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posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday June 19 2018, @01:33AM   Printer-friendly
from the The-only-good-bug-is-a-dead-bug dept.

Trump orders creation of space-focused U.S. military branch

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday said he was ordering the creation of a sixth branch of the military to focus on space, a move critics said could harm the Air Force.

"It is not enough to merely have an American presence in space. We must have American dominance in space," Trump said before a meeting of his National Space Council. "We are going to have the Air Force and we're going to have the 'Space Force.' Separate but equal. It is going to be something," he said later.

The United States is a member of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which bars the stationing of weapons of mass destruction in space and only allows for the use of the moon and other celestial bodies for peaceful purposes.

The idea of a Space Force has been raised before, by Trump and previous administrations, with proponents saying it would make the Pentagon more efficient. It has also faced criticism from senior military officials. Air Force Chief of Staff General David Goldfein told a 2017 congressional hearing that creating a new space branch would "move us in the wrong direction." The Air Force oversees most of the nation's space-related military activity.

The move would require the budgetary approval of the U.S. Congress, which has been divided on the idea.

President Trump orders the creation of new Starship Troopers/Space Marines memes.

We should have a separate "Space" topic on SoylentNews at this point. We are all going to be drafted to fight aliens eventually.

Also at BBC (#winning image).

Previously: The United States Space Corps Wants You...
Congressional Panel Puts Plans for a US Space Corps in 2018 Defense Budget
The Case for a U.S. Space Force


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  • (Score: 2) by Kilo110 on Tuesday June 19 2018, @01:38AM (8 children)

    by Kilo110 (2853) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 19 2018, @01:38AM (#694781)

    I’ve always wanted to be a space marine. Where do I sign up?

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday June 19 2018, @02:34AM (4 children)

    by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 19 2018, @02:34AM (#694794) Journal

    Where do I sign up?

    At the bottom, of course.

    --
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @03:17AM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @03:17AM (#694809)

      You know what they say about Marines? Double for Spaced Marines! Trump is only a Space Cadet, apropos his "military" experience.

      • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday June 19 2018, @03:53AM (2 children)

        by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 19 2018, @03:53AM (#694831) Journal

        You know what they say about Marines?

        No, I don't know.

        --
        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @08:39AM (1 child)

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @08:39AM (#694882)

          Well, if you push their belly button, they are bottoms. How could you not know this? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Gannon [wikipedia.org] Or maybe, as always, too much information.

          • (Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday June 19 2018, @08:45AM

            by c0lo (156) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 19 2018, @08:45AM (#694884) Journal

            How could you not know this?

            This world is so much larger than US and it has so many cultures (in which jokes from one mean nothing for the others).

            --
            https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
  • (Score: 1) by bussdriver on Tuesday June 19 2018, @02:51AM (2 children)

    by bussdriver (6876) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 19 2018, @02:51AM (#694803)

    The Marines are not in the Air Force either.

    Next this idiot will order something blown up in space and you can forget about us ever getting anything back into space again for a century. Nobody can command a battlefield which anybody can render useless so easily.

    This is all about corrupt spending sprees and maybe getting some new kinds of WMD you can actually use.... Literally dropping large rocks on people... and perhaps they get x-ray laser guns working (normal lasers would just be too stupid; but I wouldn't be surprised if we blow a billion on Space Lasers for the Space Force.)

    Most STUPID sounding name I've ever heard! Sci-fi is loaded with plenty of good names; did anybody ever use that stupid name?

    • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @04:49AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 19 2018, @04:49AM (#694843)

      I understand nothing more a couple of tons of pea-gravel launched into an elliptical polar orbit will render space damn near completely useless for further exploration by anybody.

    • (Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday June 19 2018, @06:00PM

      by HiThere (866) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday June 19 2018, @06:00PM (#695172) Journal

      You say "this idiot", but my first reaction was "Now how does this hurt the US military?". It's not a reasoned reaction, and I sure wouldn't try to justify all of Trumps actions as attempts to sabotage the country, but I'm not sure that "idiot" is the reason either. (I think he's "owned".)

      --
      Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.