The United States Space Force recently celebrated its third birthday, though many folks probably don’t even now the newest branch of the United States Armed Services exists or what its members,
called Guardians, are responsible for.
When officially established on Dec. 20, 2019, the Space Force became the first new military branch since 1947. There have been calls for such a United States military branch since man first started exploring space.
With the birth of a new branch of the military came the realization that at some point Hope For The
Warriors will need to serve members of the Space Force. That’s why we were so excited when we
able to tour the Pentagon, where the Space Force is headquartered, in December. And while it was a
tour of the Pentagon, it concentrated on the Space Force.
Our tour was led by U.S. Space Force Maj. Dane Skousen, whose wife Jessica is a member of the HOPE Well Being team as an intake coordinator. He extended the tour invitation to us to help
educate HOPE on our country’s newest branch of the military. Our tour group included Robin Kelleher, president and CEO of HOPE and her son Kyle, Liz McCoy, executive assistant to the president and CEO, and Jessica Skousen along with Maj. Skousen and Chief Master Sgt. Kyle Mullen.
One of our first discoveries was that the Guardians deal mostly with satellites and the building of
rockets, and work with both NASA and commercial space partners.
The Guardians are charged with ensuring the freedom of operation to, from and in space, and
deterring aggression in the same domain. That sounds like a lot of area to cover, and it is. We found out that is one of the most important tasks facing the Space Force, because of how critical it is to the defense of the nation.
For example, we discovered the Space Force ensures that the Global Positioning System (GPS) is
100 percent operational. And we all know how dependent we are on the GPS system, but not just for making sure we get from point A to point B. The world relies on dependable GPS operation, from gas station pumps to stock exchanges to the internet, television and airlines.
While GPS is the most well-known mission area, the Space Force conducts many other round-the-clock operations including: missile warning, space control, satellite communications, environmental monitoring, space-based intelligence and reconnaissance, and many more. In fact, many Guardians deploy in support of space missions across the globe.
As technology advances, demands on the Space Force will grow also. It was also interesting to find out that the Space Force is comprised of many interservice transfers (ISTs). They are hand-selected from others branches for their expertise and leadership, and very well have had combat-related deployments.
The tour was a bit of a two-way learning experience as we shared information about HOPE with
Space Force members. They were excited that HOPE’s services are already available to members of the Space Force and that we have begun listing “Guardians” and “Space Force” as an optional dropdown when service members connect for services on the HOPE website. It was an awesome, informative tour for us, and in the end, we believe it served as a great foundation for a long relationship between HOPE and the U.S. Space Force.