Space Force revamps enlisted rank titles
The Space Force continues to try to distinguish themselves from their parent organization the Air Force. After switching from referring to themselves as airmen to guardian, they are likewise changing the junior enlisted ranks to remove airman.
E-1 through E-4 will now be known as Specialists 1 through 4. Terms of address are “Specialist”, “Spec #”, or “Specialist #”.
Additionally, they are remove the staff from staff sergeants. They will now just be known as “Sergeant”. Ranks E-6 and higher will retain their current titles as will officer ranks.
Source; Stars & Stripes
Category: Air Force, Space Force
As one of the resident Zoomies, allow me to step in and take care of your light work for you.
“This. Is. Dumb. As. Shit.”
That is all.
Can’t read the article at S&S without taking out a subscription.
Anybody else reading the same?
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/29/space-force-new-structure-463811
” In going with “specialist” rather than “airman,” the service follows through with Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond’s pledge to have a gender-neutral rank structure that does not include the word man.”
And there you have it my friends.
*Shakes my fucking head…”
What a shame.
So, no men in Space Force
Neuters
So not Spaceballs.
Mel Brooks will be so disappointed.
They’re already stocked up on assholes.
I knew it. I’m surrounded by assholes.
Like
Keep firing, assholes. 😜
Switch from SUCK to BLOW…
Sure, but just like the current military allowing non-citizens to enlist, eventually they will allow intergalactic enlistments, and will the rank be further revised to reflect species neutral terms? Just don’t make it mandatory for troops to march in a Martian Pride Parade.
Hack don’t forget the Venutians, Saturnians, Uranians, Neptunians and Plutonians they will all need a special pride parade and annual wokeness teaching plus a special hat
Let’s not discuss Uranus, this is a family friendly website.
Pluto is not a planet. It is considered a dwarf Planet along with four others currently residing in the Milky Way galaxy. There is suspected a ninth planet (which purportedly sacrificed itself to protect Earth from Jupiter) which is believed to now be at the very edge of the galaxy in the dark regions. Its effects can be observed, but its exact location is yet to be identified.
Well, well, well.
Good luck with it. (Coming from one who actually was a 3-stripe USAF Sergeant. Before they invented that Senior Airman thingie.)
Whatever they decide, I hope that they stick with it. I finally quit trying when USAF kept changing their minds about what 2 and 3 stripes would be called, and if the star in the middle was dark or shiny. Nobody really cared except the good idea fairies.
“Good luck with it. (Coming from one who actually was a 3-stripe USAF Sergeant. Before they invented that Senior Airman thingie.)”
I was actually both, you must have been in before me.
I was able to color in my 3 stripe Senior Airman with *no* star with a blue sharpie (the subdued stripes) for the time I was a Sgt, then when I made Staff, had to pay the sew-it-on-lady.
I was one of those blue star specialist airman, too. Till my star turned white and I became a buck. One of the good things was you could take the E-5 SSgt test after 6 months as a Sra, I did well on it but my promotion was a high numbered one due to a lack of time in grade
Yeah – made SSgt the first time in 1976. It’s a long story, but I made it again a few years later, and for the third time a few years after that. At least the last time I didn’t have to take off the Tech stripes. The bust in rank only lasted long enough for me to reenlist and get promoted back the same day. (One of those “it made sense at the time” deals.)
I remember the Zoomies going through that when I was at Bitburg AB from 74 to 77.
Good Times./s
Specialist 1…. in what? Floor buffing? Fire watch? E1s are not renowned for military knowledge…they had just barely changed from “but my recruiter told me” to “but my Drill Sergeant told me”.
Damn good point! I thought the same thing.
@OWB: (Coming from one who actually was a 3-stripe USAF Sergeant. Before they invented that Senior Airman thingie.)
Yeah! Just as I was ready to become a bonafide sergeant, USAF went and changed to SrA!! So I got three stripes with a blue-on-blue star!
https://www.deviantart.com/michael-taylor1134/art/TOS-Ranks-699167138
So the first 4 enlisted ranks are going to walk around with their hands in their pockets and sham their way out of everything?
