Space Force Needs Help Naming Its Troops

The Air Force calls its personnel airmen, but the Space Force isn't planning on calling its troops "spacemen"—and "space cadets" has also been ruled out. The new branch of the US military said in a press release this week that it would like members of the military, space professionals in particular, to submit "ideas related to Space Force ranks, names for operational units and what Space Force members should be called collectively," the Week reports. Space Force commanders say they want names that will "appropriately convey the nature of the newest Armed Forces branch and the domain in which it operates." Air Force personnel have been invited to submit ideas here.

"As we continue to forge the Space Force into a lean, agile, and forward-looking 21st Century warfighting branch, we want to provide space professionals the opportunity to influence what the members of our new service will be called," Lt. Gen. DT Thompson, US Space Force vice commander, said in the release. "Proposals must be gender-neutral, distinctive and should emphasize a future-oriented military force," the Space Force release said. Submissions also "cannot violate copyrights, infringe on trademarks or other intellectual property rights, or be proprietary," which rules out "Starship Troopers," Task & Force notes. (More Space Force stories.)