Do we really need a Space Corps?
The excellent defense reporting website Breaking Defense is reporting that the Air Force is engaged in political combat with the House Armed Services Committee, in particular the chairman of the Strategic Services Subcommittee, Republican Mike Rogers of Alabama. The cause of this fight is the brainchild, as Breaking Defense phrases it, of Rogers: an entirely new branch of the military, a U.S. Space Corps, to take responsibility for defending America in the coming battlespace out there beyond traditional air warfare altitudes.
The Air Force is adamant that no such branch is necessary, insisting that it is quite capable of managing, as it now does, its space battle sphere to include the realm of satellites and space stations. Newly appointed Air Force secretary Heather Wilson insists that her existing branch is already heavily invested in the concept of space warfare and is quite prepared to effectively continue this mission into the future as long as Congress provides the necessary funding. Current Pentagon leadership appears to be unified in opposing this idea of an entirely new and independent service.
Critics point out that the United States Air Force split off from the United States Army almost seventy years ago, and they still have issues as to who’s responsible for what. Space Corps supporters point out the more than 200-year-old symbiotic relationship between our Navy and the Marine Corps, two very different services under the leadership of a single service secretary, the secretary of the Navy. Following that model, Space Corps advocates would have their new service reporting to the existing Air Force secretary. I would point out that the Navy-Marine model has a major flaw: it is quite easy to determine the dividing line between ocean and land mass, whereas no sandy beaches exist in space.
This old soldier is unconvinced that a need exists currently for such a move. If future wars should shift their focus to a space battle area, then we should take another look at a special service branch, but for now, this is an idea still a bit too futuristic. While I’m not now perfectly comfortable with our existing services’ capabilities in this battlespace, we can improve our overall strategic capability through the concept of multi-domain operations, wherein we integrate the warfighting capabilities of all our existing forces into a seamless, deadly grunt’s ground-to-space station killing machine.
Someone should tell Congressman Rogers his rocket’s fizzling on the launch pad.
Crossposted at American Thinker
Category: Politics
Fleet never did like the Mobile Infantry
Heinlein was a genius before his time.
I for one saw fuck yeah, Space Corps.
Sound the Ballad of Rodger Young recall!
Heinlein was instrumental in my becoming a Marine, but we weren’t very mobile in my day.
Oh, they’ve got no time for glory in the Infantry.
Oh, they’ve got no use for praises loudly sung,
But in every soldier’s heart in all the Infantry
Shines the name, shines the name of Rodger Young.
Shines the name — Rodger Young,
Fought and died for the men he marched among.
To the everlasting glory of the Infantry
Lives the story of Private Rodger Young.
Great performance of the ballad:
https://youtu.be/1MEJM0cboDg
Fleet Flies
Grunts Die
Mobile Infantry made me the man I am today!
Well, we have several Space Shuttle Door Gunners on here, at least now they’ll have a place to go to work now !!!
9 out of 10 posers agree that we need a Space Corps
Medals of America is already swamped with orders for Space Corps Valor medals which as of now, do not exist. Hurry while supplies last.
10 out of 10 posers agree that we need a Space Corps.
There, fixed it for you … no thanks necessary. 😉
The one guy was claiming lone survivor status.
Who wouldn’t want to be a Space Cadet?
Of Heinlein’s variety, yes.
Awesome movie, but…I just watched part of a “Making of Starship Troopers” and I think that all of the crew missed Heinlein’s point in the book.
The movie director et al wanted us to think of the troopers as fascists and the world they are in as very much not a utopia.
They didn’t do Heinlein a service with that tone. To my mind, Heinlein was speaking to duty and sacrifice and working together as being noble and worthy of sacrifice. If someone wanted to fully participate in the society, they had to have skin in the game. I have no problem with that.
We should do that in our country. Everyone out of high school should be required to perform some type of government service…no exceptions. Maybe then, we might have a more united country.
I think the director took the title and a picture from a paperback version and did whatever the hell he wanted to. Little resemblance to RAH original work.
I’ve always believed Mr. Heinlein’s credit in the movie should have read:
Based very, very, very, very, VERY loosely on the novel by
Robert A. Heinlein
“Has the same title as, but in almost no significant way resembles, a book by XXX” should probably be on almost every Hollywierd adaptation.
No, no, no! We already have Starfleet! We do not need a Space Corps! Hawking wants us all to evacuate Earth. We’re just waiting on commercial development of the warp drive.
Will there be real Space Shuttle Door Gunners? Asking for a friend.
Coffee sprayed all over my screen.
Stop drinking coffee while you read this.
Do Not, under any circumstances, have anything in your mouth while reading TAH.
