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10,000 Guardians. Spread across the entire country.
When people see "Space Force" on a name tape for the first time, the reaction is still the same: Wait, that's real?
Jennifer Saltzman, spouse to Chief of Space Operations General Chance Saltzman, puts it in perspective: in six years, this service has done things that would take other organizations decades. And it's only getting started. Full episode on Spacepower Podcast

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Ten thousand Guardians. That's it. The entire United States Space Force fits inside a mid-sized college campus. And yet the domain they protect underpins every GPS route, every weather forecast, every financial transaction, every call you made today.

Jennifer Saltzman has been part of that community since before the Space Force existed, since before most people had heard the word "Guardian," since the uniforms were still being designed and the swag hadn't been invented yet. As the spouse of Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, she has traveled to bases and installations across the country and around the world, meeting families in places where a handful of Guardians are embedded in a much larger military community, sometimes feeling invisible, always doing critical work.

Thank you to CXAL (Connected Alliances) for sponsoring this episode of Spacepower Podcast. To learn more about CXAL, visit ⁠https://cx-al.com

In this conversation with SFA Founder Bill Woolf, a decades-long friend, Jennifer talks candidly about what military family life actually looks like inside the Space Force, why "deployed in place" is harder to explain than it sounds, and what it means to build a community from scratch inside the newest branch of the U.S. military.

In this episode:

* Why the Space Force's small size makes community-building both harder and more urgent
* What Jennifer means when she says "connection" is her favorite Space Force value
* The Buckley Spouses Alliance: how a group of spouses built a food pantry from the ground up, logging over 5,500 volunteer hours and distributing 38,000 pounds of food in two years
* The Peak Food Pantry at Peterson Space Force Base: up and running since September 2025 and already distributing nearly 23,000 pounds of food
* Why "deployed in place" is a uniquely difficult experience for Guardian families and why it deserves more attention
* The Space Force uniform journey, from borrowing Air Force gear to service dress on the mannequin at clothing sales
* Why Jennifer has been handing out space-themed chocolate for years, and why a Guardian told her he still has a piece she gave him two years ago
* What it felt like to watch the first Basic Military Training class graduate in full Guardian service dress
* Why talking about space with your neighbors, your kids, and your coworkers is one of the most meaningful things civilians can do right now

This episode doesn't talk about orbital mechanics or acquisition strategy. It talks about the people holding the community together while Guardians do work most Americans will never see. That story matters too.

_Hosted by Bill Woolf / Produced by Ty Holliday_

*Guest:* Jennifer Saltzman is the spouse of Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, Chief of Space Operations, United States Space Force. She is an advocate for Guardian families, military spouse programs, and public awareness of the Space Force mission.

Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/ Join SFA: https://linktr.ee/ussfa

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“Shoot, move, communicate.”
We’ve always known the formula.
But Lt. Gen. Dennis Bythewood highlighted what’s changing—
The electromagnetic spectrum is now part of the battlefield.
Not just maneuvering forces…but maneuvering signals.
RF agility.Multi-band terminals.Adaptive communication pathways.
Because in a contested environment—
If you can’t communicate,you can’t operate.

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Space has been a contested domain for years. The doctrine, the training, and the culture needed to fight and win in it have been built, mostly quietly, at a squadron at Nellis Air Force Base. Most people who care about the Space Force have never heard of it. Most of the people shaping how space warfare is conducted today came through it.

This year, the 328th Weapons Squadron turns 30. Three decades after the Space Division was stood up at the Air Force Weapons School in 1996, the institution that started by teaching fighter pilots how to integrate space support into their missions now graduates the tactical and operational leaders who will contest the domain against peer adversaries. The transformation is real. And according to the officer commanding the 328th right now, it's far from finished.

In this episode of the Spacepower Podcast, SFA Founder and host Bill Woolf sits down with Lt. Col. Brian "Knuckles" Peterson, Commander of the 328th Weapons Squadron, to talk about what the space weapons officer community has built, where it's going, and what the next 30 years demand.

