Space Force Association: On the worst day imaginable, the day a nuclear decision has to be reached, the day the President of the United States needs to talk to commanders and allies anywhere on Earth in seconds, with absolute certainty the message gets through, that capability does not run on phone lines. It runs through space. Behind the capability sits Space Systems Command, a Space Force field command that designs, buys, and launches the space systems the entire military depends on. Late last year, it changed the way it does that work. The command stood up to the

Bill Woolf: Colonel Ashby, Hammer, can you give me an example about how critical these communications are that you're working on and who the recipient is for these critical nodes that you're developing out and ensuring are there in the worst of times? Colonel Ashby, welcome to the podcast.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: Thank you Bill, and happy to be here and share whatever I can with you about the great 88, System Delta 88 and what we're doing out here at Space Systems Command to put SATCOM capability in the hands of the warfighters as quickly as possible. Yeah, absolutely. Great question. But I'm going to answer that with a high level statement from the great 88. I always refer SACCOM ⁓ ⁓ lifeblood ⁓ command and control. So matter the dollars that we're investing ⁓ in nuclear triad, ⁓ those the weapon systems, they mean absolutely nothing if you don't have the ability to command and control them. ⁓

Bill Woolf: Yes, sir. Phenomenal. Really appreciate your time. So let's start at the beginning. On September 12th, 2025, you assumed command of System Delta 88, a new organizational unit in Space Systems Command and part of a new construct of system and mission deltas across the Space Force. Why has Space Systems Command and the broader US Space Force shifted to this construct? One, how did it change what you do day in and day out? And what is the impact on the warfighter?

Space Force Association: Eight new units called System Deltas. Each one owns a single mission area and are paired with the operators who use it. So the people who buy a capability and the people who fight with it work in lockstep. Over the next month, we're going inside that change, beginning with the one everyone relies on and never notices. We're talking Military Satellite Communications, or SACCOM, built by System Delta 88 under Colonel AJ Ashby. I'm Bill Wolfe and this is Space Power.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: But what I'm really proud of is in the most contested of environments, if we have Americans that are downrange and they wind up becoming isolated, we are the ones delivering the capability where the links will hold and our brothers and sisters can come home with dignity and honor. And that's what I'm most proud of. That's a great question and I always like to lead off with the why. So I'm going to tell you about why we actually activated System Delta 88. And I don't think it's lost on anyone that space is a recognized warfighting domain. And since we've done that, the one thing that we haven't done all that well is convey that acquisition is a warfighting function. to deliver capability to not only deter threats but prevail should deterrence fail in that orbit. So what I'm really focused on is the commander for system Delta 88 is presenting those combat credible and ready acquisition space minded professionals and war fighters to deliver capability as quickly as possible. And that's the full range of SATCOM capability whether it be

Bill Woolf: Colonel Ashby kept reiterating Acquisition is a war fighting function. It's a critical reframing. For most of military history, buying equipment and fighting with were treated as separate worlds.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: commercially accessed SATCOM or the really hard acquisition work of developing those acquisition strategies, having those hard conversations with our operations teammates in Mission Delta 8 and our leadership in the acquisition community to really shape and refine those requirements. to deliver capability at the speed of operational relevance. And it's not just the operational relevance, it's threat relevance, right? It doesn't do us any good to develop these exquisite acquisition strategies, deliver exquisite SATCOM superiority capability, and the threat has outpaced us. And so in system Delta 88, it's really, really focused on the development of those space-minded warfighters and acquisition professionals, but also increasing the

Bill Woolf: The reform underway at Systems Command unifies it, and the logic is simple.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: with regard to the mission unity of effort with our mission Delta-8 ⁓ counterparts, really pulling them into the fold. Something that we've always talked about from an acquisition perspective, but really putting our money where our mouth is. And let's sit down with our operational teammates and let's nudge through the hard acquisition work of requirements, discussions, strategy development, and also pulling them in to the... ⁓

Bill Woolf: If a satellite shows up late or shows up built for a threat that has already changed, the people who designed and purchased it have lost ground just as if they had lost it in a fight. Speed and relevance are not back office virtues, they're weapons. System Delta 88 does things a traditional program office would find strange. New acquirers go through a qualification course.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: the technical evaluations that we do to ensure that we're developing and delivering relevant capability within relevant timelines. So it's all about speed.

