It’s official: Members of the Space Force are called Guardians

On Friday, Vice President Mike Pence announced that members of America’s newest military branch, the Space Force, will be called Guardians. Pence made the announcement during an event celebrating the first anniversary of the branch’s establishment.

“It is my honor, on behalf of the President of the United States, to announce that, henceforth, the men and women of the United States Space Force will be known as ‘Guardians,'” Pence said during the ceremonies.

While the vast majority of the new Space Force is comprised of Air Force personnel, the branch has been transferring volunteers from other services into the new Space Force throughout the past year. To date, the branch now boasts roughly 4,0000 members. Now, with the announcement that these new members of the Space Force are called Guardians, America’s space-based branch is finally reaching some level of cultural parity with its sister branches.

Other service branch monikers include Soldiers (U.S. Army), Marines (Marine Corps), Sailors (U.S. Navy) and Airmen (Air Force).

Despite the popular sentiment about Space Force troops fighting a future conflict in orbit, the branch’s most essential work is done from right here on Earth. With hundreds of thousands of pieces of space junk and satellites to keep tabs on, the Space Force is tasked with keeping America’s orbital assets safe and functional, and when necessary, ensuring the rapid replacement of compromised platforms.

The United States has been accused of militarizing space with the establishment of this new branch by some of its foreign competitors, but the establishment of this new branch is actually a step toward military parity with China and Russia. Both of those nations established space-specific military branches in 2015.