Poll: Who would be in charge of Space Warfare?

[Clashero]

In the hypothetical future, when Space Warfare becomes necessary, and assuming the current military branches still exist in their current form (that is, the Air Force still flies planes and the Navy still rows, rows, rows its boats), which branch would be responsible for the Space Warfare Division?
I've tried to make this poll as universal as possible, so I included the Marines (I don't know if any country has a similar body) and the Gendarmerie (as fucking unlikely as it is that they'll ever get ahold of a spaceship). If the Army or whatever isn't called Army in your country, forgive me. I just assume everyone knows that by Army I mean the division that deals with ground infantry and vehicles, etc.
Me, I think it'd be the Air Force (though they wouldn't be in actual air most of the time, but maybe I'm Stargate-biased ^^
If you spot any other flaw in the poll, do let me know and I'll change it when I can.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

I think it would be a Navy (not the Navy). The modern navy would be combined with the army (creating a planetary assault and occupation force) and the Air Force would form a "Planetary Defense" division.

The Space Navy would have Marines.

So, I don't know whether to choose None or Other (and I think they shouldn't be distinct choices anyway).

 

[Simriel]

Ron Pearlman.

 

[cainx10a]

This ^? =D

 

[fluffylandmine]

Space, The only place we have yet to litter with the dead, wounded and forsaken of war...

I'd guess we would have to make a new branch.

 

[the captain]

Maybe the Coast Guard. They really have nothing better to do with their time besides pulling immigrants off their tire/mattress boats and dropping them off on a neutral island. It could be like a new hobby to break the monotony of their lives.

 

[Aardvark]

There will be space warfare. It'll probably be an extension of your space agencies now. So NASAPLACE and whatever it is the commie sons of a bitches use. Except with guns.

Reason behind space warfare is the same reason behind air warfare and naval warfare. Stop the enemy before they can get troops on the ground. If you blast a troop transport in space, that's less for the ground forces to clean up. Only in space, you can have bigger, more powerful weapons, due to the lower gravity.

Also, if you're foolish enough to discount space warfare entirely, then you're screwed while your enemy sits in orbit, dropping plasma death from on higher than you can reach.

 

[Clashero]

I think it would be a Navy (not the Navy). The modern navy would be combined with the army (creating a planetary assault and occupation force) and the Air Force would form a "Planetary Defense" division.

The Space Navy would have Marines.

So, I don't know whether to choose None or Other (and I think they shouldn't be distinct choices anyway).

I put Other so you could either come up with something (perhaps a Private Organization with some government ties?) or some sort of Joint Operation like the one you described, or None for when no branch takes over Space Warfare, instead being its own separate entity.

 

[Eldritch Warlord]

I put Other so you could either come up with something (perhaps a Private Organization with some government ties?) or some sort of Joint Operation like the one you described, or None for when no branch takes over Space Warfare, instead being its own separate entity.

It's called Navy but it isn't the modern Navy, the boat rowing is part of the Army in my vision.

I guess I'll say other.

 

[Reokue]

This question has already been decided. It will be the Air Force. Army is in charge of mainly in charge of land operations. Navy is in charge of sea as well as amphibious operations. Air Force is in charge of air and space operations. I mean the shuttle launches out of an Air Force base. Astronauts train at Air Force bases. All operations are conducted at Air Force bases.

Now operations on other planets would be conducted by their respective branches.

 

[Singularly Datarific]

It would be an evil, autonomous AI operated branch that got out of hand and destroyed all of human civilization.

 

[Clashero]

The Space Corps, if any thinking man formed it, would be a mixture of the Navy, Air Force, Marines, Army, and civil Police. Naval captains (and higher) would be ideal for the commanding of spaceborne warships. Alternate training would be required, but the principal is the same, just with the additional movement axis and some different physics. Air Force recruits would become the pilots of non-capital craft (aerospace fighters). Internal ship defense would be the position for the best of the Army's soldiers, but inter-ship combat (boarding actions) would be more the marines. Ultimately you don't need both Marines and Army, either can do both, but having the two gives tactical flexibility. Marines would be specialists, able to seize, sabotage, or scuttle a ship, while the army is a wall of meat to keep their marines from doing the same.

As to the police, on a space ship you would need someone with skills that are less about combat, more about reasoning and problem-solving. The Military Police are just grunts with power, most of them not suitable for actual crime solving. A group of former police officers would make for a much better ship security force.

I think that's excellent. In essence, it would be its own division (Army... Navy.. let's call it Spacy), or, depending on the way things went, subdivisions (such as, Air Force - Space division, etc)

 

[Theophenes]

It'd be it's own group, not unlike the marines. NASA is technically independent form the Air Force, as the marines are independent from the Navy, even though they were originally a piece of the Navy.

However, that's only if the U.S. got a space military first. Other countries would probably do things their own way, I suppose. But we need space travel to be reasonable ad long-term before we can really consider any kind of military or governing rules about it.