The newest branch of the U.S. armed forces was founded by the Trump administration in 2019 “to protect our assets and our interests in the sky,” said Sgt. Ashley Fuehrer, a technical sergeant and recruiter for the U.S. Air Force in Northwest Ohio, who spoke to the Lima Kiwanis Club on Tuesday.
Despite early misconceptions that the Space Force was not a real branch of the military, Fuehrer has been recruiting high school and college-age students, as well as adults ages 17-39 from Lima to Leipsic and the Ottawa- Glandorf area.
“They didn’t realize it was real,” Fuehrer said.
Two years later, Fuehrer still encounters people who are unfamiliar with the Space Force program, which operates under the U.S. Air Force.
Recruits undergo seven-and-a-half weeks of basic training alongside U.S. Air Force service members and are eligible for the same educational benefits, Fuehrer said.
The Space Force claims that “unfettered access to space is vital to national defense,” given the prevalence of satellites that power everything from GPS devices to weather monitoring systems and other technologies essential for modern living.
The emphasis of the program today is on cyber security and intelligence to protect those satellites, monitor space debris and assist the National Aeronautics and Space Administration program.
But the Space Force will also focus on acquiring military space systems, organizing space forces and developing a military doctrine of space power.
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