Yep.
With no grooming standards, PT tests, or drug tests.
It is about time that they acknowledged they are just technicians. Hopefully they will carry the ranks forward like the Army used to do, and not call them Sergeants if they aren’t in charge of anyone!
Welp, where is E4 Mafia for Life when we need him? A lot of former and current Army Spec 4s are not going to like the usurping of their title by a Spec 1. Just saying.
Here you go:
The Specialist’s Creed
No one gets away with more than I. I am a non Non-Commissioned Officer, a beast of burden. As a junior enlisted soldier I realize that I am a member of an under appreciated, much chastised group of soldiers which is known as the ribcage, or perhaps pancreas, of the Army.
I am proud of myself and my fellow
Specialists and will continue to bitch, whine and sham until the absolute last second regardless of the mission at hand. I will use my grade and position to avoid responsibility, accountability and any sense of presence of mind.
Ignorance is my watchword. My two best excuses will always be on the tip of my tongue “I didn’t know,”
and “It wasn’t me.” I will strive to remain invisible and unavailable for details. Never ever volunteer
for anything is my rallying cry!
I am aware of my role as a SPC and if you need me for anything, I’ll be on appointment. I know the other soldiers, and I will always refer to them by their first name or in some cases derogatory nickname. On weekends, or days off I will consistently drink myself into oblivion, and I will never answer my phone. I understand that for a person in my hierarchal position, rewards are going to be few and far between, and punishment will always be swift and severe.
Officers of my unit will have maximum time to accomplish their duties, because I will be accomplishing them for them. I will kiss up to their face and badmouth them behind their back, just like everyone else. I will be loyal to those with whom I serve, provided there’s something in it for me. I am the last bastion of common sense that stands between me and the Army philosophy of “Work Harder, Not Smarter.” My voice is a tool and my complaints are a weapon that I wield with unmatched skill and finesse. I will not forget, nor my comrades to forget, Specialist is the greatest rank in the Army and rank has its privileges.
Funny.
I shed my specialist’s sham shield for SGT’s stripes and then officer’s brass looonng ago, but there is much truth in this creed. I am as proud of avoiding a work detail at PLDC as a SPC4 by hiding in a dumpster full of leaves as I am of any accomplishment since, except destroying an OPFOR regiment at NTC with my battalion. (But even that one is close!)
To boldly go where no man has gone before… don’t volunteer to be a redshirt security O1, kids.
Speaking of boldly going, how they Hell are they going to administer unit urine analyses in zero gravity? Every time you fill the bottle, it will float off before you get the cap on.
Wag bag
Well, isn’t that -special-!
….
Got it!
Spacialist!
Should have gone with a Navy based rank structure in the first place.
Uh, no.
Uh, no twice. Might make a change by science fiction writers, who for decades had Space Marines and a space navy organization, but no army or air force. As an Army PFC, SP4, SGT and etc., I got tired of reading the exploits of super-person Space Marines. Bobbie Draper was a Martian Marine, so that is different.
You swabbies don’t know how to mount the engines on a C-130 so…no.🤣
Shots fired! Bwaaaahahahaahahahahahaha!
Well, junior, you let it slide so I had to take the shot as a former Zoomie!
I wonder if they ever tried to land one on a carrier….?
There’s video of a C-130 taking off of a carrier…don’t know about landing though.
AHEM! Can’t do this with a P3!
Yup.
Bad ass.
P-3 on the bow cat. VP-23’s LJ-06, to be precise. I have more than a few hours in that bird.
I was Infantry. I can drink anything, sleep anywhere, and “mount” anything.
Like every fictional “space navy” in SciFi…
Well, now that the important stuff is taken care of, can we get on to the cyber stuff?
Glad we’re in such good shape that we can futz around w/thiskindashit. R’minds me of the old USMC “acting sergeant” stuff in the early ’60’s.
