No one fully understands why the US Space Forces exist at all – the youngest, smallest and oddest division of the Pentagon. But what is most striking is that the head of the Space Forces, Chance Saltzman, also has expressed his uncertainty about the meaning of the existence of his division. This is reported by Politico.
“I have some concerns with our current mission statement. My biggest concern is that the mission statement does not reflect why the Nation has a Space Force and the vital functions Guardians perform,” a quote from a memo sent by General Saltzman to his subordinates.
The memorandum shows that there are still many disagreements on the appointment of this military branch of government, which does not bode well. It should also be noted that the Biden administration is asking for a USD 30 billion budget for 2024 to fund the strange division.
“Take us seriously”
The US Space Force was created by the Trump administration three years ago. According to the current mission statement approved in December 2019, the USSF is responsible for organizing, training, and equipping Guardians to conduct global space operations that enhance the way our joint and coalition forces fight, while also offering decision makers military options to achieve national objectives”.
But Saltzman found that the statement was incomplete and did not fully reflect the responsibilities of the Space Forces. And in general, all these three years, the division has most often actively fought to preserve its image, and also tried in every possible way to attract PR so that they would be taken seriously, especially in the light of the eponymous comedy TV show produced by Netflix.
“Guardians operate some of the most technologically advanced systems in the world. In doing so, they deter aggression and, should deterrence fail, protect U.S. interests with military force. Additionally, our current mission statement is long and cumbersome. We can do better,” Saltzman explains his vision of the division.
McBoatfacing
To improve the perception of his division, Saltzman decided to involve crowdsourcing to change the wording of the mission by asking the online community. The fact is that such tactics have previously led to curious situations. For example, in 2016 the Internet community was entrusted to come up with a name for a polar research ship worth more than USD 200 million. The winner of the survey was the playful name Boaty McBoatface, which later became the term McBoatfacing, which was defined as “making a critical mistake by allowing the Internet to solve important things”.
In this way, in the first year of its existence, an unfortunate name was already chosen for about 2,000 members of the US Space Forces – “guardians”. Subordinates of the newest branch of the United States armed forces are now called in this way, as there are ordinary sailors in the Navy, and soldiers in the army.
In general, the General’s memo demonstrates that the Space Forces are still trying to find the meaning of their existence. And this does not bode well, given the huge amount of resources needed for their functioning.
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