I met a few space cadets in the army but this is new to me.

[Utah Bob #35998]

http://www.army.mil/article/55362/space-badge-recognizes-warriors-of-the-high-ground/

[Badger Mountain Charlie SASS #43172]

I just don't understand it anymore.

 

But, I still think people are nutz.

[Utah Bob #35998]

They think it's cool till they get deployed to Mars

[Subdeacon Joe]

Cool article. Well written. And, other than telling us the months of training needed in order to get the different levels of the SB, says almost nothing about what they actually do. Near as I can tell they are the modern version of the photo reconnaissance types.

 

 

"In one word, it is dynamic," Cardenas said. "But trying to summarize what my space brigade Soldiers do in a feeling is impossible. I can tell you that I am inspired each day with what our Soldiers are providing to the Warfighter from commercial imagery to space situational awareness."

 

 

"3Y tells the Army that you are a trained and ready Soldier who is an expert in space," said Sgt. 1st Class Gabriel A. Cardenas, USASMDC/ARSTRAT Future Warfare Center Directorate of Training and Doctrine noncommissioned officer in charge. "The Army has space Soldiers, regardless of their rank and (Military Occupational Specialty,) who are able to articulate what needs to be done in current and future operations and plans."

 

It is somewhat ironic that the Army is borrowing from the Air Force, which used to be part of the Army (Nothing can stop the Army Air Corps), a badge to be used in the Army.

Pretty darned ugly badge, too:

 

Looks like a grill and hood ornament from the late '50s.

[Trailrider #896]

Although I don't have the most current information, IIRC, the Air Force created this badge for those who are involved with Air Force Space Command activities, especially those involving control of earth satellites of various types (recon, ballistic missile warning, military weather, communications, etc.). It would appear that the Army has adopted the badge to identify troops in the same sort of business, whether participating in joint Army/AF operations or not, I don't know. These are probably not to be confused with astronaut wings. I'm not sure if the Army has a version of astronaut wings or not. I do know there have been Army officers who have been astronauts.

[Alpo]

>I do know there have been Army officers who have been astronauts.<

 

That's right. Major Roger Healy was Army.

[Utah Bob #35998]

>I do know there have been Army officers who have been astronauts.<

 

That's right. Major Roger Healy was Army.

Yup. Engineer as I recall.

[Utah Bob #35998]

There is a SASS guy who knows all about this, having just been awarded his badge. Maybe he'll chime in.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Look at that thing closely - the center of the danged thing looks like a take-off on the Star Trek "Starfleet" emblem.

[Stubborn Dutchman, SASS # 61363]

Look at that thing closely - the center of the danged thing looks like a take-off on the Star Trek "Starfleet" emblem.

I was thinking the same thing.

[Subdeacon Joe]

Look at that thing closely - the center of the danged thing looks like a take-off on the Star Trek "Starfleet" emblem.

 

 

Wasn't gonna mention that.

[Tex Jones, SASS 2263]

Is this the beginning of Starfleet?

[Trailrider #896]

>I do know there have been Army officers who have been astronauts.<

 

That's right. Major Roger Healy was Army.

Just Googled "Army astronauts". In point of fact there have been 15 plus one astronaut candidate. They are assigned to the Army Space & Defense Command at Redstone Arsenal, (Huntsville), Alabama. They are generally assigned to Johnson Space Center, TX, for the duration of their tour. And, no, "Maj. Healy was really NOT one!"

[Trailrider #896]

Is this the beginning of Starfleet?

At the rate America's space program is going, Kirk will be the yeoman and the commander will be Capt. Xiang or somesuch!

[Utah Bob #35998]

Look at that thing closely - the center of the danged thing looks like a take-off on the Star Trek "Starfleet" emblem.

Cool!

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Look at that thing closely - the center of the danged thing looks like a take-off on the Star Trek "Starfleet" emblem.

When it becomes a communicator . . .

[Utah Bob #35998]

Look at that thing closely - the center of the danged thing looks like a take-off on the Star Trek "Starfleet" emblem.

Remember what they named the first Space Shuttle. Life imitates art.

[Marshal Mo Hare, SASS #45984]

Remember what they named the first Space Shuttle. Life imitates art.

The only shuttle to not go into space. It can be seen at the Intrepid Museum In New York.

 

The USS Intrepid, sometimes known as The Fighting I" Sometimes as "the Dry I"

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

There is a SASS guy who knows all about this, having just been awarded his badge. Maybe he'll chime in.

Hi Bob, I just saw your post.

 

Yes folks, I just earned the Army Space Badge, and am now a member of the Army's Space Cadre, so I'll chime in.