Bill Woolf: spend time on ops floors beside the guardians who fly the systems and earn a SACOM patch the way an operator earns a rating. The team reaches for commercial industry wherever it can, buying what already exists and saving its hardest engineering for the problems only the military will ever face. I think he's yeah, sir. Going fast is what you ended with there. And let's talk a little bit about the process. So you talked about the threat, obviously. Let's let's iterate on that just for a moment. And then you talked about bringing the ops community into understanding the technical evaluation. So just for someone who doesn't understand those two things, you know, who doesn't quite understand, hey, where are you getting the threat from? How do you iterate on the threat? mean, For those who haven't seen Chief Master Sergeant Ron Lurch talk about the threat in the space domain, I of course would recommend that they go listen to that one. how do you incorporate that as a threat evolves? And understand you can't talk classified, but as a threat evolves, how do you capture that? And then talk a little bit about how you're communicating with the ops community. Satellite communications or SATCOM does not stand alone. It shares a portfolio with another mission area the entire world quietly runs on. The one that puts a blue dot on every phone and a precise timestamp on every transaction. More on that next week. If you enjoyed this episode, follow the show and share with a friend or colleague. Get involved. Become a member of SFA Today at USSFA.org. ⁓

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ First, we have to address ⁓ culture. When I grew up as an acquirer, there was a fence. There was a fence between our operational teammates and what we were doing on the acquisition side. So we would receive requirements and we delivered on those requirements if they were gospel, not necessarily tradable. at times, by the time we actually delivered capability, it wasn't exactly what our operations teammates were looking for or what they were expecting. ⁓

Bill Woolf: Space Power Podcast is produced by Ty Holiday. I'm Bill Wolf. We'll see you next time.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: A lot of times it wound up being irrelevant based on the current threat environment. We talk about addressing culture. is, but. Colonel Jeff Weasler, the commander for mission Delta 8 and I, ⁓ there's zero daylight between us when it comes to this unity of effort and ensuring that SYD 88 delivers on its commitments to providing that SATCOM superiority, those capabilities to our teammates out there in MD8. And so when I talk about addressing culture, it's not an us and them, it's the one team. And so we always talk about ⁓ SATCOM from a...

Bill Woolf: For those of you in college who want to learn more about what the Space Force is doing, I'd suggest that you follow and become a member of SFA and then sign up to be part of our Space Professional Society, or SPS. You can find out more at USSFA.org.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: One mission, two delta mindset, and it's in how we operate. So even if we're developing an acquisition strategy, our operational teammates, they are part of the development. Every week when it comes to threat briefings, operational capability, the operational statuses of the current systems, I meet with Mission Delta 8. We go over OpsCap, we go over the threat briefings, and so we are aligned and we have an appropriate and shared site picture of the current operational environment. And those threat briefings help shape and inform what those strategies are that we work with our MD8 teammates on. And I'm really proud that, ⁓ my background, as the program director for the Evolve Strategic Satellite System for the ground segment, as we were iterating in that software acquisition pathway of acquisition, our operational teammates were with us every step of the way for those program incremental deliveries and shaping what the requirements were, doing the evaluations for the deliveries, ensuring that they get specifically what they are asking for. within a relevant timeline, but again, it has to be a relevant capability based on the threat. And so we are aligned from an operations perspective and also from the appropriate threat picture.

Bill Woolf: Very interesting. I appreciate the fact that you're talking about on a weekly basis, you're going over operational capability and OpsCap reporting. So very cool. How does system deltas and other organizational changes within space systems command align with SecWars call for acquisition reform?

