Army’s only Space Brigade gets new home at Fort Carson
The fact that this year’s Space Symposium at the Broadmoor is the biggest symposium yet is proof of just how important space has become, both to our economy and our military.
More evidence of that military importance came Thursday afternoon just a few miles away at Fort Carson, as a longtime tenant of Colorado Springs finally got a home of its own.
Lieutenant General James Dickinson, Commander of Army Space and Missile Defense was on hand Thursday for the ribbon cutting, a ceremonial end to a nearly 3 year project to create a permanent home at the mountain post for the Army’s 1st Space Brigade.
“It’s a great day to be an army space warrior, right?” said Dickinson in his brief address to soldiers and past commanders of the brigade.
The 1st Space Brigade is the Army’s only brigade dedicated to managing satellites, monitoring for missiles, and even embedding teams with troops to provide space support on the ground.
Colonel Eric Little assumed command of the brigade last year.
“I think there’s 19 different locations globally that we have soldiers providing space support to the warfighter,” he said.
The brigade has been housed in the Colorado Springs area since it was created in 2001, but it was spread out between Peterson AFB and other office buildings just outside Peterson.
However, the Army recently felt it was time for this brigade to be surrounded by the same soldiers whom it serves and interacts with on the battlefield.
“Being able to show up in the morning and see army soldiers running PT and calling cadence, going to the dining facility with our soldiers, qualifying on the same weapons range as our infantry and artillery and logistics brothers and sisters, it’s important to what we do,” said Col. Little.
The move to Fort Carson comes just months before the formation of US Space Command, a new combatant command which will dramatically restructure space operations within all branches.
According to Little, the 1st Space Brigade will remain under the Army’s Space and Missile Defense Command, but the SMDC will now be under the US Space Command umbrella.
US Space Command is believed to be a precursor to the creation of a Space Force, which the President has pushed for on numerous occasions.
Little doesn’t expect the restructuring to change his brigade’s mission.
“It’s really going to be transparent to this brigade and to our formation. We will continue to perform the same mission and perform the same operations as we have in the past,” he said.
The location of the future US Space Command has yet to be decided, but earlier this week CNN obtained a preliminary list of six locations being considered.
They include Peterson AFB, Schriever AFB, Cheyenne Mountain AFS, and Buckley AFB in Colorado.
Also on the list are the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama and Vandenberg AFB in California.
It’s unclear when the final decision on a location will be made, but President Trump has nominate Air Force General John Raymond to be the command’s leader.
Raymond currently oversees Air Force Space Command at Peterson AFB.