 

The Air Force is indeed the primary proponent in DoD for space activities, and thus the badge was originally created by them. In subdued form, the Air Force version appears in blue thread as do all their subdued badges. We could have none of that, so we changed it to black thread and called it our own

 

To earn the Army Space Badge, one must be designated Functional Area 40, Space Operations Officer. A functional area is a very low density MOS that has no basic branch. So we continue wearing our basic branch brass on our dress uniforms (I came from the MP Corps, so my brass will always be crossed pistols despite working in a functional area). Functional Areas are always comprised of officers; there is no enlisted equivalent. Then one must attend two military courses, one of which is taught by the Air Force, Space 200. I am told this is roughly similar to what we in the Army refer to as Captain's Career Course. Next, the Army has a specific course called Space Operations Officer Qualification Course (SOOQC). After graduating both, one is awarded the basic badge. THESE ARE NOT ASTRONAUT WINGS; astronaut wings are actually standard aviator wings with another device added.

 

The Army has one brigade of space personnel. There is a battalion of signal folks who control a communications satellite known as WGS. Then there is another battalion that is half active duty and half Reserve, and they provide Army Space Support Teams to deployed divisions and corps, as well as a company of JTAGS operators (missile warning). Then there is a National Guard battalion of Army Space Support Teams. So the only space brigade has all three components of the Army, and the headquarters company is mixed, as well. This is known as a "multi-component" command. The brigade commander is active duty, but the XO is Reserves, etc.

 

I said a functional area is all officers and no enlisted, so is the brigade all officers? No. The officers are the "space professionals" who are FA-40, but the troops are enlisted like any unit ("space enablers"). They are comprised of intel folks, satellite communications experts, etc. They can also earn the Army Space Badge by attending a course that gives them an additional skill identifier for Space Activities. That was the "3Y" someone quoted from the article.

 

One pard made a comment about doing reconnaissance with satellites. Although I am now intimately familiar with all the top secret reconnaissance satellites, that work still falls to the S2, and they get *really* upset when the space guy gets in their lane. So what exactly do we do? EVERYTHING I do is classified Top Secret *at the very least,* so that's where this explanation ends. An adage in my line of work is, "It's really cool, but I can't tell you."

 

Think about this: For thousands and thousands of years, warfare had two dimensions: Land and sea. Then in WW1, only 100 years ago, the air dimension was added, and it dramatically changed the nature of war (yes, I know, balloons were used as early as the Civil War, but they did not add a dimension to war; they were a mere intelligence gathering gadget). We are living in a time when *TWO* dimensions have been added to the nature of warfare: Cyber, and space.

 

Granted, most of you on this forum are going to have a hard time digesting that, but it's true. Did you know someone destroyed an Iranian nuclear reactor using cyberwarfare? Look up the Stuxnet virus. Did you also know people are trying to do the same thing to us thousands of times per day? Yep. Cyber is a new dimension to warfare...BUT, if we ever fight a "near peer" nation like Russia or China, it's going to start in space.

 

Cyber as a domain of warfare is hard to wrap my head around because it isn't a place. Space is a place, and it contains all of our satellites. Our satellites enable everything else we do on the ground, air, sea, and in the cyber domain. Take, for example, our precision guided munitions. How are they precision guided? Satellites. Blue Force Tracker is enabled by satellites. Missile Warning in theater and in the homeland are enabled by satellites. Communications to nuclear forces are enabled by satellites.

 

I also noticed the Star Trek device in the center of my space badge, and I wonder if the designers did that on purpose. Regardless if it was intentional or not, Star Trek is here. There is talk of creating a separate Space Force, much like how the Air Force split off from the Army and became its own branch. I think this will happen in the next 30 years or so, and I feel very much like a pilot in WW1, because we are at the beginning of a new dimension of warfare.

[Smoken D]

I decided where this world was going when the police department gave a ribbon to a female officer because she finally showed up on time for roll call. They wanted to improve her image and make her feel good. That was enough for me, a warm fuzzy world is what we need.

[Big Sage, SASS #49891 Life]

The only shuttle to not go into space. It can be seen at the Intrepid Museum In New York.

 

The USS Intrepid, sometimes known as The Fighting I" Sometimes as "the Dry I"

Not to hijack the thread, but the Enterprise could have flown. There were a number of parts on it that were "not space rated" as we called them. These parts could have been replaced or reclassified based on real flight data of subsequent Shuttles.

 

I helped design and build the Shuttle fleet. The name of the first Shuttle (Enterprise) was determined by a survey of workers on the program as I remember.

[Charlie Harley, #14153]

I have a classmate who is FA-40. We were throwing back beers one evening when he joked, "Heck no I can't tell you what we do! But I can tell you that my team is three sergeants, two lieutenants, and six PhD's like you ain't never seen before!"