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: Yeah, I'd like to say that ⁓ we were really from the activation of all the system deltas here at SSC. I think that the culture in the mindset shift here, we were really leaning into acquisition reform before it was actually in vogue. And we saw that just with the stand up of the S.Y.D.s and again, increasing the gain on that unity of effort. And we've also aligned our acquisition approaches with the operational approaches. We've stood up a training program, which a lot of other S.Y.A.D. commanders have taken on to tie in not only what we're doing from an acquisition perspective, because that's the what, right? That's the science of what we're doing, but it's really understanding the why behind what we are doing, right? It's like, and we talked about it earlier, understanding what that threat site picture looks like. making sure that the material leaders, the system program managers, the system program directors, they know who their counterparts are out there in Colorado for us at Mission Delta 8. ⁓ Again, we said we were focused on speed. And if we don't know exactly what our operations teammates want, we are going to deliver something that is outdated, it's irrelevant to the threat, or from ⁓ a lot of the things that we do, our teammates are on console, that graphical user interface, we don't want our junior teammates that are sitting on console to have to have a PhD or a master's degree and having to just understand the system that they're operating, right? But if you're going to read clean sheet requirements, sometimes that's how they come across. But it's really building those relationships and getting after the culture to understand that speed is king, relevancy is king, and we can't have our adversaries outpace us. dependent upon the systems that we're delivering. And the only way we're going to understand that is, again, addressing that culture. with every single SYD commander, my peers out here, those are the things that we talk about. Those are the things we're really trying to create zero daylight between our mission delta counterparts and the system delta counterparts out here at SSC.

Bill Woolf: Colonel Ashby, wouldn't that be great if there was just a button that operators could hit that just said, provide secure communications to the war fighter? And I know that. Go ahead.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: You know, it's funny that you would say something like that, right? If that is all that we got from our operational teammates, that would be a solid set of starting requirements where we could hit springboard ⁓ talking about how we would deliver that sacrum superiority just based on what you just asked for right there.

Bill Woolf: Copy that, sir. System Delta 88, or SYD 88, recently received the U.S. Department of War's Highest Acquisition Team Award for delivering game-changing, space-based nuclear command, control, and communications, NC3 capability to the United States President, Joint Force, and U.S. allies a full two years ahead of schedule. What part did the System Delta construct play in accelerating the delivery date of this critical capability?

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: Yeah, another great question and I'm super proud of that team award. When we say team, it wasn't just the teammates that are sitting out here at SSC. It was our teammates out at Mission Delta 8 as well as we were really focused on the why behind. ⁓ And one of the other things that I also want to address with that particular team award is the strategic SACOM teammates here at SSC, they carved and charted a new path to delivering capability two years ahead of schedule. And the only reason we were able to do that, the enduring theme that you've pretty heard up to this point is increasing the gain on unity of effort. And so when we talk about it being a acquisition, being a team sport, we can't do this alone. It is really focusing on what our team-mates needed at that point time. We understand that nuclear command and control is critically important, not only for the command and control features of that, but it is really the presidential national voice conferencing on our very worst day. And so my teammates really kept that in. We had that front-side focus on delivering that capability and working with our teammates on Colorado, and not just Colorado, but at STRATCOM, DC. Knowing who your stakeholders are, again, was a, I'm blessed to have a talented group of individuals working in SATCOM, and specifically for that particular award on strategic, but we have that type of talent not only on a strategic SATCOM side of the house, I have it on narrowband and I also have it on the protected tactical side as well. So was definitely a team sport. And again, unity of effort, working with our operational teammates to really understand how we were able to make some of those requirements trades to accelerate delivering. capability as quickly as we are.

