The Space Force and the Office of the Secretary of Defense are in the second year of a pilot university outreach program similar to ROTC but to build a civilian talent pipeline, as Federal News Network reported.
Students at North Carolina Agricultural and Technical State University, Purdue University, the University of Arizona, and Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University can get first-hand experience working with the Space Force.
“A lot of the United States doesn’t understand that you can be in the military but be a civilian and be supported and be supporting,” Deputy Chief of Space Operations for Human Capital Katharine Kelley said. “This exposes that talent population in some of these schools to those opportunities. Then they go back, they do their normal school year, and we guarantee them a job when they graduate.”
Civilians make up about half of the Space Force workforce.
Space Force photo of Vandenberg Space Force Base, California annual picnic by David Dozoretz