Sep 26, 2026 · 41 min · 15 segments
Ep. 14 - Captain Mark Dreiling In this episode of The Republican Legacy Podcast, Chris Vance, Lynn Schmidt, and Greg Wilson are joined by Captain Mark Dreiling, Congressman Don Bacon’s Chief of Staff…
Chris VanceHostGreg WilsonPanelist
Merrill MatthewsHostLynn SchmidtHost
And when the new branch was created, I think a lot of outsiders, maybe even me, were like, well, why do we need this new distinction? How has it benefited our national defense to have created Space Force distinct from the Air Force, kind of in the same way that we created the Air Force distinct from the Army back after World War II? How has that been a good thing?
I remember, I believe it was, was it Senator Bob Smith was from New Hampshire, was it? When he was running for president, actually talked about the idea of a Space Force if memory serves.
And then you had the Rumsfeld Commission, which was over two decades ago, that also talked about whether there should be some sort of Space Force.
I think the realization of the importance of space It really traces back maybe to the first Gulf War.
When you look at the space world, there have been military operations going on in space for quite some time, since before I was born.
The Sibbers mission, which was originally, before that, its predecessor was the Defense Support Program, a series of satellites that provide missile warning coverage.
And in fact, before that, it was originally the Midas program, which was kind of the original demonstrator for that concept.
But when the first Gulf War happened, that really changed people's perception of the need for space.
It's often been called the first space war for a reason, because whether it was precision-guided munitions, whether it was precision navigation and timing, missile warning, global communications, we saw how that revolutionized things in that very first Gulf War against Saddam Hussein.
And so I think at that point, people took notice and went, hmm, all right, this domain is, it brings things to the battlefield.
And in addition to that, not just the battlefield, but as a whole, when you look at space, it's become integrated into our economy.
The last time I checked, whether it's transportation, whether it's the timing systems in our banks.
So the Space Force, I think, was a natural evolution of that need to protect the domain.
And it also gives our space professionals a service of their own where they're able to, I would say, concentrate a lot more focus on the doctrine as to how we maintain that domain for peaceful uses.
And it gives them a chance to develop and move into more senior leadership positions.
And when the new branch was created, I think a lot of outsiders, maybe even me, were like, well, why do we need this new distinction? How has it benefited our national defense to have created Space Force distinct from the Air Force, kind of in the same way that we created the Air Force distinct from the Army back after World War II? How has that been a good thing?
I remember, I believe it was, was it Senator Bob Smith was from New Hampshire, was it? When he was running for president, actually talked about the idea of a Space Force if memory serves.
And then you had the Rumsfeld Commission, which was over two decades ago, that also talked about whether there should be some sort of Space Force.
I think the realization of the importance of space It really traces back maybe to the first Gulf War.
When you look at the space world, there have been military operations going on in space for quite some time, since before I was born.
The Sibbers mission, which was originally, before that, its predecessor was the Defense Support Program, a series of satellites that provide missile warning coverage.
And in fact, before that, it was originally the Midas program, which was kind of the original demonstrator for that concept.
But when the first Gulf War happened, that really changed people's perception of the need for space.
It's often been called the first space war for a reason, because whether it was precision-guided munitions, whether it was precision navigation and timing, missile warning, global communications, we saw how that revolutionized things in that very first Gulf War against Saddam Hussein.
And so I think at that point, people took notice and went, hmm, all right, this domain is, it brings things to the battlefield.
And in addition to that, not just the battlefield, but as a whole, when you look at space, it's become integrated into our economy.
The last time I checked, whether it's transportation, whether it's the timing systems in our banks.
So the Space Force, I think, was a natural evolution of that need to protect the domain.
And it also gives our space professionals a service of their own where they're able to, I would say, concentrate a lot more focus on the doctrine as to how we maintain that domain for peaceful uses.
And it gives them a chance to develop and move into more senior leadership positions.
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