Bill Woolf: And sir, just to talk organizationally for a second, before system Delta stood up for folks who aren't familiar with the space systems command construct, can you talk a little bit about how that organizational construct was and how it might've prevented you from communicating with an entire team to your point? And then the new construct under the system Delta and how it allowed you to talk to the entire team and all the stakeholders.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: Yeah, absolutely. ⁓ can speak specifically to SATCOM because not all System Delta commanders are created equal right now. Some are actually dual-hatted as system program directors. ⁓ But for me, in my portfolio, I am wholly focused on the organized, trained, and equipped to develop those space-minded warfighters and acquisition professionals to deliver capability at scale and at speed. ⁓ before, the way the differences were, since it's fairly recent, when I was a program director, I was really focused on my specific program and sometimes at the detriment of ⁓ external... stakeholders, right? So primacy was do no harm to my strategic SATCOM portfolio. So some of those trades that I may have made to optimize strategic SATCOM may have been suboptimal for some of my external stakeholders solely focused on what I was doing within the program. Now you fast forward and I'm the SYD 88 commander and really focused on not just the acquisition because I'm an acquisition professional but I really get to have that laser focus on developing acquisition professionals and making sure that they don't understand just the science of acquisition, but again, the art, the nuance of understanding the why behind what we're doing. And so that's since September, that's what I've really been able to focus on. So not just the acquisition, but I was able to pick my head up and understand, you know, the... You know, as a commander, when you're harping or you're hammering home as often as you can, why you're doing something, it makes it more real. It changes the culture just a little bit more and it really focuses everyone on acquisition is a war fighting function. And we really made a culture within SYD 88 that we were the tip of the spear for delivering SATCOM superiority. We're not back in the quiver. We're way left of bang in understanding that the decisions that we make today, whether it's tactical on the narrowband side of the house or even strategic SATCOM most importantly, that the decisions we make today could actually shape the course of humanity as we know it. On our very worst day, those links have to hold. And that's what we're focused on. And that's, I was able to lift my head up from being just the acquisition guy to I'm a commander, organized, trained, and equipped and present those combat credible acquisition forces to the now program acquisition executive so she can execute her SATCOM superiority portfolio.

Bill Woolf: Sir, thank you for that background. You know, I was watching Stick of Dynamite on Netflix recently and I was frustrated to not see any Space Force representation in there. But however, what you're talking about is providing that critical communications in that scenario such that world leaders can communicate with each other. So while you weren't represented in there, you were in fact behind the scenes making sure the NC3 layer was taken care of. Speaking of which. Commercial First is a key ingredient in acquisition reform. We just saw General Saltzman release the future operating environment and the objective force documents and in there he gives nod to Commercial. We're hearing about the use of Commercial off-the-shelf technology, use of recurring engineering and more. How is Commercial First playing a role in your mission area and does it have a place in very military specific capabilities like nuclear command control and communications?

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: So again. The other enduring theme in this conversation we're having today is all about speed. And Commercial First definitely has a place in the entire SatCom portfolio. the way we're thinking about that is we're look at our problem sets and what we're actually trying to accomplish. And if we're trying to accomplish the ensuring that the links ⁓ there, ⁓ a SatCom perspective, I'm gonna back up here a bit. ⁓ is so ubiquitous that folks just assume that it will always be there. And that's great because if they assume that it's always going to be there, then that means that we're doing our job. But the threat's evolving, we recognize that. And we talk about the speed with which we're able to get capability into the hands of the warfighter sooner. If there's a commercial solution, that's what we're going to get after first and foremost. And then if we have to edit on the fringes because the threat's evolving or we have some military specific requirements that we definitely have to add in the most contested of environments where maybe the commercial solution just may not hold. That's what we'll focus on. But will iterate ourselves there. ⁓ want to make sure that we have that. ⁓ hate the old adage, something is better than nothing. ⁓ ⁓ putting our money where our mouth is when we say exploit buy build. And one of the things I'm proud of right now with SYD 88, ⁓ we are aligning ⁓ the portfolio and getting it settled appropriately to make sure that we're focused on SATCOM superiority across the board, ⁓ Comso, the commercial ⁓ space office right now, has the commercial SATCOM office within it. That commercial SATCOM office led by Claire Hopper, Cisco, is transitioning over to SYD88. And all that's going to do is really help us, ⁓ again, Push down that commercial first culture down to the lowest common denominator within the Satcom portfolio, because they'll be part of the team ⁓ as we are developing our acquisition strategies to get after delivering capability at speed and at scale.