In this conversation, Lt. Col. Peterson discusses:

Why the 328th is a domain WIC, not a platform WIC, and why that distinction changes everything about how space warfighters are trained
What it means to graduate 450 weapons officers over 30 years in a service that still needs to double in size
How the course evolved from space support integration to full orbital warfare and EW combined arms, and why that shift wasn't just curriculum, it was culture
The debrief culture that distinguishes weapons officers: why failure is designed into the course, and what that teaches about decision-making under real-world pressure
The feedback loop between operators, testers, and acquirers, and why building the widget before figuring out how to fight it is one of the Space Force's cardinal sins
What it looks like when a Guardian truly understands the joint force, and why that connection is the foundation of everything the 328th produces
Why the school is expanding: a new building, an intelligence course, a cyber course, and what that signals about where the Space Force is heading
What the 30th anniversary Reblu is actually for, and why reconnecting 450 graduates matters as much as the classified combat updates on day one
What the 328th needs to keep producing to ensure the Space Force wins the fights that are coming

The Space Force of 2045 is being built right now at Nellis. The 328th turns 30 this month and the celebration isn't just about what's been accomplished. It's about what the weapons officer community owes the joint force in the next three decades.

Hosted by Bill Woolf

Produced by Ty Holliday

Guest: Lt. Col. Brian "Knuckles" Peterson, Commander, 328th Weapons Squadron, Space Delta 1, Space Training and Readiness Command Lt. Col. Peterson commands the Space Force's weapons school at Nellis Air Force Base, the institution responsible for producing the Space Force's tactical and operational warfighting experts. He brings a background in missile warning, three combat deployments, and time in the Space Force's futures division to the role.

Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/

Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/

Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.

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The Space Force needs more Guardians, more capabilities, and more infrastructure. Gen. Saltzman made that case before congress, backed by a budget proposal that would more than double the Space Force's topline, a 124% increase to $71.1 billion. The mission is growing. The force has to grow with it.

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Most people who know the Space Force exists assume it trains operators. People who know how to run satellites, track threats, and execute missions. What fewer people understand is that operating a system and understanding _why_ that system matters are two entirely different things. One is a skill. The other is the foundation of a warfighter.

Space is no longer a peaceful backstop for GPS and weather. It's a contested domain, one that underpins every instrument of American power, from diplomacy to the economy to combat operations. The Space Force didn't just need people who could do the job. It needed people who could explain why the job exists in the first place, and then teach that to the entire joint force, allied partners, and eventually the American public.

In this episode of the Spacepower Podcast, SFA Founder and host Bill Woolf sits down with Col. Alison Gonzalez, Commander of Space Delta 13, the Space Force's dedicated education command under Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM), to explore why building a force of strategic thinkers is just as important as building a force of trained operators.

* Why the Space Force separated education from training, and what's lost when you collapse the two
* What Delta 13 actually does: the three pillars of professional military education, continuing education, and partnership education
* How Delta 13 educates beyond Guardians, including the joint force, international allies, industry, and academia
* Why Col. Gonzalez believes seamless integration across all those partners is the long-term vision, and what stands in the way
* The role universities like Texas A&M, Arizona State, and Purdue play in developing Guardian leaders
* How industry partnerships give Guardians real operational problem sets to solve, and bring solutions back to the force
* The story behind Col. Gonzalez becoming one of the first Guardians to wear and publicly demonstrate the Space Force service dress uniform
* How she went from satellite operator to commanding one of STARCOM's deltas, and what she'd tell any Guardian trying to rise through the ranks
* Why less than 10% of Americans know the Space Force exists, and what SFA and Delta 13 can do together to change that

Education is the why behind everything the Space Force does. Without it, you have operators. With it, you have Guardians who understand what they're protecting and why it's worth fighting for.

Hosted by Bill Woolf

Produced by Ty Holliday

AV by Redwire

Production Support by Emily Honhart and Omar Mahmoud

Col. Alison Gonzalez Commander, Space Delta 13, Space Training and Readiness Command (STARCOM) Col. Gonzalez assumed command of Delta 13 in July 2025, taking charge of the Space Force's education enterprise headquartered at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland. Her career spans satellite operations, the National Reconnaissance Office, the National Space Defense Center, and Headquarters U.S. Space Force, where she served as Director of Staff for the Office of the Chief of Human Capital prior to taking command.

Learn more about Space Delta 13: https://www.starcom.spaceforce.mil/About-Us/Units/Space-Delta-13-Education/

Learn more about the U.S. Space Force: https://www.spaceforce.mil/

Join SFA: https://ussfa.org/

Subscribe for more conversations on spacepower, national security, and the future of the space domain.

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