In today's ongoing, seemingly unending wars, the reserve components - the Reserve and National Guard formations - are picking up a lot of the load. That's in part what they are designed to do: to provide a pool of trained service members who can be called to the colors when needed and who are in the economy working, producing, and living their lives in the meantime. My Desert Storm deployment was an example; I had come off active duty the year before, moved to Colorado and joined a Colorado National Guard medical company, and in a matter of months found myself back on active duty preparing to deploy for what we were then calling Operation Desert Shield.

It was a great outfit, full of people who had known each other most of their lives, who had worked together for years, and who all knew just what they were doing. We went in, did our jobs, and then we went home.

On Monday, speaking to the National Guard Association of the United States, former President Donald Trump promised to create a "Space Force National Guard" should he be elected to a second term.

Trump, speaking Monday at a National Guard Association of the U.S. conference in Detroit, touted the creation of the Space Force, the sixth branch of the U.S. military. It was established in 2019 to protect U.S. assets in space from threats from Russia and China.

“One of my proudest achievements in my first term was to create Space Force, the first new branch of the armed forces in over 70 years; it’s a big deal,” he said. “Now that Space Force is up and running, I agree with your leadership — you want this very badly — but I agree that the time has come to create a Space National Guard as the primary combat reserve of the U.S. Space Force.”

The comment prompted a round of applause from the audience, and Trump thanked them.

“So as president, I will sign historic legislation creating a Space National Guard,” he continued. “So we’re going to do that. Space Force has been very important, very, very important.”

That's not the worst idea, and since Trump was speaking to the National Guard Association, that's likely why he framed it the way he did. But it would be more appropriate to say he was creating, not a Space Force National Guard, so much as a Space Force Reserve.

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The nation's various National Guard formations receive the same training and meet the same requirements as their Reserve and active counterparts. When I was a part-timer in the Iowa and Colorado National Guard formations that I served with at various intervals, I was always conscious of the fact that the tape on my BDU jacket didn't say "Iowa/Colorado National Guard," but rather "US Army." But National Guard formations' normal chain of command runs up to their state's governor, and they can be called to active service by that governor. That makes them a little different than the regular reserves. Both are reserve components of the U.S. Army or Air Force, respectively, and both can be called to active service by order of the Commander in Chief.

The mission of the Space Force makes it unlikely that any state governor would need them for operations within a state. A Space Force reserve component would be a Space Force Reserve, like the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Reserves. 

That's nitpicking a bit, sure. But accuracy and clarity in these things are important. Even so: If the Space Force is going to be an actual branch of the United States armed forces, then forming a reserve component is a good idea, no matter how it is organized as far as Guard/Reserve.