Bill Woolf: Thank you. And just for a use case, so I'm talking to you right now via Starlink capability. And so I'd look at that as a commercial capability and say, is the Space Force utilizing commercial tech like Starlink capability today? And if so, how?

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: Yeah, I'll say it's not just Starlink and I know that SpaceX is a great service provider for that particular portion of satellite communications. But I want to double back on one of the questions that you asked as far as leveraging commercial and does it have a place for some of our most demanding SATCOM requirements within strategic SATCOM? And answer is yes. We just recently had a reverse industry day, not only to look at We're really concerned about having ⁓ vendor lock from a strategic terminal standpoint, but reprogrammability is critically important. Having that commercial access, more open mission systems, architectures to where we have more resilient ground architectures that will also help us lead into leveraging more resilient space architectures. Right. Because I look at SATCOM as we're looking at, it's not just the space segments. It's not just the ground segment. It's the crypto segment. It's the user equipment segment. That's what the weapon system is. And if we can leverage commercial to the maximum extent practical, that's, that's exactly what we're going to do. So SpaceX has been an a tremendous partner in that, there are lot of other partners that we're discovering through a lot of the reverse industry days that our teammates have recently had, not only on the ground side, but also on the space segment side of the house.

Bill Woolf: Yes, sir. And you talk about the different segments. And I remember speaking with General Salzman recently about the criticality of the cyber domain and the links between the segments, between the space asset and the ground segment. And that link in and of itself has to be protected as well. That data that you all are relying on, that the joint force is relying on has to be secured. And so you're probably thinking about that aspect as well.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: cybersecurity, cryptography, right? But we want to have that real stat of those services. Again, not all missions are created equal and where we can leverage a commercial to straight commercial, we will definitely do that. And again, I would prefer to edit on the fringes, work on the hard parts that have to be, that are hard for a reason, as opposed to reinventing. Or try to deliver a bespoke system ⁓ to address a threat. I think our commercial partners are pacing us as well and we'd be wise to leverage them to the maximum extent practical.

Bill Woolf: Yes, sir. And now that access to space is getting easier. You're seeing more companies probably come online, which is why you've got to have reverse industry days set up. So for folks who are getting into the business and they want to learn more, obviously through the front door. But do you have any other reverse industry days coming up that folks should be aware of?

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: We just wrapped up ⁓ one of our reverse industry days. So we had a reverse industry day to get after more commercial like ⁓ satellite ground terminals. And our teammates on the strategic sat com side of the house just probably three weeks ago wrapped up a reverse industry day in Washington, DC ⁓ for more resiliency. I'll just leave it at that as far as reprogrammable waveforms, looking at ⁓ different modems. And a lot of times what we were seeing is on the commercial side of the house, the development efforts that they have going into the space segment for specific modems can also translate into a more resilient ground ⁓ terminals, the gaps, and ⁓ really interested in what their architectures look like, right? They're really leveraging the cloud and things like that. But to answer your question specifically, we just wrapped up a reverse industry day and we'll be looking to have more. ⁓ scheduled at the moment because we're only three weeks away from our last reverse industry day. you know when folks are approaching my SYD 88 teammates it's great because they know that we're definitely interested in leveraging commercial and so that means that we're getting the word out and it's great that we have an active front Door here led by Colonel Tim Trimailo and his team and they've been great in helping us craft our strategies for these reverse industry days.

Bill Woolf: Yes, sir. Thank you. And I'm really impressed with what Space Systems Command has done in providing more information on the website. So really great job to the entire SSC team. And so as you develop out your communication strategy or engagement strategy for the year, I suspect that information will be on the website or through the front door.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: Absolutely right, it takes a village.

Bill Woolf: Yes, sir, absolutely. Earlier this year, really impressively, you launched a comprehensive new training program to develop the acquisition skill set of new personnel joining System Delta 88. Is this part of your acquisition reform journey? What was the impetus behind this initiative and how will it impact the warfighter?

