It is beginning to Look like if anything will come about this Epoch of Doooooooooooooom Trump and remain in place permanently, its going to be this whole Space Force…thing.

Unfortunately, there are those insisting we accomplish this based on a show best described as Communists in Space, who used Naval rank structures for some reason, so I have to do the honorable thing and defend the Air Force.

This is my review of La Cumbre Zuzax Ale:

I should preface this by explaining I am indifferent to Star Trek, and am not going to be swayed by any argument to the supposed superiority of its utterly fictional universe.  Although, I do like Shatner because he’s a crackpot.

That said, Shatner’s argument is that throughout the history of science fiction the person in command of a space ship holds the rank of Captain.  Captain in the Naval sense is O-6 and is equivalent to Colonel in the other three services, both with identical rank insignia of an iron eagle.  All other services Captain is still a rank, but is a junior officer at O-3.  It is for this reason, Shatner argues, a Naval rank structure is more appropriate for the new Space Force.  This is a pretty good argument because quite frankly, all of these Captains were in charge of a ship. I’ll touch on this in a bit.

He was asked what the hell he is doing with a gun in space. I would ask why he has an HK P7 in space? That gun is a classic!

He also further reinforces his reasoning by going through a few characters with Army/Air Force ranks in science fiction that did not turn out particularly well. Unfortunately, this argument isn’t very strong because one of them is Col. Klink from Hogan’s Heroes, who wasn’t even a pilot, and from a comedy.  He gives another example of Col. Steve Austin—as in the $6 Million Man, which makes him far more awesome for this discussion.  He conveniently forgets Col. Harris (Thunderbirds are Go + Team America as a parody) and the lovable Col. Sandurz (Spaceballs). Now you might tell me those are silly examples.  Perhaps Col. Jack O’Neil (Stargate) and Col. Willie Sharpe (Armageddon) are better examples of Air Force Colonels succeeding in space.

None of this really matters, however.  The reality is the Space Force is growing out of the Air Force because it already had a Space Command to grow out of.  I know, because I was stationed at a space wing.  It is in the same way the Air Force uses Army ranks because it grew out of the existing Army Air Corps.  The other part of this, is there are currently no space ships in this Space Force and any spacecraft affiliated with it will be Earth based with limited range.  The biggest difference between the Air Force and Navy is the modern Navy is in many ways a floating Air Force, and as such is mobile.  The Air Force operates from permanent bases or forward air bases.  For the foreseeable future, Space Force will be operating out of permanent bases, as such the Air Force officer ranks are appropriate.  Once there are space ships exploring or patrolling space, then we can talk about naval ranks.

Enlisted ranks are another story and as far as I am aware we should not be following along the example of Star Trek because none of those guys ever survive.

 

As for this beer, it is a classic Kölsch.  I assumed it was one of those “better than normal” yellow ales like Firestone Walker 805 but its definitely a Kölsch.  It caught me off guard and I used the chalice by mistake.  Its best served in a flute, pilsner glass, or something with the mouth wider than the base for this.  It is done well, and I have no idea what a Zuzax is. La Cumbre Zuzax Ale:  3.2/5