{"id":35699,"date":"2021-05-06T17:57:03","date_gmt":"2021-05-06T17:57:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/?p=35699"},"modified":"2021-05-06T17:57:44","modified_gmt":"2021-05-06T17:57:44","slug":"a-space-force-first","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/a-space-force-first\/","title":{"rendered":"A Space Force First"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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U.S. Space Force–<\/em>It\u2019s a term so new that most minds jump straight to Star Trek. Hunter Brash of Edmond, however, is very aware that as a Space Force recruit, he will not be visiting a galaxy far, far away. Instead, he will likely be doing mechanical work for cyber security or satellite communications.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Space Force is the new military branch, begun on Dec 20, 2019, for the purpose of protecting America\u2019s interest and equipment in space. Hunter, freshly graduated from Santa Fe High School, did not expect the history-making call from his Air Force recruiter that would land him on the Space Force roster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe said that because my test scores were so high, especially in electrical engineering, that I was the very first Space Force recruit to be selected from the Oklahoma City area,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cI had an hour to decide the next four years of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hunter\u2019s mother, Krista Brash, clearly remembers her son\u2019s phone call that day. \u201cHunter called me on lunch break, which he rarely does, and asked what he should do. We got his dad on the phone and talked about it. Hunter had never anticipated moving so far away. He always assumed he\u2019d eventually land at Tinker Air Force Base after basic training and be close to the family. Space Force means being stationed in California, Colorado or Florida, not Oklahoma. I said, \u2018Buddy, just pray about it. This might be the path God is sending you down so you can pursue your dreams.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Twenty minutes later, Hunter called back and accepted. He reports for duty on May 4th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI hope I might become an electrician setting up satellites,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cI\u2019ve always been around construction and mechanics because of my dad and grandpa. Right now, I\u2019m working as a glazer at a glass company, so I\u2019m pretty good at hands-on kinds of things.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe\u2019s so smart,\u201d his mom said. \u201cHunter always took Advanced Placement classes by choice, but college wasn\u2019t really the path he wanted to take. He was more interested in working on airplanes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joining the Air Force has interested Hunter and his younger brother, Dakota, since childhood. Although they spent little time with their grandparents, who once served on active duty, Krista described her sons as naturally patriotic. Hunter\u2019s high hope of joining the military was starting to look impossible, however, when he broke his leg and blew out his knee the summer before his senior year. It was one more recovery to face after a lifetime of sports injuries. He feared that his physical record might keep him from the military.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe provided all his medical records to the recruiter, and they eventually cleared him. I\u2019m so proud of him, because even when he was discouraged, he never gave up,\u201d Krista said. \u201cMy \u2018mom heart\u2019 knows it\u2019s going to be hard to let him go, but he\u2019s always been meant to do something special. He\u2019s well beyond his years, and this is such an awesome opportunity for him.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m glad my family is excited for me,\u201d Hunter said. \u201cIt\u2019s all so new. I\u2019ll be going through regular Air Force training, plus some extra course work that\u2019s being developed. History in the making. I\u2019m glad to be involved in something this important from the beginning. Keeping the United States cyber-safe is pretty cool!\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.S. Space Force–It\u2019s a term so new that most minds jump straight to Star Trek. Hunter Brash of Edmond, however, is very aware that as a Space Force recruit, he will not be visiting a galaxy far, far away. Instead, he will likely be doing mechanical work for cyber security or satellite communications. Space Force…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":54,"featured_media":35598,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"Issue":[379],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35699"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/54"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35699\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35699"},{"taxonomy":"Issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.edmondoutlook.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/Issue?post=35699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}