The Space Force doesn't know what to call its troops

With the advent of the U.S. Space Force comes the trouble of naming its ranks.

"The Air Force refers to its members as 'Airmen,'" and the Army has "soldiers," the Space Force points out in a Thursday press release. But the newest branch of the military doesn't know what to call its space folks — we can presume "space folks" is an automatic rejection — and is seeking suggestions to give them a name.

"Given the significance a name has to the identity and culture of an organization, the Space Force is taking a deliberate approach" to this endeavor, the release says. So to "appropriately convey the nature" of this Armed Forces branch, it's asking current Air Force CAC card holders to come up with "gender-neutral, distinctive," and copyright-free names themselves. Suggestions can be submitted on an official U.S. website, and Space Force officials promise to ask the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps space communities for their ideas as well.

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The Space Force's logo also seemed to be left up to crowdsourcing when President Trump asked his campaign supporters to choose an adorable insignia in August 2018. But in the end, the military took a more bureaucratic — and suspiciously familiar — approach.