There was once a time when Army SATCOM folks were authorized to wear the USAF Space Operations Badge. It was commonly referred to as the “Space Shuttle Door Gunner Badge”
Still waiting for a poser to rock that one.
The new version of that badge is authorized for both Soldiers and Airmen:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_and_Missile_Badge
Ah, the Spwings!
Looks like a bat with a boner.
Badges, we don’ need no fookin’ badges. Just fill the racks, top the tanks and stand clear, ok?
Pile the paperwork under the boost nozzle.
How many of us caught that the Starfleet delta is at the center of the Space badge?
Shorter list – who did not catch that?
I thought I was hot shit in the 1980s when I was able to wear this.
No, ChipNASA. You WERE hot shit. You could have gotten so much skirt at any scifi or comicon it would have endangered your health
I agree it’s probably too soon. However, looking back through history, the Army was once saying they were perfectly capable of managing our air assets. While every other country in WWII had long since split their air forces into a seperate branch, we still had the AAC/AAF. At the time, the AAF was essentially a second army.
Maybe this time we want to lead from the front and have ours be the first “Space Corps”. With the retirement of the Shuttle, we’re quickly losing our grip as the leaders in space exploration. Perhaps a new military branch, focused entirely on space, could further our efforts there. No doubt a future war with any of our major opponents with any long range missile capability will see our satellites targeted. They’re easy targets.
Noting we have not won a major war SINCE we acquired a separate Air Force (ducks for cover).
Major Matt! Howdy!
(Could not resist that one…)
Had the gear as a kid… thought it was some pretty neat stuff.
But, keep in mind that having a separate space force means the creation of a new bureaucracy branch.
The swamp beasts are probably salivating about this.
While I agree eventually we will need an space corp, I am not sure we are there yet.
Do we have a separate cyberspace command? Cyberspace operations have been here a while.
Actually, since 2009 we have: US Cyber Command. It’s a subordinate unified command under US Strategic Command.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Cyber_Command
FWIW, since 2006 we’ve also had a separate Joint Command responsible for space: the Joint Functional Component Command for Space. It’s also subordinate to US Strategic Command.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joint_Functional_Component_Command_for_Space
Prior to that, from 1985-2002 we had a separate Combatant Command (COCOM) responsible for space: US Space Command. USSPACECOM became a subordinate command under US Strategic Command (with name changed to Joint Functional Component Command for Space and Global Strike) when US Northern Command was created in 2002 in order to keep the number of COCOMs at 10.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Space_Command
I’m certainly in the minority here, but I think the Army Air Corps was more effective than the Air Force. No offense to AF folks, but the Army Air Corps, in spite of certain self-proclaimed “visionaries” (sorry, but Billy Mitchell was full of shit at least as often as he was right) bombed the enemy’s ability to wage war on the ground (albeit with quite a bit of trial-and-error along the way), tactically and strategically. Fighters cleared the way for bombers, and blew shit up on the ground when there was nothing unfriendly for them to kill in the sky. Every combat-capable airframe proved useful in the ground-attack role, one way or another.
The Air Force tried to seize Naval and Marine aviation right from the getgo, has let (or tried to let) both strategic and tactical bombing capability go by the wayside in favor of the coolest (not necessarily functional) fighter, and the recent scandals involving the Air Force’s ICBM crews are not inspiring confidence on that note. Then there’s the whole issue of having more drone operators than flight crews…
Just my two cents. Likely worth far less, but there it is. Suffice it to say, I don’t favor this “Space Force/Corps/Fleet/Whatever/Thingy.
Every branch has its preferred roles and myopia for said roles. One of my problems with the USAF when I was in more than a decade ago now was that they were STILL planning to fight the large scale, strategic war with Russia, China, whomever. They still clung to the large scale bombing mission and the nuclear deterrent. We weren’t preparing for the actual wars we were fighting.
You can make the argument for and against the myopic vision each branch has (the navy likes big ships, the usaf fancy electronic jets, etc.). The advantage of a new branch is that you now have someone who takes that role as a priority, not a secondary role.
If anything we should be going the way of Canada and other militaries in making our military a truly joint force
IMHO
The amount of waste that alone would eliminate would be staggering
OK, I’ll say it:
I thought we already had a Space Corps: the DNC
No Space Corps there, Just Space Cadets.
Space Corpse?
Do they have corpsemen?
Pelosi and Sanders qualify, don’t they?
Not just the issues stated above, but I have grave concerns regarding this Space Corps returning to Earth with Space War Brides. Is the commissary manager going to devote an entire aisle to satisfy the nutritional needs of these aliens? And what if I try to use an expired Buy One/Get One coupon for Soylent Green Helper?