 

I'm glad there's folks in the world who can do what these folks do.

[Utah Bob #35998]

Hi Bob, I just saw your post.

 

Yes folks, I just earned the Army Space Badge, and am now a member of the Army's Space Cadre, so I'll chime in.

 

The Air Force is indeed the primary proponent in DoD for space activities, and thus the badge was originally created by them. In subdued form, the Air Force version appears in blue thread as do all their subdued badges. We could have none of that, so we changed it to black thread and called it our own

 

To earn the Army Space Badge, one must be designated Functional Area 40, Space Operations Officer. A functional area is a very low density MOS that has no basic branch. So we continue wearing our basic branch brass on our dress uniforms (I came from the MP Corps, so my brass will always be crossed pistols despite working in a functional area). Functional Areas are always comprised of officers; there is no enlisted equivalent. Then one must attend two military courses, one of which is taught by the Air Force, Space 200. I am told this is roughly similar to what we in the Army refer to as Captain's Career Course. Next, the Army has a specific course called Space Operations Officer Qualification Course (SOOQC). After graduating both, one is awarded the basic badge. THESE ARE NOT ASTRONAUT WINGS; astronaut wings are actually standard aviator wings with another device added.

 

The Army has one brigade of space personnel. There is a battalion of signal folks who control a communications satellite known as WGS. Then there is another battalion that is half active duty and half Reserve, and they provide Army Space Support Teams to deployed divisions and corps, as well as a company of JTAGS operators (missile warning). Then there is a National Guard battalion of Army Space Support Teams. So the only space brigade has all three components of the Army, and the headquarters company is mixed, as well. This is known as a "multi-component" command. The brigade commander is active duty, but the XO is Reserves, etc.

 

I said a functional area is all officers and no enlisted, so is the brigade all officers? No. The officers are the "space professionals" who are FA-40, but the troops are enlisted like any unit ("space enablers"). They are comprised of intel folks, satellite communications experts, etc. They can also earn the Army Space Badge by attending a course that gives them an additional skill identifier for Space Activities. That was the "3Y" someone quoted from the article.

 

One pard made a comment about doing reconnaissance with satellites. Although I am now intimately familiar with all the top secret reconnaissance satellites, that work still falls to the S2, and they get *really* upset when the space guy gets in their lane. So what exactly do we do? EVERYTHING I do is classified Top Secret *at the very least,* so that's where this explanation ends. An adage in my line of work is, "It's really cool, but I can't tell you."

 

Think about this: For thousands and thousands of years, warfare had two dimensions: Land and sea. Then in WW1, only 100 years ago, the air dimension was added, and it dramatically changed the nature of war (yes, I know, balloons were used as early as the Civil War, but they did not add a dimension to war; they were a mere intelligence gathering gadget). We are living in a time when *TWO* dimensions have been added to the nature of warfare: Cyber, and space.

 

Granted, most of you on this forum are going to have a hard time digesting that, but it's true. Did you know someone destroyed an Iranian nuclear reactor using cyberwarfare? Look up the Stuxnet virus. Did you also know people are trying to do the same thing to us thousands of times per day? Yep. Cyber is a new dimension to warfare...BUT, if we ever fight a "near peer" nation like Russia or China, it's going to start in space.

 

Cyber as a domain of warfare is hard to wrap my head around because it isn't a place. Space is a place, and it contains all of our satellites. Our satellites enable everything else we do on the ground, air, sea, and in the cyber domain. Take, for example, our precision guided munitions. How are they precision guided? Satellites. Blue Force Tracker is enabled by satellites. Missile Warning in theater and in the homeland are enabled by satellites. Communications to nuclear forces are enabled by satellites.

 

I also noticed the Star Trek device in the center of my space badge, and I wonder if the designers did that on purpose. Regardless if it was intentional or not, Star Trek is here. There is talk of creating a separate Space Force, much like how the Air Force split off from the Army and became its own branch. I think this will happen in the next 30 years or so, and I feel very much like a pilot in WW1, because we are at the beginning of a new dimension of warfare.

Post yore pic, Cyrus. If you don't I will.

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

Post yore pic, Cyrus. If you don't I will.

It has my real name because I'm in uniform, so I'd rather not. That is, unless you can black out my real name and put "Cassidy" over it

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

I have a classmate who is FA-40. We were throwing back beers one evening when he joked, "Heck no I can't tell you what we do! But I can tell you that my team is three sergeants, two lieutenants, and six PhD's like you ain't never seen before!"

 

I'm glad there's folks in the world who can do what these folks do.

Yes, I just joined the tape-on-glasses club, for sure. In 50 years I might be able to tell you what we're doing now but I doubt it.