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: Yeah, again, I like to think that we were all about acquisition reform before it was in vogue. ⁓ I was an operator for a number of years, and so I really lean on my experiences through those different training programs ⁓ for how we do acquisition. know, almost 25 years ago now was my first stop here at SMC. back then and being a prior operator transitioning over to acquisition. you know, acquisition is very nuanced. And the one thing that I didn't have the luxury of experiencing was a dedicated acquisition program that taught me the why behind what we were doing. And so I saw a need there. And when I was the program director for ESS, we experimented ⁓ with just some different approaches to getting our teammates spun up on, again, not just the art of or the science of acquisition but really the art the why and that that stemmed from our national level strategies really getting into joint warfighting concepts down to ⁓ really understanding what are in our acquisition documents. I really saw a gap in our junior acquisition teammates they show up here at work and they start job in day one but then if you have a conversation with some of them they may have never have read the ⁓ Capability Development document. They may have never have read an acquisition strategy, an acquisition decision memorandum. They're just jobbing. My job as a commander is to help foster a culture where folks are interested in what they're doing, but really understand the why behind what they're doing. My job is to develop those leaders that can replace me when I leave. And if I leave an organization and it falls apart, then I failed as a leader. And I always equated those acquisition documents to technical orders on the operational side of the house. You will never climb in a jet and fly behind someone that doesn't know what their tech orders are. Those dash ones, those cautions and warnings, what are those things that are going to break equipment or kill you? And so I really wanted to create ⁓ a training program and a certification program. that got our acquisition professionals, our space-modded warfighters, really thinking about not just the science behind what they're doing, understanding those acquisition documents, driving some rigor in there, but then also understanding the why. And then on the tail end of that, kind of following the construct of a nuclear SIOP certification brief to a wing commander years ago. every single member that goes to the training program does a certification briefing to me. And then the outward success of that is not just in their performance, but they're walking around with a SatCom tab on their sleeve showing everyone that they're now mission ready.

Bill Woolf: That is so cool. tell you what, I think folks are looking for challenge and what you've done is you provided an opportunity for folks to be challenged and then there's accountability at the the outset of it. So how long is this process?

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: The first 30 days are really, it's reading intensive. It's really digging into those acquisition documents. It's shame on us if we're working with support contractors and we don't know what's written in the PWS to be able to hold them accountable for supporting us in our endeavors on delivery capability at speed and at scale. But the program in and of itself is about a year long. But we have a 30 day, a 60 day, a 90, a 180, and then a one year check.

Bill Woolf: Mm-hmm.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: And that training program is not just reading intensive, it's trips out to mission Delta 8, you know, with 4 SOPs, 10 SOPs, 53 SOPs, getting on the ops floor, understanding the experiences, a day in the life of what our operators are experiencing. And then it's field trips out to the Pentagon. You know, we really shouldn't have... The Space Force is too small to rely on its most senior leaders to do some of the acquisition work for us. The first time I was ever in the Pentagon is when I was a major. We're taking lieutenants out to the Pentagon. We're showing them what it takes. to ⁓ build that Rolodex of ⁓ stakeholders and understanding exactly what their needs, their desirements are and who do I need to talk to the most, right? I know that we have program element ⁓ PEMs that are out there in DC to help us out with that, but it's critically important for the folks sitting here at SSC to understand how does the Pentagon work? How are we able to leverage the Pentagon? Who are those stakeholders to help us? and what we need to do to deliver that SATCOM superiority. So it's holistic ⁓ and waiting for someone to be a field grade officer for those experiences is too late.

Bill Woolf: Sir, brilliant. Actually, it speaks to a lot of what I've heard from acquisition reform and other Space Force senior leaders talking exactly about that. Let's talk about ⁓ how do you basically instill the ability to be dynamic in the environment that you're in with the folks at System Delta 88 specifically? Do you run them through? tabletop exercises about the what-ifs or do you engage with the operational folks about some exercises that they get involved in? So can you talk a little bit about that process?

