Space Force Accepting Applications for Interservice Transfers Until Oct. 2

For the next 17 days, the Space Force is accepting applications from Airmen, Soldiers, Sailors, and Marines to transfer into the Space Force and become Guardians.

The first interservice transfer window in three years opened Sept. 15 and closes Oct. 2. The Space Force is looking for “several hundred” new mid-grade officers and enlisted members during this period, a Department of the Air Force spokesperson said. Only Active-Duty members are eligible; members of the various Reserve and National Guard components, as well as the Coast Guard and Merchant Marine are not.

Any service member can apply, even those with no experience in space operations. But priority will be given to those not requiring retraining into one of the Space Force’s three main operator career fields—space, cyber, and intelligence. Also of interest: acquisition and engineering officers.

The Space Force provided a cross-service map detailing how Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps specialties align with Space Force job codes.

Individuals with “derogatory information” in their file or are on any sort of administrative or medical hold will also be disqualified.

To transfer, service members must submit a service career brief, their last five performance reports, their most recent physical fitness and body composition assessment, and an endorsement for transfer from their unit commander. Interested members must also submit documentation of any approved religious or medical accommodations they have received, and whether they have been selected for promotion.

The price of a transfer: a four-year service commitment upon joining the Space Force.

The Space Force was formed by transferring members, with most transferring from the Air Force. Then it held interservice transfer windows in each of three fiscal years, 2022, 2023, and 2024. USSF accepted 720 transfers in 2022, 511 in 2023, and 148 in 2024.

In 2025, the Space Force took in transfers from the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve, and at the same time created a new hybrid full-time/part-time system under the Space Force Personnel Management Act. Around 300 Guardsmen and Reservists transferred to the Space Force on a full-time basis, and nearly 250 joined as part-timers.

Now, as the Space Force embarks on doubling the force from about 10,000 to 20,000 uniformed Guardians in the next five years, interservice transfers are back on the table.

USSF continues to benefit from extremely high interest from the public and has consistently met or exceeded its recruiting goals every year since its start in 2019. Interservice transfers of mid-grade enlisted and officer personnel are essential, however, to ensuring the Space Force maintains an appropriate mix of junior, mid-grade, and senior personnel.

The department spokesperson said the focus on mid-grade transfers is necessary “to meet our … requirements and account for the service’s steep growth as projected.”