New command senior enlisted leader takes over the space battlefield

The Office of the Senior Enlisted Advisor to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff released new senior enlisted leader assignments on June 26, including the new position that Space Force Chief Master Sgt. Jacob C. Simmons will be assuming.

In the announcement, it was stated that Simmons, who is currently assigned as command senior enlisted leader of the Space Operations Command in Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, will replace Marine Corps Master Gunnery Sgt. Scott H. Stalker as command senior enlisted leader for U.S. Space Command in Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado.

In a moderated discussion on Agile Combat Employment and Enlisted Leadership back in October 2022, Simmons discussed the complexities space brings to missions and the unforeseeable climate space imposes.

“You continue to hear that space is congested, contested, [and] competitive, I’ll add that it’s complex. It is extremely complex in space,” Simmons said. “Space is ubiquitous. It is persistently present. It is involved in every mission, it is involved in every capability and it must be intertwined as such… Space is no longer peaceful, permissive or predictable. That is a new condition we find ourselves in.”

Simmons continued on to highlight the present dangers space holds and the importance of exploring the terrain in informed, updated ways.

“Space is a ballistic battlefield. And what I mean by that is things move in space at 17,000 plus miles per hour and with over 50,000 objects in space or nearly 50,000 objects in space, each of those have the potential of colliding at an instant and creating a cascade of long lived shrapnel,” Simmons said. “That is a battlefield that just doesn’t stop. It doesn’t rest. Space is a technical and a tactical terrain. We have to get after a new set of threats and we have to understand what the new thresholds are.”

Simmons emphasized our responsibility to understand and battle space with new, inventive solutions.

“We have to look at getting after things, not only in an innovative way, but being able to iterate those things and integrate them into the fight faster and further in than what’s ever been asked from space before,” Simmons said.

By giving Simmons a new assignment, hopefully his background and extensive knowledge of space can help the U.S. Space Command advance their journey into space and continue to fight on such an incalculable terrain.

“We have to empower at the edges with the authorities to be able to execute at speed,” Simmons said. “That means we have to be able to trust those leaders at the very front end, the very front edge of the space fight.”

With Simmons as one of those leaders at the front of the space fight, the ever-evolving fight in space continues with a new leader.

Georgina DiNardo is an editorial fellow for Military Times and Defense News and a recent graduate of American University, specializing in journalism, psychology, and photography in Washington, D.C.

6月26日，参谋长联席会议主席高级士官顾问办公室公布了新的高级士官领导任命，其中包括太空部队首席军士长雅各布·C·西蒙斯将担任的新职位。

公告中指出，目前担任科罗拉多州彼得森太空部队基地太空作战司令部高级士官长的西蒙斯，将接替海军陆战队一级军士长斯科特·H·斯托克，担任科罗拉多州彼得森太空部队基地美国太空司令部高级士官长。

在 2022 年 10 月的一次关于敏捷作战部署和士官领导力的专题讨论中，西蒙斯讨论了太空给任务带来的复杂性以及太空带来的不可预见的气候。

“你不断听到太空拥挤、竞争激烈、充满争议，我还要补充一点，太空环境极其复杂，”西蒙斯说道。“太空无处不在，它持续存在，它参与每一项任务，它与每一项能力息息相关，而且必须如此紧密地交织在一起……太空不再是和平、自由或可预测的。这是我们如今面临的新局面。”

西蒙斯接着强调了太空目前存在的危险，以及以知情、与时俱进的方式探索太空的重要性。

“太空是一个弹道战场。我的意思是，太空中的物体以超过每小时17000英里的速度运动，太空中有超过5万个物体，或者说接近5万个物体，每一个物体都有可能在瞬间相撞，产生一连串持续时间很长的碎片，”西蒙斯说。“这是一个永不停歇的战场。太空既是技术战场，也是战术战场。我们必须应对一系列新的威胁，并且必须了解新的界限是什么。”

西蒙斯强调，我们有责任了解太空，并用新颖的、富有创意的解决方案来应对太空挑战。

西蒙斯说：“我们必须着眼于如何取得进展，不仅要以创新的方式，还要能够迭代这些进展，并将它们更快、更深入地融入到战斗中，这比以往任何太空探索都更加重要。”

希望通过赋予西蒙斯新的任务，他丰富的太空背景和知识能够帮助美国太空司令部推进其太空探索之旅，并继续在这片难以预测的领域中战斗。

西蒙斯说：“我们必须赋予边缘部门权力，使其能够迅速执行任务。这意味着我们必须能够信任那些处于太空战最前线的领导者。”

西蒙斯是太空战争前线的领导者之一，随着太空战争的不断发展，太空战争也迎来了新的领导者。

乔治娜·迪纳尔多是《军事时报》和《防务新闻》的编辑助理，也是美国大学的应届毕业生，主修新闻学、心理学和摄影，目前在华盛顿特区就读。