Ocean Springs native named commander of U.S. Space Force operations
A Mississippi Coast native has been chosen to be commander of the U.S. Space Force’s Space Operations Command, the Space Force announced Wednesday.
Major General Stephen N. Whiting of Ocean Springs in Jackson County was promoted to lieutenant general, and he will be over the first Field Command, organizing, training, and equipping fielded space forces.
Space Operations Command at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado is one of the Space Force’s three field commands and complements the two other field groups built for acquisition and training, according to Air Force Magazine.
“Today is less about the Whiting family than it is about what the ceremony represents for our nation, the Department of Defense, and our United States Space Force,” said Whiting. “Even as we have already established the nation’s 11th Combatant Command and the nation’s sixth branch of the armed forces (U.S. Space Force) — two extraordinary developments in the history of military space operations — today we properly organize the warfighting teeth (SpOC) behind those two organizations.”
Whiting is a graduate of Ocean Springs High School and attended church at Ocean Springs Church of Christ. While in school on the Coast he was a a class officer and a member of the soccer team Ocean Springs Surf.
“Ocean Springs was a terrific place to grow up, with opportunities to excel academically, athletically, socially, and spiritually,” Whiting said. “I am forever grateful for the time I lived there and miss all the great friends that still live the community.”