The Space Force still doesn’t have a term for its service members nearly nine full months after the sixth branch of the U.S. military was formally established.
It appeared the issue had been decided in August when the Space Force unveiled its first doctrinal document that referred to the troops belonging to the new service as “space warfighters.”
However, that is a generic term, not the official name for the Space Force’s rank and file, said Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. Raymond.
“We all are warfighters in the Space Force,” Raymond told reporters on Tuesday during the Air Force Association’s Air, Space, and Cyber Conference. “That’s not the term that we will use. You’ll hear us today using the term ‘space professionals’ until we develop and propose and agree upon the specific name going forward.”
The new service has already ruled out referring to its service members as “space cadets” or “space men,” the Space Force’s Vice Commander Lt. Gen. David Thompson told reporters in February.
Meanwhile, the Space Force faces a host of still unresolved questions about its service culture, including what the military branch’s official anthem will be.
So far, several options for the Space Force song have been proposed, Raymond said on Tuesday.
“My goal is – working with the secretary and working with the department and others, Congress – to announce some of these things before our first birthday, which will be the 20th of December of this year,” Raymond said.
“When the Air Force stood up, it took a couple years for the naming conventions or the rank conventions to be settled. We’re looking to do that by the first year end and hope to have some announcements here over the next few months.”
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