{"id":37177,"date":"2020-01-21T16:27:38","date_gmt":"2020-01-21T16:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/01\/21\/these-space-force-uniforms-look-awfully-familiar\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T07:17:21","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T07:17:21","slug":"these-space-force-uniforms-look-awfully-familiar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/news\/your-air-force\/2020\/01\/21\/these-space-force-uniforms-look-awfully-familiar\/","title":{"rendered":"These Space Force uniforms look awfully familiar"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

For months now, questions have swirled about how the new Space Force<\/a> will distinguish itself as the sixth branch of the military. There are so many things to sort out: a training base, an education pipeline, rank structure, uniforms, a motto, a song and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With a tweet on Friday, the service broke some of its first personnel news, unveiling its working uniform. Surprise! It\u2019s the same occupational camouflage pattern the Army<\/a> debuted several years ago and the Air Force began sporting more recently<\/a>. But this time, with dark blue name tapes, where the Army uses black and the Air Force picked out \u201cspice brown.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The internet, naturally, responded with questions of why camo would be necessary in space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSpace Force members control\/protect assets in space but are not in space,\u201d the account tweeted on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The mini-controversy smacked of the Navy\u2019s foray into its own pattern years ago \u2015 affectionately known as \u201caquaflage\u201d or \u201cblueberries\u201d \u2015 a digital blue camouflage that might have blended in with the ocean, but certainly not the gray ships sailors are assigned to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And in any case, sailors wear dark blue coveralls underway. The Navy has since abandoned it in favor of a more practical brown\/green digital pattern, first worn by expeditionary sailors and later adopted by all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the Space Force\u2019s case, of course, choosing OCP is a time and money saver. Two services already use it, so there was no extra cost associated, other than ordering a new color of thread for name tapes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The service member depicted in the photo is Gen. Jay Raymond, formerly the head of Air Force Space Command and now the first airman assigned to the Space Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For now, the branch is made up entirely of Air Force personnel, but the plan, according to officials, is to start bringing in members of other services at first, before fully enlisting and commissioning new members directly into the Space Force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s going to be really important that we get this right,\u201d Raymond told reporters on Dec. 20, the day the service officially stood up. \u201cA uniform, a patch, a song. … There\u2019s a lot of work going on toward that end. It\u2019s going to take a long time to get to that point, but that\u2019s not something we\u2019re going to roll out on day one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The first #SpaceForce<\/a> utility uniform nametapes have touched down in the
Pentagon. @EsperDoD<\/a> @SecAFOfficial<\/a> @SpaceForceCSO<\/a> @GenDaveGoldfein<\/a> @DeptofDefense@usairforce<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/Jvzt5bvNl7<\/a><\/p>— United States Space Force (@USSpaceForce) January 18, 2020<\/a><\/blockquote>