Spacey McSpaceface: Space Force tries crowdsourcing term for members

[Karlston]

Spacey McSpaceface: Space Force tries crowdsourcing term for members

“Guardian,” “vanguard,” “sentinel” already “floating around,” according to Space Force email.

What do you call the people who wear the new Space Force space camouflage? That's what the service is asking its members.

US Space Force

The United States Space Force, the newest branch of the US military hewn from the Department of Defense's space-focused units under instructions from President Donald Trump, has a lot to do in order to establish itself. Among other things, the service's leadership needs to decide what to call its members and each of its ranks (which, unlike "airman" and "seaman," needs to be gender neutral).

 

In a Space Force email posted to an Air Force enlisted group on Facebook, Chief Master Sergeant Amber Mitchell—a senior enlisted leader on the staff of the United States Space Force—reached out to enlisted members of the nascent service for the purpose of "crowdsourcing your best ideas" on a number of topics essential to establishing the force's identity. Among those key questions:

- What should the enlisted E1-E9 ranks in the Space Force be called? Must be gender neutral.

 

- What should the collective group of members serving in the Space Force be called? Some names floating around already are Guardians, Sentinels, and Vanguards. Feel free to create a brand new word for those who are linguistically inclined.

CMSgt Mitchell also asked for input on enlisted rank insignia, uniforms ("all black with white nametapes," one forum member responded), and other key elements of a "Space Force culture."

 

"Where and what events should we be recruiting from to find STEM minded Space Force members?" Mitchell asked. "What entrance criteria, exams or considerations would you incorporate, change or keep? What should our Space Force creed be? What should our Space Force song lyrics and music be?"

 

Talking to reporters at the Pentagon, Vice Commander of the US Space Force Lt. Gen. David Thompson said that the actual process on how to decide these things is still in the works. He said that as far as the nomenclature for Space Force members had gone, he had seen "some pretty strong opinions… but what we'd like to do is ensure we've thought as broadly as we can and have gotten the opinions of the people who matter, and those are people like... the young folks... and consider it as best we can before we land on a name."

 

There has already been a good deal of Internet commentary on the Space Force's prospective seal—which bears a strong resemblance to that of the fictional Star Fleet, but mostly because it was derived from well-established symbology previously used by the Air Force and space-focused commands within the other services.

 

 

There was also some commentary on the first look at the camouflage working uniform released by the Space Force—a "multicam" uniform using a colored, non-reversed US Flag and unit patches (shown at the top of this story).

 

The Space Force is looking for input on these things from its space…forcers by next Friday. Feel free to drop your suggestions in the comments section.

 

 

Source: Spacey McSpaceface: Space Force tries crowdsourcing term for members (Ars Technica)