Lake Cherokee Freedom Park

Happy Birthday US Space Force!

December 20

The Space Force is the newest branch of the US military, having been established on December 20, 2019. While a distinct military branch, it is organized under the Department of the Air Force (just as the US Marine Corps is organized under the Department of the Navy). Indeed, for over six decades prior to the establishment of the Space Force, the US Air Force led the military component of America’s space exploration and the nation’s expansion into space. The US Space Force, now nearly five years old, is tasked with securing America’s interests in, from, and to space. It is the smallest of the military branches, with only 14,000 personnel (called Guardians) spread across installations in California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New Hampshire, and Greenland, but it is charged with an outsized mission: the Space Force defends the ultimate high ground. It protects United States satellites, supports military and humanitarian operations around the globe, and facilitates U.S. commercial launches into space.

The US depends on free access to space and Americans take as an assumption the capabilities available to them as a benefit of this access. Thus, military space operations which secure US access to space regularly impact the daily lives of American citizens. Military operations in other domains—including on land, at sea, in the air, and in cyberspace—all depend on secure communications with space-based technology as well. This is a complicated mission; at present, the Space Force tracks the constant movement of over 47,000 objects in the Earth’s orbit while protecting no less than 31 satellites crucial to maintaining GPS alone! More than any other service branch, the Space Force’s Guardians work hand in hand with private enterprise, supporting over 200 launches into space through rocket construction and programming as well as mission control and orbital trajectory de-confliction.

While Texas does not (yet!) host any Space Force Bases, all enlisted Guardians receive their basic training at Joint Base San Antonio. This is fitting, as San Antonio was the childhood home of General Bernard Schriever, the man who laid the groundwork for military space operations while in the Air Force. He is viewed by many in the Space Force as a spiritual father of the organization. Though the still-young Space Force may not have many Texans in positions of leadership at the moment—Major General Stephen G. Purdy, Jr. is the sole Texan among 28 active Space Force general officers—Guardians owe much to the countless Texans who came before them and worked in NASA.

Specialist 4 Ethan Nichols, USSF, calls Lake Cherokee his home. Originally, he was with the Air Force Honor Guard conducting funerary honors in Arlington National Cemetery, laying to rest over 300 service members from Generals to Tuskegee Airmen.  “On August 30th, 2023, I joined the Space Force along with 15 other Air Force Honor Guardsmen to establish the Space Force Honor Guard. Today, I am responsible for representing our Space Force to hundreds of people every day. Our mission is one that I hope people research and understand, because it is vital to our daily modern lives and national safety.”