Rotary Club hears about US Space Force

Emily Gazzaway spoke to Rotarians. MOLLIE LA SALLE| TCB

By Mollie LaSalle

WOODVILLE – The Rotary Club of Woodville hosted guest speaker Emily Gazzaway last Wednesday, who spoke about her military career, which began in 1995 when she enlisted in the Air Force.

She retired after 27 years as a Chief Master Sergeant. She didn’t spend the entire 27 years in the Air Force; In December 2019, her final position was as the senior enlisted aide to the nations very first chief of space operations.

Gazzaway explained, “the Space Force’s mission is to secure the nations interests in, from, and to space. Space is woven into the fabric of our everyday life, nearly everything we do touches space. Space Force exists to defend American interests as well as those of our allies”.

The US Space Force was established December 20, 2019 when the National Defense Authorization Act was signed. Space Force is the first new branch of the armed services since the creation of the Air Force in 1947. The US Space Force was established when it was determined that space was a national security imperative, combined with competitors in space, it was clear that there was a need for a branch of the military focused on pursuing superiority in space.

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While the US Space Force is fairly new, the Department of Defense has been working in space since the onset of space exploration; in turn, the US military is faster, better connected, more informed, and more precise due to its ability to harness space effectively. Access to, and the freedom to operate in space is vital to our national security and economy. Military and civilian guardians who work for the Space Force protect and defend American interests in space to ensure that our military, our allies, and our people have the ability to harness space whenever and wherever they need it.

The Space Force is a separate and distinct branch of the military, but it is located at the Pentagon, along with the other branches. It is organized by the department of the Air Force, similar to the way the Marines are organized by the department of the Navy. The Chief of Space Operations serves as the senior uniformed officer responsible for organization, training, and equipping all organic and assigned space forces serving in the United States and abroad. The chief of space force operations is a member of the joint chiefs of staff, and functions as a military advisor to the secretary of defense, the National Security Council, and the president.

Space Force is organized, trained and equipped to: provide freedom of operation for the US in, from, and to space; conduct space operations; and protect America’s interest in space. It also provides freedom of operation for the US in, from, and to space, provides prompt and sustained operations, protects America’s interest in space, deters aggression in, from, and to space, and conducts space operations. Space Force manages launch operations at the east and west coast space launch deltas. Maintaining space dominance and superiority is an emerging capability needed to protect US assets from attack.

The US Space Force is the smallest of the armed services, with roughly 8,600 personnel. It operates 77 spacecraft across programs such as GPS, military satellite communications, spaceplanes, US missile warning systems, surveillance networks, and the satellite control network. US Space Forces have been a part of every conflict since the Vietnam War. The Persian Gulf War was often referred to as the first space war.