Photo By Brooke Nevins | Col. Felix G. Torres, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence...... read more read more
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COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. -- Col. Felix G. Torres, U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Center of Excellence commandant, discussed how the Army and its joint and allied partners structure and develop the careers of their respective officers, enlisted personnel and civilians with space-related missions during a panel at the 40th Space Symposium at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, Colo., April 10.
The panel, titled “Developing a Space Cadre” and moderated by James Moschgat, director of the National Security Space Institute at Peterson Space Force Base, included Brig. Gen. Matthew S. Cantore, deputy commander of U.S. Space Force Space Training and Readiness Command; Capt. William Tirrell, Office of the Deputy Chief of Naval Operations for Information Warfare (OPNAV N2N6) deputy director; Gp. Capt. Vaughn Arnall, Royal Air Force; and Torres.
The panelists shared how their services recruit civilians and bring in space operators – the Space Force recruits enlisted personnel from basic training and its officers from the traditional paths to earning a commission, while the Army and Navy currently only have space officer positions – as well as the opportunities for internal and external schoolhouse courses and mentorship offered to remain competitive in recruiting and allow for clear career development.
“You've got to develop career fields and develop career paths, then allow people to experience those key positions where they gain and utilize that education and training we've given them,” Cantore said. “It's ensuring that it's not a one-and-done situation where they come into a space related activity and then they leave, never to come back. We want to make sure that throughout the guardians’ careers, they get the focused, continuous opportunity to utilize those skills that they have and employ that in their position.”
Torres said the Army has had space operations officers for 25 years and continues to recognize the cruciality of the space domain in enabling maneuver of and communication between forces on the ground. The Army is nearing the approval of an enlisted space military occupational specialty, which would greatly increase talent retention in Army space operations.
Currently, the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command has functional area (FA-40) officers but “borrows” enlisted personnel from other branches like air defense artillery, the signal corps and intelligence corps who return to their respective branch after a short stint at USASMDC. Establishing the 40D space MOS will allow the command to build and retain expertise among its space noncommissioned officer cohort and meet changing Army force structure requirements.
Torres detailed the various training courses, such as the Army space cadre basic course, the space operations officer qualification course, or the space control systems operations course, available to its space operators who fill USASMDC’s hundreds of space billets globally.
“We need service members who are warfighters first, whether they're integrating friendly or coalition capabilities, conducting electromagnetic warfare, or jamming to interdict adversary satellite communications,” Torres said. “Army space professionals, and space professionals at large, are not doing space effects just to do them – whether it’s a decisive operation or shaping operation, I need those individuals to provide an effect synchronized with lethal and nonlethal capabilities to give me an advantage.”
But space training isn’t just for space professionals, Torres said.
The new Army Space Training Strategy outlines efforts to train and educate the total force down to the lowest echelon to fully integrate and leverage space domain capabilities and employ their effects on the battlefield. For example, infantrymen may learn how the space domain affects their mission specific equipment and how to react to those effects in a degraded or disrupted environment through professional military training, home station training, combat training centers and exercises.
USASMDC’s 1st Space Brigade has also integrated several U.S. Marine Corps Forces Space Command Marines as well as established liaison officer programs with the United Kingdom to develop existing strategic relationships and share information on space systems, technology and best practices.
"We have a footprint within the U.S. and within NATO with exchange offices and liaison officers,” Arnall said, “so that continues to give us huge reward and feedback...to develop tactics, techniques and procedures (TTPs) and concepts of operations at the strategic and tactical levels.”
| Date Taken: | 04.11.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 04.11.2025 17:27 |
| Story ID: | 495171 |
| Location: | COLORADO SPRINGS, COLORADO, US |
| Web Views: | 85 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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