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U.S. Space Force, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.
When Space Force released its prototype dress uniform in September last year, many pointed out that it was giving the “Battlestar Galactica appeal. To complete the sci-fi vibe, each button bore the branch’s logo, and others say it looks like the ones in Star Trek. The criticism was not just exclusive to the uniform but the branch itself. Using the taxpayers’ money to design such uniforms, more so, establishing a new military branch aimed to “maintain space superiority” of the US is really something. Netflix also featured a workplace satire starring Steve Carrell called “Space Force.”
Last May, US Space Force’s (USSF) uniform was updated, and people could not help but notice that the new uniform was similar to Steve Carrell’s Netflix’s Space Force uniform this time.
Establishing Space Force
In 2019, Trump signed the act establishing the US Space Force during a ceremony at Joint Base Andrews, creating the sixth military branch and a new one since 1947. With that and a budget of $738 billion for the fiscal year 2020, everything about Space Force had to be made from the ground up. Part of it, of course, was the logo and uniform that would visually represent the branch. As Trump said during the ceremony,
Space is the world’s newest warfighting domain. Amid grave threats to our national security, American superiority in space is absolutely vital. We’re leading, but we’re not leading by enough, and very shortly, we’ll be leading by a lot.
A common criticism was that the agency and its goal to “protect the interests of the United States in space” was so much a waste of money that Netflix released a satirized series of the agency, starring Steve Carell.
But so what? Space Force just went with their thing and released the prototype of their uniform that, as mentioned above, had the Battlestar Galactica-Star Trek vibe. As NPR described,
The Space Force uniform combines a dark blue jacket with gray pants. Its buttons prominently feature the delta shape that the service adopted soon after its creation — and which has frequently been compared to the Starfleet emblem from the venerable Star Trek franchise.
Chief of Space Force operations Gen. John Raymond predicted that the uniform would still be tweaked before being finally rolled out to “force’s guardians.”
Netflix’s Space Force
Last May 29, 2020, Netflix’s Space Force premiered. Greg Daniels and Steve Carell created it. It is a workplace comedy that revolves around a group of people who were tasked to establish the United States Space Force. Steve Carell, John Malkovich, Ben Schwartz, Diana Silvers, Lisa Kudrow, Tawny Newsome, and Jimmy Yang are starring. As the series’ teaser says,
“On June 18, 2018, the federal government announced the creation of a 6th major division of the Unites States Armed Forces. The goal of the new branch is ‘to defend satellites from attack’ and ‘reform other space-related tasks’… or something. This is the story of the men and women who have to figure it out.”
To make things more comedic, the uniform created for these Space Force troops was “moon camouflage,” since they were expected to be deployed in space and therefore would need to blend in on the moon if conflicts required them to hide arise. This was an idea of costume designer Kathleen Felix-Hager. That was just one of the many uniforms used in the film. On the other hand, Steve Carell’s character, General Naird, had a realistic uniform; even the ribbons that show how highly decorated he was were placed correctly. In an article by Observer, Kathleen explained that they did want to be respectful of authentic military uniforms and not turn them into a joke. She explained that “the show has a quirky sensibility, but it’s very much based in reality. We really wanted to create a military look that was elevated and true to the history of uniform.”
Latest USSF Uniform
Just recently, USSF released updates on their uniform and grooming policy, including the interim uniform changes that included the enlisted rank insignia, hexagonal nametag, hexagonal US lapel insignia for enlisted Guardians, distinctive service hat badges for officers and enlisted, and Space Force “Delta, Globe and Orbit” buttons. Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force Roger A. Towberman said,
Guardians have been waiting a long time for this policy to drop, and I couldn’t be happier to get it out there and start getting this stuff on the shelves. I appreciate their connection, which brought us these ideas, and the character they’ve shown waiting patiently for us to work through the policy process. It’s time to space it up!
USSF’s new uniform. [Source: Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs/Spaceforce.mil]Also, the resemblance between the new dress uniform and those worn by Carrell’s character is uncanny. Note that Space Force was filmed before the authentic Space Force uniform was released. According to the service, the changes resulted from listening to the feedback they got from their service members.
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