US Space Force Ranks? [Speculation]

Discussion in 'Miscellaneous' started by Chaos Descending, Feb 24, 2020.

  1. Tom Hendricks

    Tom Hendricks Vice Admiral Premium Member

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    Yes
     
  2. We will in 2063
     
  3. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    No worry, Zef's got this.
     
  4. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    Not really, no.

    The most logical option would have been simply to rename the USAF to United States Aerospace Force...

    ...but that would have made too much sense. :rolleyes:
     
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  5. Chaos Descending

    Chaos Descending Vice Admiral Admiral

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    That makes no sense at all. Renaming the Air Force wouldn't have achieved anything useful.
     
  6. Mr. Laser Beam

    Mr. Laser Beam Fleet Admiral Admiral

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    It would help cut down on the waste and the excess.

    It's simpler and more efficient to have fewer branches of the military, not more. The Canadians proved that. We could stand to learn a thing or two from them.
     
  7. Chaos Descending

    Chaos Descending Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The Canadian military is not even remotely comparable to the United States military. The entire manpower of the Canadian Armed Forces is about 1/3 that of the US Marine Corps. There's virtually nothing for us to be learned from the Canadian military.
     
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  8. Gingerbread Demon

    Gingerbread Demon I love Star Trek Discovery Premium Member

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    Again why do you need a separate space force it is just not needed.
     
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  9. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    Maybe. They didn't think an Air Force was need at one time either.
     
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  10. Gingerbread Demon

    Gingerbread Demon I love Star Trek Discovery Premium Member

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    Did they?
    At least the role of Army, Navy, and Air Force make sense for what do you need a fourth branch service called Space Force when the Air Force could easily cover space as well.
     
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  11. Nerys Myk

    Nerys Myk A Spock and a smile Premium Member

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    In the US, yes.
    There's no air in space.
     
    Last edited: Jan 31, 2021
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  12. Shamrock Holmes

    Shamrock Holmes Commodore Commodore

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    Actually, that's not entirely true. The lowest Specialist rank being E3 didn't come about until 1955, initially as Specialist Third Class paralleling USN ratings of the same era, then renamed to E4.

    Initially, specialists ranked with private first class at sixth and seventh grade (roughly E1 to E2) between 1920 and 1942; during the 40s this was replaced by the rank of Technician which upgraded the minimum rank to 5th Grade in pay (which progression up to 1st Grade), but like the current E4 rank, it sat between the grades in authority, for instance a Technican Fifth Grade could give orders to a Pfc or Pvt, but would be outranked by any Corporal regardless of TIS.

    Sometimes, I have a little difficulty forgetting that the US gives authority before training, when the UK system does it the other way around which seems more logical to me. In the UK, you don't get a promotion until you've completed specialist training and in most "general trades" you have to have some experience as well (MPs and medics are an exception, you get a immediate promotion to at least Lance Corporal/Leading Hand* there, although I believe privates are still used as assistants). In fact, they recently revised the SOPs so that you need to be at least AB2 (roughly AFSC Skill Level 3) to even deploy at least in the RN and presumably the RM.

    *Not sure how it works in the RAF, though I assume the RAF Regt and RAF Police follow the usual pattern
     
  13. Captain Crow

    Captain Crow Fleet Captain Fleet Captain

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  14. Gingerbread Demon

    Gingerbread Demon I love Star Trek Discovery Premium Member

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    25 star General that must be a heck of a lot of power and responsibility :wtf:
     
  15. Chaos Descending

    Chaos Descending Vice Admiral Admiral

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    The first Army rank of Specialist (Specialist Third Class) introduced in 1955 was always E-4. It was never E-3.
     
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  16. Shamrock Holmes

    Shamrock Holmes Commodore Commodore

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    Okay, you're partly right, the rank of Specialist Third Class (equivalent to Petty Officer Third Class), which was later renamed Specialist Four, and eventually became the modern Specialist rank, was always E4, that was a typo. I think I meant to say either Specialist 4 or SP4.

    However, the first Specialist rank was Private Specialist and Private First Class Specialist, which ranked with Private (Seventh Grade, now E1) and Private First Class (Sixth Grade, now PV2 E2).

    This was replaced in the 1940s with the Technician Third, Fourth and Fifth Grade which ranked with but below Army Staff Sergeant (E6), Sergeant (E5) and Corporal (E4) respectively.

    These were discontinued in 1948, and Technicians were "sideways promoted" to the corresponding NCO grade. This proved to be unpopular and the change was reversed in 1955, leading to the Specialist system noted above.

    For details see:

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specialist_(rank)#United_States_Army
     
  17. J.T.B.

    J.T.B. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yeah... but by the time it was created almost nobody thought that.The USAAF had about a third of the army's personnel in WW2 and almost half the budget before separating and had fought a major war basically independently of its parent service. The USSF by contrast is about 5% of USAF personnel and 10% of the budget. Satellite operations and orbital defense systems are very important, but I'm still not convinced a new branch of the armed forces was necessary for that mission at this point.

    Those were not ranks. It was increased skill pay without increased rank, which is different from what we're talking about.
     
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  18. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    Fighter jocks just kept their thumbs on space advocates for too long. USAF needs to be back as the ARMY Air Corp, under the thumbs of ground pounders— with space force getting USAF’s budget.
     
  19. J.T.B.

    J.T.B. Rear Admiral Rear Admiral

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    Yeah, that's really going to happen. Even though part of the Army, the USAAC was completely run by air officers by around 1935. In WW2 Hap Arnold had a seat on the Joint and Combined Chiefs of Staff committees and General Marshall let him run his own show. That war showed pretty clearly that air forces which could act strategically on their own (USAAF, RAF) contributed more toward victory than those which were closely tied to army support.
     
  20. publiusr

    publiusr Admiral Admiral

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    We can dream. The USAF tried to quash the A-10 doco “Grunts in the Sky”