Soylent Green Helper is people.
hahahaha
Soylent Green; The Other Other White Meat.
Soylent Green – it tastes different from person to person.
I only use Soylent Green Lite. That’s made from SKINNY people.
Bet you can’t eat just one.
I forget who did this but God Bless the guy here that made this for me.
http://i.imgur.com/dWIlFyL.jpg
And don’t forget to buy your proper uniform patch once you’re certified. (LOL)
http://milspecmonkey.com/patches/ssdg-batch1.jpg
Dang Chip! You got the Iodine? I only qualed Flourine. Your too high speed for me to keep up with
Ha. FNG If only trained/certified since 2006.
I’ll have you know that I’ve worn the “Illudium Q-36 Explosive Space Modulator” clasp on my Expert Marksmanship Qualification Badge since 1948.
And yes, I have requalified every year even though I retired from the Army 25 years ago.
Getting range time at a civilian facility is a real bitch though. Not like when I was active duty and went out on a first come, first served basis. The waiting list for a civilian slot is beaucoup long.
Hey! I have one of those.
But mine has my squadron patch on it.
Yours doesn’t! 😛 😛 😛
Is the weapon of choice the BFG-9000?
Where can I pick up the “Phaser Rifle” bar for my expert badge?
I guess I could go the “older vet” route and get one that said “Pilum”
Although tempted to post quippy idioms, I shall refrain.
I assume, as many Americans do, that some government agency is already protecting our interests in the space-time.
It may be a violation of the Prime Directive in some manner but, I will be the first to apply for such a Command.
Therefore, if I or anyone else gets assigned to the Space-time Continuum in the future…please take a “moment” of space time to come back here and assure the rest of us that it is all well in hand.
Or, not.
Quadrapol will get you if you try to prove it.
+1
Door gunners in SPACESSSSS!
But it went above 50,000 feet – that is Space Corp’s responsibility!! No, the main part of its flight was at 45,000 – that’s Air Force’s! I can hear it now…
Think the only reason he is advocating this is to make Huntsville/Redstone the HQ.
Then there’s the troopers showing up at medical with a case of Space Herpes.
grr-this was supposed to be on TAH, not FB-
Rep. Rogers, the guy that has been effectively blocking efforts to address the health concerns of Ft. McClellan veterans.
You all remember Ft. Mac, the now mostly shuttered base, home of the WAC, Nuke School, MP training and munitions staging, dump and storage site since 1935 that 60 Minutes called the most toxic place in the US? The base next to Anniston, AL, the town that received a $700 million dollar settlement from Monsanto for PCB and chemical poisoning, a settlement that specifically EXCLUDED military personnel-and their families-even if they lived in town? The base that was designate
… The base that was designated an EPA Superfund site, but *wasnt* shut down for that, it was during BREAC and its closure was merely a coinkydink.
Glad to see he is a champion of our military and defense, looking to spend untold millions on the creation of a new branch of service. Everyone knows he is deep in the pocket of Monsanto (now Solyndra), I wonder who would be getting the majority of the contracts to build up and supply this desperately needed new branch of service.
Ah yes, Monsanto, the makers of Skydrol.
“Skydrol…blinding pilots since 1949”.
I was stationed there in the latter part of 1968 for Infantry AT after Basic Training. It was also a WAC base at the time.
I only found out about the chemical issue last year. It sort of explains me glowing in the dark ever since, and here I thought it was just my “aura” whenever I entered a room. 😉
I was BORN there….. that explains so many things now.
Also now know as the Noble Training Center to the FEMA types. We get sent there to take Radiological Emergency Response Operations (RERO). However they also still do some chemical nastiness training there. I have a colleague who signed up for an extra week at Noble, to help test new chemical protection suits…I said no thanks, the rad might kill me in 40 years, chemicals are right now.
I like the idea of the Space Corps being under the Air Force.
And while they’re at it, they can put the USAF back where it should be, under the Army as the USAAF. 😉
Ah hell….then we’d have to open up a Space Corps Academy, and we’d be up to our eyeballs in Space Cadets.
You all want a Space Corps so we can all be subjected to alien anal probings… and I ain’t into that shit!
Hell, look at what it did to San Fran Nan… bitch be slurring and stuttering like Psul/Palmer of the Ballsack on a 10 day T-bird bender…
“I would point out that the Navy-Marine model has a major flaw: it is quite easy to determine the dividing line between ocean and land mass, whereas no sandy beaches exist in space.”
We don’t know this for sure, PT. There might in fact be a hostile force of space aliens now surfing the point break on a Titan beach, and pulling the last cerveza from one of those iced Corona buckets. This is a potentially serious situation that could use the land warfare skills of a trained military intel professional.
