September 2018

September 17, 2018 westerner/news 14
EV LUTI N
of
MILITARY
PRESIDENT PROPOSES
‘SPACE FORCE’ AS NEWEST
FOCUS FOR THE PENTAGON
XIAO HE
BY JAMESON BECKMAN
reporter
The Trump administration has recently
announced plans for the establishment
of a new branch of the military as part
of the Department of Defense: the
Space Force.
What President Donald Trump has titled
the Space Force -- which would be the first new
branch of the miliary since the Air Force was
established in 1947 -- would attempt to assert
American dominance in space and provide future
protection for American interests.
Vice President Mike Pence elaborated on the
goals and responsibilities of the new department
during a speech in August. In his speech,
Pence cited Russia and China as being the two
biggest possible threats to the United States that
would be addressed by the Space Force. “America
will always seek peace in space, as on the Earth.
But history proves peace only comes through
strength,” he stated in his address to Pentagon
staff.
According to author Christian Davenport,
who reports on the military and space agencies
for the Washington Post, the first aggression made
in space in recent years was the Chinese attack on
an American dead weather satellite in 2007, an act
that provoked greater national urgency regarding
the growing militarization of space.
Since then, there have been more and more
efforts to advance American defense in space,
most recently the proposal in 2017 for an American
Space Corps which was shot down by the
Senate. According to a CNN article by Zachary
Cohen, the Pentagon claimed the proposal was
not fully developed and that more investigation
and research into the militarization of space was
needed.
In a Westerner interview, Davenport said that,
due to the short span of time the president has
given for creating this new military branch and
the little amount of time spent on planning the
proposal, this new proposal is not likely to see
Congressional approval either. He does believe
it’s an important proposition, however, stating,
“While the White House may not get approval in
that time, it has already raised the profile of the
issue, making more people aware of the threats
the United States faces in space.”
Junior George Espinoza appreciates the prudence
of the administration’s new department,
stating, “I don’t think it’s [unreasonable] because
we have to think of the future.”
However, many Maine West teachers and
students alike take issue with the proposal, citing
what they see as negative aspects of the Space
Force and its establishment.
Following this announcement, Congress
passed a new bill increasing the military defense
budget to $717 billion and included a 2.6% pay
increase -- a figure exceeding both Russian and
Chinese military spending combined. America’s
intense spending on the military and defense
budget draws some controversy as many people
believe that budget should be allocated to other
national priorities.
“What we would be better served to do is to
spend our money much more wisely rather than
always increasing the budget,” AP U.S. History
teacher Matthew Mcclure said. Pointing to the
many urgent needs of infrastructure, for example,
“Why wouldn’t that money be better spent
rebuilding roads and bridges and all these things
that are hugely problematic?”
Sophomore Johnny Nguyen similarly criticizes
Trump’s proposal, saying, “Trump seriously
needs to reorganize his priorities. Whatever ‘operations’
we have in space are already handled by
the Air Force. Why do we need to waste money
on an unwelcome branch of the military when
we could be spending it on other more important
stuff?”
Fine arts teacher Bernie Gerstmayr believes
the administration’s priorities are misplaced, stating,
“I think we have a lot more problems on
Earth than in space.”
President Trump voiced his enthusiasm of
the new department, tweeting, “Space Force all
the way!” the same day it was announced.
McClure, however, does not share the President’s
optimism on the success of the project.
He theorizes that Pentagon officials will publicly
support it but then denounce it in private. “The
military will meet and say ‘This is not really where
we want to spend a significant sum,’ and it’ll just
fall away. That’s just my theory,” he states.
Though these initial announcements have
sparked much conversation across the nation,
America is still two years out from the prospect
of a fully fledged space defence. In Pence’s words,
“And while these steps have been vital to our national
defence, they are really only a beginning.”
BORN THE
DAY
MANY DIED
BY MALAIKA ZAIDI
asst. news editor
September 11, 2001: a day that is remembered
as among the most horrifying and disastrous
hours in American history.
Four airplanes were hijacked. Two flew into New
York’s World Trade Center, one hit the Pentagon,
and the final crashed into a field in Pennsylvania.
While death and destruction were brought to America
by 19 militants of the al-Qaeda terrorist group,
life and joy was being created amidst the horror of
that day.
On a day of such catastrophe, the miracle of
new birth played its course. “It always made me
feel secondary,” said senior Zoe Schmidt, who was
born just a few hours after the attacks began. Sharing
a birthday with a tragedy is something that very
few individuals can relate to, and for some, the impact
of it may be colossal. “I was depressed; I was
sad for a while. I didn’t want people singing happy
birthday to me because I thought it was disrespectful.”
Schmidt found that, at a younger age, she was
impacted by others’ comments and cared what they
had said. Feeling guilty when she was younger, there
were moments when she didn’t even want her birthday
mentioned.
Schmidt is one of several students who are of a
singular generation who share their birthdays with
this kind of national tragedy. The only other living
Americans who share their birthdays with an attack
on American soil are the 76-year-olds who were
born on December 7, 1941, the day Pearl Harbor
was attacked by the Japanese.
“A happy birthday always comes with a mention
of what happened,” said junior Camila Cruz Granados,
who was born just three hours before the attacks.
No longer shocked by this mention, she tries
to mentally prepare for the inevitable comments,
heard every year after the “Happy Birthday.” Referred
to as the “9/11 kid” and questioned if she
was responsible for 9/11, Cruz Granados sees her
birthday as a day to persevere through. Over the
years, she has learned to get used to it, as it is out
of her control.
“It was a day was full of death, and I was born.
It’s like I got a chance, and I got to continue when
they weren’t able to. I guess I’ll live for them,” Cruz
Granados said.
Similar to Schmidt and Cruz Granados, senior
Maria Mraz faced difficulties with others’ comments
during her childhood, as if they were mocking her.
“Once in elementary school, this one kid went ‘Happy
birthday.... Boom!’” Mraz recalled. “People identify
me as the girl with the birthday on September
11.” Not fond of being identified in correlation with
a tragedy, she felt dismal at times. “I had that one
thing of me taken away, as if people believed ‘Today
you shouldn’t be talking about yourself.’”