NDT on Trump's "Space Force"

[Anomalocaris]

I doubtn space force will ever involve sending up any significant number of people, at least not unless we wish to stake armed claims and plant flags on parcels of the moon.  It will be almost a totally ground based, desk bound service that plans, strategize, procure, deploy, support and operate space based assets.

After the initial glamor wears off, it would be the least glamorous of armed services, at least in the eyes of low IQ, high testosterone trumpomatic moron base.    It won’t have fighter jocks pulling Gs.   It won’t have gung ho marines ejaculating daily to the sound of machine guns and smell of napalm.   It won’t have carrier landings or submariners moments away from impact of torpedos and the doom of implosion.

It will be sort of like a trucking company buying, Managing, operating a fleet of self driving trucks.

It would be seen as a force not even of Ubernerds, but just run of the mill nerds, and certainly not a force of heros.

It will be seen as a force not of jocks, but of kids who score moderately well on SATs but who are beaten up and have their lunches stolen in high school.

Should trump live so long, he would find after a while his “space force” would lack all cachet that could be reflected onto the guy who started it, at least in the eyes of the only demographic he cares about,

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There are rocket scientists who can design workable rockets and space craft, and then there are “rocket scientists” who can be taught the concepts of how orbital mechanics work and able to use and make sense of the software that does the actual math.

The former is comparable to designers of modern aircraft, warships and even tanks.  They are generally in the industry and not in the military.   The latter anyone with a 4 year engineering or natural science degree can do, and a good few bright kids who haven’t been through college can also be taught to do.

In practice the personnel of a “space force” need not come close in intelligence and education normally ascribed to spacey things like NASA or ESA.   The elite specialists actually in such a force would be bachelors and a few masters.  No PhDs required.

As someone who actually was selected for the space program, you sound a lot like a guy who would never get near it. When there was a serious problem with a $450 million spacecraft inside of my station circle, I had to know what I was doing because I was the only guy on earth that could do anything about it. My job was to spot the problem and guide the crew through the correct operational procedures. The Air Force needed to be absolutely certain that I was up to it. I had to get it right or go to a court martial and possibly prison.

It's not the sort of job that you become qualified for by watching the Discovery channel.

You seem to think just because you might fancy yourself as the only person who might be on the spot to do something, what you do really makes you more than a glorified automechanic with a long check list.