The Space Force is officially the sixth military branch

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Winston

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The Space Force is officially the sixth military branch. Here’s what that means.

https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/...-sixth-military-branch-heres-what-that-means/

Air Force officials on Friday told reporters that people are clamoring for information on how to join the military’s latest branch. The short answer is, they’re going to have to wait a while.

President Trump officially signed the Space Force into law Friday, but for now, all that means is everyone at Air Force Space Command will now be assigned to Space Force. Over the next 18 months, officials said, the finer details of manning and training the new branch will be hammered out and set in motion.

“It’s going to be really important that we get this right. A uniform, a patch, a song ― it gets to the culture of a service,” said Air Force Gen. Jay Raymond, the head of Air Force Space Command and U.S. Space Command, who will lead Space Force until a chief of space operations is confirmed by the Senate. “There’s a lot of work going on toward that end. It’s going to take a long time to get to that point, but that’s not something we’re going to roll out on day one.”

For now, the 16,000 active-duty airmen and civilians who work at Air Force Space Command will be assigned to the Space Force, but nothing else will change. Uniforms, a rank structure, training and education are all to be determined, and for the foreseeable future, Space Force will continue to be manned by airmen, wearing, Air Force uniforms, subject to that service’s fitness program, personnel system and so on.

Without sharing details of the plan, a senior Air Force official said on background, because he was not authorized to speak on the record, there will be 30, 60 and 90-day benchmarks to meet. Where it took three years to stand up the Air Force, he said, the Space Force hopes to be off and running in 18 months or less. That includes, he added, sending a four-star officer to represent the service on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.


For space tweets:

https://twitter.com/SpaceForceDoD

They should use this song and change the lyrics. I like it much better than the current USAF song. It's more upbeat and they've already paid for it. Let's see what they pay a fortune for (like they did for the modernized USAF symbol) that will probably suck. I bought this same album in mint condition, unlike his, for $20 on eBay:

 
Thanks, Winston. It sounds like the Space Force is pretty much the Air Force Space Command, with a new label stuck on top. I was hoping for something more... :(
 
Thanks, Winston. It sounds like the Space Force is pretty much the Air Force Space Command, with a new label stuck on top. I was hoping for something more... :(

Indeed. One would hope that once it gets its fee under it that the US Navy and Army (and Coast Guard?) space assets would also be transferred under its umbrella.
 
Thanks, Winston. It sounds like the Space Force is pretty much the Air Force Space Command, with a new label stuck on top. I was hoping for something more... :(
At first it will be.
 
Indeed. One would hope that once it gets its fee under it that the US Navy and Army (and Coast Guard?) space assets would also be transferred under its umbrella.

Coast Guard is under Homeland Security in peacetime and only transfers to the Navy in a declared war. That said, I'm not sure they have any space assets besides a couple of cubesats used by the USCG Academy.
 
Coast Guard is under Homeland Security in peacetime and only transfers to the Navy in a declared war. That said, I'm not sure they have any space assets besides a couple of cubesats used by the USCG Academy.

Yeah, I wasn't sure what assets they might have for tracking shipping or smugglers or whatever. But I know that the Army has some and the Navy has lots.
 
Yeah, I wasn't sure what assets they might have for tracking shipping or smugglers or whatever. But I know that the Army has some and the Navy has lots.

I think USCG is largely in atmosphere (radars on ships, airplanes/helos, and even a few aerostats in a project since transferred to CBP). When googling for my first comment, I noticed a bit of text in an article that Navy and Army weren't giving up their space assets to Space Force yet, so it'll be interesting to see what comes of that (astro)turf* war. My understanding is that they may get intel from satellite imagery from USAF or other branches, but they don't own any cameras.

*Sorry not sorry, I couldn't help myself. :)
 
Please tell me that if there is a service academy for this, the students will be space cadets.

Coast Guard is under Homeland Security in peacetime and only transfers to the Navy in a declared war.

Nay...The Coast Guard is made up of the truly seasoned professionals around which the navy gathers and seeks guidance from in time of crisis.

Indeed. One would hope that once it gets its fee under it that the US Navy and Army (and Coast Guard?) space assets would also be transferred under its umbrella.

I think the only asset we had was Dan Burbank, and he is retired. I seriously think that, in the end, there will be something like the Key West Agreement which essentially created the Air Force.
 
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A note about the Coast Guard, I was in the Guard for six years, we lost more people per capita during Vietnam than all the others services combined.
 
Still hoping the final moniker is US Space Corps - and their organizational relationship to USAF ends up more like the Marines and the Navy. If you’re going to bother standing up a new branch of the military it shouldn’t be just be USAF’s Space Command with new coat of paint.
 
A note about the Coast Guard, I was in the Guard for six years, we lost more people per capita during Vietnam than all the others services combined.

Thank you for your service. I thought about adding up above that USCG regularly deploys to war zones despite nominally being a law enforcement organization, but didn't.

Nay...The Coast Guard is made up of the truly seasoned professionals around which the navy gathers and seeks guidance from in time of crisis.

Well, you want to learn from the people who actually take their ships to sea. ;) (OK, I know this isn't fair to the Navy. They are very fine mariners too and I thank them as well. I just have a soft spot in my heart for the USCG, particularly the lifesaving ops people. Who else takes a 47' boat out into 20' breakers to save someone's butt?)
 
The USCG deployed heavily in Nam because our small boat sailors are the best in the world and all those little rivers and deltas were ideal for taking a small boat up with a couple of recon marines.
 
For now, the 16,000 active-duty airmen and civilians who work at Air Force Space Command will be assigned to the Space Force, but nothing else will change

Just a different name, nothing more. What is there to change? I don't think there will be fleets of U.S. space ships patrolling space!!
 
Just a different name, nothing more. What is there to change? I don't think there will be fleets of U.S. space ships patrolling space!!
What is to change? Sounds like integration of space operations of all branches into one:

https://www.spaceforce.mil/About-Us/Fact-Sheet

Mission

The USSF is a military service that organizes, trains, and equips space forces in order to protect U.S. and allied interests in space and to provide space capabilities to the joint force. USSF responsibilities include developing military space professionals, acquiring military space systems, maturing the military doctrine for space power, and organizing space forces to present to our Combatant Commands.

It just occurred to me last night that being a separate branch of military they'll eventually justify their own academy. I wonder where that will be.
 
It just occurred to me last night that being a separate branch of military they'll eventually justify their own academy. I wonder where that will be.

I believe that the intention is to have the Space Force use the Air Force Academy, much as the Marine Corps uses the Naval Academy.
 

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