A Space Force captain traveling with their spouse stood stunned at the Spirit Airlines ticket counter this past October hoping to take advantage of the company’s waived baggage fees for active-duty service members.
But there was a problem: The Spirit employee didn’t believe the Space Force exists.
The officer showed a military-issued ID card, pulled up the official website on their phone and explained the recent history of the Space Force. The desk attendant believed the service member was no longer active in the Air Force, couldn’t comprehend the existence of the new branch and didn’t want to issue the discount.
“In the moment, I was flabbergasted,” said the officer, who spoke to Military.com on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal by Space Force superiors. “We tried to take it on methodically and convince him that the Space Force was real.”
It wasn’t until a Spirit supervisor got involved that the Guardian finally received the discount and the couple went on their way without paying the baggage fees. A few days later, the Space Force officer received an emailed apology from the airline, which was reviewed by Military.com.
The incident illustrated what many Guardians have found all too familiar: a public that doesn’t understand America’s newest military branch or believes it’s just a tepidly reviewed Netflix series.
Space Force, Galactic Empire, Star Fleet, Guardians of the Galaxy, etc.
Already was part of the Air Force No Need for a Separate Division !!!
REALLY? Did you buy that one? There is no SPACE FORCE. There is though a Billionaire “Space Race ” with Bezos, Branson, and Musk and thus far they have no Military contracts and we don’t exactly have any of the Right Stuff in our ranks now with all the OCD,ADHD and PTSD’s to imagine a LOL ” Force” like that. Like Reagan’s ” Star Wars” just another sound bite fantasy we have enough cross-continental Nuclear destructive devices armed and ready to go without Heros. That’s the sad fact of recent wars. Senseless loss of life and for WHAT? Nothing has changed. The Cold War was not profitable without some loss of life somewhere to justify it’s ridiculous COST. We love our boys and fallen Heros here though gives us a National and Patriotic belonging to our own cultural fanstasy.