Kurt Feltenberger wrote:

> As for the comment about "space forces" evolving from air forces rather than naval forces, I would think that at worst it would be a blend of both and at best a predominance of naval traditions given how once you move past orbit, you're essentially the equivalent of a submarine when it comes to operations.

In the U.S. there has been an "inter-service rivalry" since the very beginning of the space program, starting with the Army's ~Explorer~ and the Navy's ~Vanguard~ (the Air Force hoped to use an ~Atlas~ ICBM as a launch vehicle), which continues into the contemporary era, with there being a bit of a congressional bun fight over whether the newly established U.S. Space Force would have ranks inherited from the Air Force or the Navy. This rivalry has always been as much about budget allocations as it's been about operational analogies to particular service traditions.

Whether or not this particular, national-scale, service rivalry will be typical of humanity's expansion into space remains to be seen.

And it certainly seems a bit odd that a millenia-in-the-future interstellar government like the Imperium, which doesn't look much like the United States, would nevertheless have military services with rank structures which look an awful lot like those of the U.S. in the 1970s.

Cheers,

David
--
"He looked along the table, and caught sight of a . . . man in a green shirt, with a colonel's three concentric circles marked on the shoulders in silver-paint." - Gen. Carlos von Schlichten point-of-view (H. Beam Piper), ~Uller Uprising~