By way of comparison, naval historian Ronald Spector defined professionalism "as the process by which an occupational group acquires or develops a specialized, theoretical body of knowledge related to its area of expertise, develops a heightened feeling of group.The Cold War between the world superpowers – the United States of America and the Soviet Union – marked the beginning of an era in which they were preoccupied with proving their superiority over each other in all fields technology, military firepower, politics and the economy. Perhaps some reason for the space cadre's lackluster performance may be found in the Air Force's definition of space professionalism. Arguably, at least in the open sources media, the USAF and the space cadre's performance did not assuage Congress' worries that something was very wrong with military space. The rank and file USAF space cadre responded to the national debate with overwhelming and deafening public silence. Rogers and others asked questions about the ramifications of advances in commercial space and other space subjects often encountered in today's news, and the responses by USAF officials were not satisfactory enough for Rogers and Cooper to drop their call for a Space Corps. However, in the recent congressional debates regarding Rogers and Cooper's drive to establish a Space Corps, Air Force leaders did not-by some accounts-comport themselves as well as expected in discussions with Congress. Strict requirements for the professional development of the space cadre, in addition to the rigors of USAF professional military education (PME), have made today's space cadre perhaps the most skilled and knowledgeable at their job in the history of the Air Force. The USAF defined a space professional in 2004 as a person "skilled and knowledgeable in the development, application and integration of space concepts, doctrine and capabilities to achieve national security objectives." (1) For almost two decades, the Air Force has attempted to build space professionals under that definition, and great strides have been made. To understand professionalism, it is first necessary to define the term and determine if that definition is sufficient for its task. The independent actions of these five men have combined to place military space personnel, especially its officer corps, in a position analogous in modern history only to US Navy officer corps of the 1890s-a group of highly skilled operators on the verge of attaining the heights of comprehensive professionalism. Jim Cooper's (D-TN) crusade to form a US Space Corps, and Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) commander Gen Jay Raymond's execution of his Space Warfighting Construct (SWC), especially its Space Mission Force element originally conceived by US Strategic Command commander Gen John Hyten. Trump's new National Security Strategy, Rep. These events are the publication of President Donald J. Space professional development has been a major concern for the DOD, especially the Air Force since the 2001 Space Commission Report, and a great deal of outstanding work has been accomplished, but three individual but mutually supporting events in 2017 promise to allow the space cadre to flower into full fruition and produce the military space professionals the nation needs. Many recent events are coalescing to form a critical mass of energy that will soon give birth to the first true generation of military space professionals in history.
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