The nation’s oldest space service released its long-awaited rank structure and boy is it special. In fact, the first four enlisted ranks are Specialist 1, 2, 3 and 4, which shows that the spacefaring Guardians have all the creativity of a lowly planetlubber. And no, ‘space cadet,’ is not an official rank, sadly.
The new Space Force ranks for enlisted and officers were first revealed in a memo that was posted to the popular Facebook page Air Force amn/nco/snco on Friday. A Space Force spokesman confirmed the memo’s authenticity for Task & Purpose. The rank names go into effect on February 1.
After a Guardian climbs through the specialist ranks, they can keep rising up the noncommissioned officer ranks to become a sergeant, tech sergeant, master sergeant, senior master sergeant and chief master sergeant. The most-senior enlisted Space Force member will be known as Chief Master Sergeant of the Space Force. So it’s basically the Air Force, with a dash of Army ranks to keep things spicy.
The rank structure for Space Force officers should look very similar to officers in the Air Force, Army and Marine Corps. In fact, it is exactly the same, starting with a lowly second lieutenant and rising up to full general.
When the Space Force was first formed at the end of 2019, there were so many questions about what the new branch would look like. What would they choose for uniforms, rank names, motto, song, or the official flag? Gradually, many of those questions have been answered. We know that members of Space Force are called Guardians, the motto is Semper supra (always above), the seal and flag look like something out of Star Trek, and the ranks are oh-so-special. Hopefully, we’ll get a good look at the uniforms this year, and we can only hope they’ll look like this:
Featured image: Airmen recite the oath of office before transferring into the U.S. Space Force during a ceremony at the Pentagon, Arlington, Va., Sept. 15, 2020. About 300 airmen at bases worldwide, including 22 in the audience, transferred during the ceremony. (U.S. Air Force photo by Eric Dietrich)