Jacob Wandless received his bachelor’s degree on Saturday, May 28, and he will hold the distinction of being the first University of Delaware graduate to get his commission in Newark and move into the U.S. Space Force.
“There may be some UD alumni who joined or transferred into the Space Force but we know that Cadet Wandless is the first to complete the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program based at UD and have his first assignment be in the Space Force,” said Lt. Colonel Victoria Thomas, commander of Air Force ROTC Detachment 128 at University of Delaware.
“Cadet Wandless earned his place in history through academic excellence and proven leadership in the cadet wing,” said Thomas. “I know he will be an officer who leads with professionalism and empathy.”
Created in 2019, the U.S. Space Force is the world’s only independent space force. It is organized under the Air Force in a manner similar to how the Marine Corps is organized under the Navy.
Space Force articulates its mission as conducting “global space operations that enhance the way our joint and coalition forces fight, while also offering decision makers military options to achieve national objectives.”
Wandless, who double majored in political science and history, said that when he applied to the Space Force, he felt like it was a long shot. He was both surprised and thrilled when he found out he was accepted.
The 22-year-old grew up in Magnolia, Delaware, and graduated from Polytech High School in Woodside, where he was active in Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC). His decision to apply to UD’s Air Force ROTC was influenced, in part, by hearing about his grandfather’s military service.
Wandless will begin his career in the Space Force with six months of tech school training in San Angelo, Texas. While he hopes to do intelligence work, he isn’t exactly sure what he will be doing or where he will be doing it. But he and his bride of five months, Kayli, don’t mind the uncertainty.
“We haven’t traveled widely and we are up for wherever the Space Force sends us,” he said.