I suggest we send Lars…
He does post a lot of spacey stuff here, doesn’t he?
Need to be watching out for that stuff on Europa… STAY. AWAY. FROM. EUROPA.
We gotta send a mission to Europa. Probably some great stuff there.
NASA has a Europe Clipper launch planned for 2020, to include an orbiter and a lander.
I thought the North American Aerospace Defense Command (i.e., “NORAD”) was our force for Outer Space defense.
They’re very efficient, and are even able to track, intercept, and escort Santa Claus every Christmas Eve, racing across multiple time zones in just a few hours, apparently without refueling.
Then again, in the event that a threat does occur in Outer Space, why not arm the National Aeronautical Space Administration (i.e., “NASA”) astronauts and the International Space Station (i.e., “ISS”).
Most of the astronauts are already trained and experienced combat fighter pilots, and it would be simple to equip the ISS with missiles, lasers, and/or anti-aircraft guns.
If the need actually arose, I reckon the Space Shuttle could be launched once more, to orbit and maneuver, equipped with weapons systems.
At some point it will have to happen. Too soon by about a hundred years I am thinking. To date the entire planet has sent much less than 1000 people in to space in the last 60 years. The Air force can manage their end for now.
The reason the Army and The Air Force split had little to do with air space management. The Marines do a great job of Air Space management with internal assets and they are way smaller than the Army. It has to do with budgets. The Army was always going to pick things on the ground over things flying around in the sky to budget. The Air Force is going to pick things flying around in the air over things in space.
So Rogers is being a real Space Cadet over his Space Corps among other things, he sounds like yet another living breathing reason for Congressional Term Limits!
The time may come for a separate Space Corps, but that time has not yet arrived. (Retired Air Force enlisted swine)
This is great. Now we can utilize the space Corp troopers to fly up to the planet mongo led by the fearless Flash Gordan and destroy the death ray that is aimed at the earth, causing global warming. Ming the Merciless, watch your butt because we are coming.
They will need to have MP’s assigned, Piiiigggs iiiinnn spaaaaaaace!
Interesting point, this idea of a U.S. Space Corps.
Back in the ’80s, a novel was published entitled “The Gates of Heaven” by Paul Preuss (Bantam, 1980). Set in 2037, the book is the story of how humans found a “stargate” to Tau Ceti, and how the U.S. Space Force went to rescue them. Silly stuff, not even close to the level of “Star Trek,” but a rather entertaining yarn nonetheless.
They describe the “Space Force” uniforms as looking just like AF ones, except black and silver. And most people in the USSF are called “zoomies.”
Just adding to the discussion …
Oh great. Just what we need. An opportunity to have even -more- General Officers.
Oh -that- will make us the ultimate power in the Universe….
Well, if it is thought such a force will be required in, say, 30 years, the gubbermint should get started now on a logo design. Oh, that and the uniforms. No off-the-rack stuff, either. It must be unique to their exalted position. It will take years to design the logo and uniforms, what with all the infighting.
Did the pro-Space Corps folks bother to state where they believe the threat will arise? As I recall, the Soviet space threat (which SDI was directed to counter) went away (or at least diminished greatly) at the end of the Cold War. So where is the enemy we may potentially be fighting?
Oh, wait, I sit corrected. China is supposed to be the new space threat. You know, those people we helped arm during the Clinton years: https://www.thenewamerican.com/world-news/asia/item/22893-china-close-to-deploying-formidable-new-nuclear-missile Kind of like transferring our commercial semiconductor and computer technology there, via “cheaper manufacturing” scenarios. Threat, what threat? Selling stuff to the Chinese is good for business, and if business is good for America, the end result can only be good.
I wanna be a Space Corps Ranger
I wanna live a life of danger.
Posers wearing unauthorized Space Corps medals and insignia in 3 – 2 – 1 – BLAST OFF
Someone has been watching to much Stargate SG1. There is a point to investigating such technology though. Not sure it’s ready for a new corps or branch though.
From Wiki: “As of November 6, 2013, a total of 536 people from 38 countries have gone into space according to the FAI guideline (543 people have qualified when including the US Department of Defense classification). Of the 536, three people completed only a sub-orbital flight, 533 people reached Earth orbit, 24 traveled beyond low Earth orbit and 12 walked on the Moon.”
so, as a species, we’ve sent less than a battalion into space. Seems kind early for a specific service branch.
“Headquarters, first SciFi battalion, where Geeks ain’t Freaks. This line unsecure. May I help you Sir, Ma’am, or otherworld?”