So will their Officer Candidates still be known as “Space Cadets”? Just askin’ for a friend…
Around 1990-ish we had a spec4 in our platoon that had the nickname “Space Cadet” due to his ability to zone out and chill during any activity!
I really don’t why this is a such a big deal. The Army used the specialist ranks for years. I was a Spec 5 (11B4S) and worked with another E5 was SGT. Same pay, but he had the command. I later did a lateral from Spec5 to SGT. I knew a couple of Spec6’s. And I think I once saw a Spec7. It was a good way to recognized experience and expertise without having several guys in the same pay grade working together trying to figure out who was the boss. My specialty was weapons.
“I later did a lateral from Spec5 to SGT”
I always wondered if that was what happened to Spec 5’s as I was
one and offered Spec 6 to re-up. We had a Spec 6 in Germany that got
shipped to RVN but don’t know what became of him. Curious what they
did with Spec 6 types. Seems lateral to SSGT would require some
additional training to “get your mind right”.
If everyone is Special, what makes them special? Bet they all get graded Above Average.
Where is Captain Kirk when you need him? Shacked up with a green skinned stripper or transsexual spy I bet. Starfleet used the term crewman for lower enlisted for over 1000 years. Even after the genocise of 2019 that killed off all the straight white males they still called everyone crewman.
Now you could argue they have no ships to crew but that still leaves the man in it.
Take a 1970s rocket from the reel-to-reel security vault
(great for parties and bars, but not good enough for an album),
dust it off 35 years later,
amp it up with improved modern electronics,
let the recently rehired official spokesman
(spokesperson) rewrite the speech,
and initiate launch sequence for takeoff in 2012.
RIP EVH.
… or something.
The idea of renaming the first four enlisted grades in the Air Force had been kicked around in the past. Some senior enlisted & officers wanted to use ‘specialist’ or ‘technician’. Utilizing ‘Airman’ strictly as a general reference to all personnel serving in the USAF, much like soldier, sailor, Marine, and coast guardsman for sister services. Looks like Space Force took it up.
Here’s my suggestion for rank in Space Force from Captain James Tiberius Kirk himself:
https://youtu.be/lul-Y8vSr0I
So….the latest and greatest new military command returns to its roots.
Army — Army Air Corp — Air Force — Space Force — Army ranks.
After you knock down five Chi-com satellites do you become a Space-Ace?
Nope, has to be five kills of an invading extraterrestrial species space craft.
So, is this Space Force going to have the same relationship to the USAF that the Marines have to the Navy?
Speaking of the Air Force…
Here We Go Again. Same Ole Stuff Again:
“Cheating Scandel During COVID Lockdown Ensnares 249 Air Force Academy Cadets”
https://www.airforcetimes.com/news/your-air-force/2021/01/29/cheating-scandal-during-covid-lockdown-ensnares-249-air-force-academy-cadets/
“The Air Force Academy believes 249 cadets cheated on exams and other assignments during the rapid shift to remote learning during the early days of the coronavirus pandemic last spring.”
“In a Friday release, the academy said those cadets are suspected of violating the school’s honor code in a variety of ways — from failing to properly cite sources and looking up answers on unauthorized tutoring websites while taking exams to completing final exams in small groups.”
“Most of those cadets have admitted to cheating and have been placed on probation and remediation for six months, said officials at the academy, located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The rest of the cases are pending, and are at various stages.”
“Two cadets have been dismissed from the academy for cheating, academy spokesman Michael Slater said in a follow-up email. The cadets involved were spread across the lower three classes of 2021, 2022 and 2023, Slater said. No cadets who graduated in the class of 2020 last year were involved, he said.”
Quite the honor code they’ve got. 🙄
“Integrity first” isn’t the most important core value at the academy it would seem.
It would appear that the honor violation “remediation” track, versus dismissal, was a serious mistake.
The message is now “if you get caught, take your lumps”, instead of ” crash n burn”. Apparently some less-than-honorable folks are OK with that calculus.
They should have gone with “voidsmen.”
https://www.deviantart.com/light-tricks/art/40k-Imperial-Navy-Tattoo-Concepts-348365498