The Space Force is sorry about this ‘clumsy’ tweet about the Space Force

The U.S. Space Force may have a growing command structure and expansive doctrine, but it's missing something critical to the sixth branch of the U.S. armed forces' success: people

The U.S. Space Force may have a growing command structure and its first-ever doctrine, but it’s missing something critical to the sixth branch of the U.S. armed forces’ success: people. 

Even though more than 8,500 active-duty airmen volunteered to join the Space Force from the Air Force in May alone, the new service branch is in the middle of a major recruiting drive that includes messages like, well, this one:


First of all: this makes no fucking sense.

Second of all, we’re unclear exactly what “medals, achievements and honors” the Space Force is talking about exactly — namely because they don’t exist yet. And the nascent service branch only started launching missions back in May with the launch of a satellite from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

“It was a clumsy attempt to talk about the future and the significance of what a small group of people are doing, standing up our nation’s newest branch of service,” Maj. Nick Mercurio, a Space Force spokesperson, told Task & Purpose. “We’re taking a clean sheet approach to building the Space Force.”

We weren’t the only ones who look at the Space Force’s latest message as a giant bong rip:

Anyway, marketing is hard! But here’s a word of advice to the Space Force PAOs (and I know you’re reading this): If your copy could resemble that from the Netflix series Space Force and not the U.S. Space Force, perhaps reconsider your approach.

Related: Who did it better: the real Space Force recruiting spot or the trailer for Netflix’s ‘Space Force’?

 

Task & Purpose Video

Each week on Tuesdays and Fridays our team will bring you analysis of military tech, tactics, and doctrine.

 
Jared Keller Avatar

Jared Keller

Former Managing Editor

Jared Keller is the former managing editor of Task & Purpose. His writing has appeared in Aeon, the Los Angeles Review of Books, the New Republic, Pacific Standard, Smithsonian, and The Washington Post, among other publications.