Guardians of the Galaxy? How these military spouses really feel about all the Space Force jokes
The Space Force logo’s similarities to Star Trek are just one area for which the newest branch of the military has been fodder for jokes since its inception in December 2019. (Space Force)
Since the sixth branch of the military was established in December 2019 it has been the brunt of numerous jokes — from Star Wars and Star Trek comparisons to, more recently, cracks at its service members being called Guardians. (As in, Guardians of the Galaxy.)
Space Force spouses Cara-Lee Alford and Erin Vazquez have heard them all.
“There’s kind of two camps,” Alford said on a recent episode of The Spouse Angle podcast. “There’s the people that kind of roll their eyes like, ‘Oh, Space Force’ and then there’s the people that kind of start talking about boots on Mars and oh, you know, the space program going to the moon and stuff. And I’m like, ‘No, that’s really not what it’s about.’”
The conversation came just days after the Space Force was put back in the spotlight after a White House press conference, in which Press Secretary Jen Psaki appeared to mock the service during a White House press conference with a bit of sarcasm that didn’t sit well with a lot of people who support the Space Force.
Some lawmakers demanded an apology after Psaki’s remarks, and by the next day, she announced that the Space Force had the president’s full support.
In a call with reporters after the incident, Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond acknowledged the service had a public relations problem.
“Raymond blamed both the isolated nature of space and the fact that most space threats are classified for why the public is not yet on board with the new service,” Politico reported.
"Space doesn’t have a mother,” Raymond said. “You can’t reach out and hug a satellite. You can’t see it. You can’t touch it. It's hard to have that connection."
The jokes and misunderstandings are nothing new for Alford or Vazquez, who both said they personally embrace the Guardian moniker.
“I love it,” Vazquez said. “I know it came under so much scrutiny and a lot of people wanted to make fun of it. I love it. I fully embrace it. Bring it.”
Erin Vazquez pictured with her husband, Francisco, who is a major in the Space Force. (Erin Vazquez)
Vazquez’s husband is a major who helps train new Guardians at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. He transferred from the Air Force to the Space Force in a ceremony in fall 2020.
“My husband, who comes from a background that wouldn’t really lend itself to becoming a major in the U.S. Space Force and, you know, all of the accomplishments he’s had — let’s just say as everyone has, he has worked very hard to get to where he’s at,” Vazquez said.
Yet when they shared the news with someone who should’ve realized the accomplishment, they were told, “That’s great, but I still don’t like President Trump.”
“We kind of sat there with that for a second and what we realized is that the branch clearly is being conflated with a politician who certainly is controversial and divisive in a lot of ways, and it was just a little frustrating and disheartening, so it lent itself to a conversation about what this really means and what it really is — it being the Space Force — and being able to talk about that in a way,” Vazquez said. “It’s future-looking; it’s visionary.”
“I think it’s only going to get more important as things go forward in the future,” said Alford, whose husband also transferred into the Space Force from the Air Force and has spent his entire military career working in space-related operations.
“I think it’s really going to be important to rehabilitate the Space Force’s reputation or, you know, the public view of it because you really want to get the best people in there to kind of stay on top of the game and I think it also is important just for the wellbeing the morale of service members. You don’t want to be kind of a national joke when what you do is so important.”
Cara-Lee Alford has been a military spouse for 17 years, 16 of which were spent as an Air Force spouse before her husband joined the Space Force as a lieutenant colonel in 2020. (Cara-Lee Alford)
Vazquez said she gets why people have mixed responses or don’t understand the Space Force because it is so new. But she’s hopeful that public perception will start to change.
“It’s easy to get mixed up in images of Star Trek and moon boots and all of that good stuff. But I think it’s really going to be a point of pride for our nation as we understand more and more of how it is really serving us on a citizen every day kind of level and in ways that we aren’t even aware of,” she said. “I just think it’s really exciting.”