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: Yeah, absolutely. When there are opportunities for our teammates to be involved in exercises, we let them be involved. They need to understand where they fit into the overarching picture. As far as tabletops are concerned, we do a lot of ⁓ red team within SYD 88. And red teaming can be where we have a junior officer that is going to go brief the PAE. just on their program or prepping a junior officer to be able to brief the SAE when it comes to a program management review and red teaming that, right? When that gives people ownership of what they're doing. And I believe that when folks feel as though they have ownership of what they're doing, you have buy-in. And once you have buy-in, get step out of the way. Our junior teammates will amaze you with what they're able to do if you give them the opportunity. But ⁓ I think the... ⁓ I don't want to call it fear, ⁓ but folks are motivated when they're responsible for holding up their end of the bargain, specifically when it comes to red teams.

Bill Woolf: Sir, absolutely. I was thinking about your certification briefing. I how stressed were you the first time you had to give a certification briefing? I mean, you probably stayed up all night studying. You were thinking about all the questions that could be asked. I mean, it causes you to rise to that challenge.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: Absolutely. ⁓ We own some of, when I say we, collectively, each individual owns a part of the mission. And when you see junior teammates doing their homework ⁓ or bringing up issues that you had not yet thought of, it makes me super proud. But I tell my teammates that I need to feel comfortable enough to put them on a plane. and go tell our story. And whether that's what we're doing in acquisition or tell our story on what SYD 88, the great 88 is all about, they're able to carry the water. And that's not just from an acquisition standpoint. That's understanding how the grade 88 operates from a staff directive perspective, how we support the PAE, and then also how they're supporting their individual program managers.

Bill Woolf: Sir, I can't tell you how excited young people are about the space domain, as evidenced by ⁓ Artemis II being the most popular topic on all of social media worldwide. It's just people are excited about space. So as we close out, I'd like to ask a standard question that we ask many of our space force and other leaders is what advice can you give to men and women? not just considering a career in the Space Force, but just considering a career in space.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: You know, I thought about that question for a moment and it was one of those, was that question that I didn't have a ready ⁓ answer for. So it really took me a moment to think about it. But folks that are interested in a career in space, I mean, if you were even thinking about it, my recommendation is that you do it. There are so many opportunities there. Wearing a uniform for as long as I have, ⁓ I would say the... Some of the best parts of my career, as senior as I am now on the tail end of this journey, is working in space. ⁓ Whether that's commercial, whether it's civil, or on the military side, I'm really, if folks want to talk to me about serving in the military, ⁓ in the Space Force, You know, the why behind what I do and what we collectively at SYD 88 are doing is to preserve space for everyone's use, right? But should the need arise, we will ensure that, you know, we are deterring any threats if need be. And like I said, if we have to, if deterrence fails, we will help deliver the capability to ensure that we prevail. the circumstances. But again, I think that the bottom line up front to your answer is if folks are interested in working in space, I highly recommend that they do it. I wish I had worked in space a lot longer ⁓ when I first joined the service, but there's plenty of opportunities to work in the space ecosystem, whether that's launch or, you know, SATCOM or any of the other. ⁓ deep space exploration, man space. I'm super proud of the work that we're doing.

Bill Woolf: Yes, sir. Thank you for that. You know, not many people realize that the Space Force still has the luxury of being able to interview everyone applying for the Space Force. And I tell you, the caliber of folks that are joining the Space Force are tremendous. And to your point about joining the civil or commercial sector, the key is understanding what the Space Force does all along. And so that's what we do here at the Space Force Association. We've created this. We've partnered with the Space Force Cadet Corps for grades K through 12, and then we've created the Space Professional Society for the college level for folks to get involved at the college level just to understand how critical the Space Force is to ensuring freedom of action in the domain. Colonel Ashby, commander of the Great 88, I can't thank you enough for taking time out of your busy schedules today to talk to the Space Force Association about all the great work happening over at Space Systems Command and SYD 88.

AJ ASHBY, Col, USSF: Yes. Bill, I appreciate the opportunity to talk about the grade 88. Thank you.