Uniforms... space!

(To Marco Pasquali)
02/10/23

The uniform has always been influenced by civilian fashion, even in its more modern functional designs. Maybe contemporaries don't notice it, but now we smile in front of an Italian soldier of the 2nd World War in a shirt and tie and even the Wermacht field uniform looks like an evening dress when compared to the similar American outfit. Today we are instead witnessing the homologation, if it weren't for the markings, in the field it is difficult to distinguish a Russian soldier from a Ukrainian one: the helmets and equipment are almost the same and the Ukrainian camouflage patterns are lighter, but in the mud of war they all seem the same. In war films you could at least distinguish the Germans from the English and Americans, now there is no religion anymore.

But for stylists there is a future that has just begun: the Space Force American has ordered the uniforms and they will be delivered in 20251. Let's refresh your memory: the United States Space Force or USSF is a new branch of the armed forces of the United States of America, officially founded in 2019 and responsible for all space operations, launch systems and its satellites. It is also the spatial component of the United States Strategic Command and for now it is the only US military that can handle military astronautics.

The supreme command is located at the Pentagon, while the headquarters is located at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado.

For now the workforce is less than 9.000 units, although highly specialized2. And here military reality already begins to mix with fiction: Space Force it is also a 2020 American television series created by Greg Daniels and Steve Carell and illustrates a revolutionary American military agency, albeit in a comedic way3.

But let's move on to the real uniforms, the ones booked by the Pentagon. 106 "Guardians" (that's their name, it's not another television series) are testing them in eight bases around the world to test their functionality and resistance. 

Apart from a normal OCP (Operational Camouflage Pattern), the prototypes4, they look very similar to those of Battlestar Galactica (photo), another American television series from 2004.

What to say? Hollywood no longer depicts the US military, but actually models it in its style.

1https://www.airandspaceforces.com/space-force-uniform-delivery-2025/

2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Space_Force

3https://www.netflix.com/it/title/81021929

4https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniforms_of_the_United_States_Space_Force

Photo: USAF/NBC