There is an equine arm of the United States Space Force. We\u2019re not horsing around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The military\u2019s newest and most continually bewildering service<\/a> branch shared a video last week welcoming the addition of a military working horse \u2014 a mustang named Ghost \u2014 to the ranks of the 30th Space Wing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n (Ghost, unlike Mustangs immensely popular with junior enlisted, does not come with a debilitating 41 percent APR.)<\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n The 5-year-old horse, acquired through the Bureau of Land Management, is part of a team at California\u2019s Vandenberg Air Force Base that carries out duties that range from conservation efforts to the enforcement of hunting and fishing laws.<\/p>\n\n\n\n And while no one can fault the service members involved for landing perhaps the most enjoyable gig in the U.S. military, the notion that these tasks A) are performed by a military unit, and B) once fell under the command of the U.S. Air Force remains perplexing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBefore this program I had never ridden a horse before, but I came in every day and rode and volunteered,\u201d Senior Airman Michael Terrazas said in a March 2019 profile of the detachment<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are able to go through creeks and water with the horses, high hills that we wouldn\u2019t be able to get through with off-road vehicles. There are places we\u2019ve gone where the water is so deep that my boots are wet while on horseback, but the horses can walk through with no problems.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jealous, no doubt. But should pleasant strolls on horseback through picturesque landscapes be included in the budget of a branch that has its eyes turned toward the cosmos?<\/p>\n\n\n\n That answer is an emphatic neigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Recent evidence compiled by top astrophysicists suggests horses cannot survive in the vacuum of space. Additionally, it\u2019s widely accepted by the scientific community that a very small number of horses have participated in the development of celestial programs such as lunar modules, Mars rovers, or satellites for deep-space exploration. I personally have viewed Christopher Nolan\u2019s \u201cInterstellar\u201d at least a dozen times and have yet to identify a Seabiscuit cameo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Still, this is space, the final frontier, and there\u2019s never been a better time to provide a celestial cowboy with a trusty steed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n