 

I decided where this world was going when the police department gave a ribbon to a female officer because she finally showed up on time for roll call. They wanted to improve her image and make her feel good. That was enough for me, a warm fuzzy world is what we need.

So you think my space badge is a participation ribbon? Think again.

[Utah Bob #35998]

It has my real name because I'm in uniform, so I'd rather not. That is, unless you can black out my real name and put "Cassidy" over it

Easily done!

Cassidy, Cyrus, 1 each

[Trailrider #896]

Hey, Cyrus! The thing that worries me about GPS, etc., being required for precision guided weapons, aircraft navigation, etc., is the possibility of "someone" sending a high EMP nuke straight up and taking out the important stuff. Yeah, I know, we are hardening our satellites, but still kinda worries me a bit. Glad you are doing okay! Haven't seen you in awhile. Shaketails moved down to Fountain, which is too far for me to go, and anyway I haven't done much shooting in the last couple of years, until I found time to get out to the Sand Creek Raiders.

 

Big Sage,

It has been quite awhile since I was involved in the Shuttle program, and then on the SRB/DSS (recovery parachutes for the boosters), but IIRC, Enterprise was pretty heavy, and lacked the TPS. Columbia had enough problems getting that stuff to stay on, even before the tragic loss from the ice impact. Heck, Columbia was heavier than the rest of the fleet, which was one reason it was limited to certain missions. I can still hear the broadcast during the first flight of Columbia in the Martin-Marietta Space Support Building when John Young called, "Houston, Columbia, out of Flight Level 4500 (450,000 ft) at Mach 15!" Shuttle got the ISS built, but she sure wasn't the spaceliner we thought it would be. Hopefully we learned not to use that "Navaho stack" configuration on future manned vehicles. As for solid boosters on manned vehicles...you can have them! I know...I know...this really isn't the right forum for all this. But you can take the "acid-on-the-hands rocket boy" out of the industry, but the other way doesn't work!

Ad Astra!

[Utah Bob #35998]

Hey, Cyrus! The thing that worries me about GPS, etc., being required for precision guided weapons, aircraft navigation, etc., is the possibility of "someone" sending a high EMP nuke straight up and taking out the important stuff. Yeah, I know, we are hardening our satellites, but still kinda worries me a bit. Glad you are doing okay! Haven't seen you in awhile. Shaketails moved down to Fountain, which is too far for me to go, and anyway I haven't done much shooting in the last couple of years, until I found time to get out to the Sand Creek Raiders.

 

Big Sage,

It has been quite awhile since I was involved in the Shuttle program, and then on the SRB/DSS (recovery parachutes for the boosters), but IIRC, Enterprise was pretty heavy, and lacked the TPS. Columbia had enough problems getting that stuff to stay on, even before the tragic loss from the ice impact. Heck, Columbia was heavier than the rest of the fleet, which was one reason it was limited to certain missions. I can still hear the broadcast during the first flight of Columbia in the Martin-Marietta Space Support Building when John Young called, "Houston, Columbia, out of Flight Level 4500 (450,000 ft) at Mach 15!" Shuttle got the ISS built, but she sure wasn't the spaceliner we thought it would be. Hopefully we learned not to use that "Navaho stack" configuration on future manned vehicles. As for solid boosters on manned vehicles...you can have them! I know...I know...this really isn't the right forum for all this. But you can take the "acid-on-the-hands rocket boy" out of the industry, but the other way doesn't work!

Ad Astra!

This is the SALOON. It's the right forum for anydangthing.

Except politics.

And sex.

[Gunner Gatlin, SASS 10274L]

Easily done!

Cassidy, Cyrus, 1 each

Classic.... and thanks 'Cassidy' for your service.

 

GG

[Cyrus Cassidy #45437]

Hey, Cyrus! The thing that worries me about GPS, etc., being required for precision guided weapons, aircraft navigation, etc., is the possibility of "someone" sending a high EMP nuke straight up and taking out the important stuff. Yeah, I know, we are hardening our satellites, but still kinda worries me a bit. Glad you are doing okay! Haven't seen you in awhile. Shaketails moved down to Fountain, which is too far for me to go, and anyway I haven't done much shooting in the last couple of years, until I found time to get out to the Sand Creek Raiders.

 

Hey Trailrider!!! Some people with 50 pound brains are addressing that problem; I can't say more. The problem isn't solved but we are working on it. The good thing is, of the countries capable of launching an EMP weapon into space, they are all dependent on satellites, too. That means if they take ours out, they're taking their own out, too!

 

I've been working a lot of weekends, made it to the Colorado Cowboys a few months ago. Other than that, shooting SASS has been sparse. Hopefully I'll see you around soon.