A Natchitoches student who graduated from Louisiana Tech University during the spring commencement May 21 has also become a cadet in a new and distinguished branch of the U.S. Armed Forces. Russell Stults has become Louisiana’s first U.S. Space Force officer.
Stultz, 22, received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering. But even more significant is that he was also commissioned an officer in the U.S. Space Force, one of only nine people selected from 600 candidates nationwide seeking to become Space Force cadets.
According to an online article at spaceforce.mil, Air Force and Space Force are sister branches under the Dept. of the Air Force but are separate and distinct branch of the armed services. Space Force is responsible for organizing, training and equipping Guardians to conduct global space operations that enhance the way the country’s joint and coalition forces fight. It is a consolidation of space programs such as GPS satellites, missile warning systems Space Fence surveillance system and more.
Stultz is a native of Natchitoches and graduated from the Louisiana School for Math, Science and the Arts in 2018. He is the son of Russell and Anne Stultz.
“He graduated (from La. Tech) and the same day was commissioned into the Space Force, a military branch of the U.S. Air Force, ” says his mother, Anne Stultz. He will train at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. His future job will most likely include leading a team of Guardians to operate satellites according to information in a article about Stultz that appeared in the Ruston Daily Leader.
He was already in the Air Force ROTC program at La. Tech when Space Force was established. According to the Daily Leader article, Stultz said his father was a Navy Seal and his mother worked at NASA out of college. He believes Space Force was almost a combination of both his parents’ pathways into one. He also believes demands of his engineering major and ROTC duties helped him establish time management skills. In addition to his studies and ROTC, Stultz was a four-year member of the rugby team.
According to the article in the Daily Leader, “The best part of the ceremony was when I walked on stage and they said, ‘Space Force’ for the first time. I heard from the crowd…confusion almost. That was my favorite part.”
To read more about the Space Force, visit spaceforce.mil
