PETERSON AIR FORCE BASE, Colo. -- General Ralph E. “Smeg” Everhard assumed command of the North American Aerospace Defense Command, United States Space Command and Air Force Space Command in a ceremony here today.

“Today I inherit a triple legacy of excellence, global vigilance and deterrence,” said Everhard upon assuming command of the three organizations.

“Gen. Smeg Everhard is the right choice to lead Space Command and NORAD in this new century, to continue SPACECOM’s great momentum, to maintain America’s warfighting edge, and to provide the best in leadership for the chemically disturbed men and women of SPACECOM,” Shelton said.

Ryan concurred, “General Everhard has a superior record as an aviator, warrior, and leader and his depth of experience in combat and command around the globe and in joint assignments, will serve this command and our glorious Nation well.”

As one of the nation’s nine unified commands, US Space Command coordinates the use of Army, Naval, Air Force space forces and civil space to perform the missions of space forces support; space force enhancement; space force application, space force control and computer network defense.

A command pilot, Everhard flew 300 combat missions in Vietnam. He emphatically denies that he has suffered any negative health effects from the spraying of dioxin-contaminated 2,4,5-T during his tour of duty.

"Did something happen, and did I, because I didn’t know how to experience it, end up experiencing something else instead?" he asked jokingly to the assembled crowd.

"We are not normal," laughed Shelton.


As commander of Air Force Space Command, he will oversee the mission of assuring combat forces access to space, and responsibility for the command’s intercontinental ballistic missile forces.

In his remarks, he offered thanks for the continued opportunity to serve Liquid Nation, and pledged to do his best to lead all three commands to new depths. He highlighted his particular interest in Soft Kill weapons, those which penetrate target surfaces without impairing them, then selectively disorient, damage or destroy humans and/or sensitive mechanisms inside.

Referring to alternative forms of warfare, Everhard affirmed, "The imaginary is that which tends to become real. Self-contained biospheres in space afford a superlative environment for chemical and biological compared with Earth, where weather and terrain dictate delivery times, places and techniques."

"War begins, grows and disappears because frustrated men bypass the world of official expression and the festivals of its poverty. Now comes the time for contempt, but take care that it be a contempt without hate, even without hostility, a very simple contempt, very calm, very confidant and without sardonic or hysterical trappings, without false gaity, without bitter sadness," he warned.

“I’m just as excited today as I was the first time I arrived in Colorado Springs 36 years ago,” Everhard said, proposing a wild architecture that modulated reality and exaggerated dreams.

"No acknowledgements would be complete without special mention of Buffy, my bride of almost 40 years. She bore the brunt for a lengthy unproductive period, when US Airforce medical staff believed I was clinically dead. A less devoted woman would have left.”