and passed in the House, but failed in the Senate without Presidential backing in late 2017. In February of 2018, Reps Cooper(D), and Rogers(R) laid out the history since 2003 in their WH presentation, gave their solution, a Space Corps, under the civilian Department of the Air Force,, and went home. The WH studied it for 4 months, and came out in June of 2018 with the startup of the US Space Command, which they could do on their own. They then began an 18 month-long struggle to convince Congress of a Separate Space Force, but it was still put under the Dept. of the Air Force in the final compromise.
The fact, that the press tried to ignore the concept *until* Trump backed it, and then indicted it for being Trump’s idea, is a strange level of intense memory loss. Or possibly an example of how poisonous the effects of the revenue the major media corps. get from their Chinese markets really is, at least to any accurate description of US politics. Hard to say, and perhaps purposely so.