NEW SALEM, ND (KXNET) — The United State Space Force was not even a blip on his radar when Jim Franciere graduated from New Salem High School.But being a sci-fi fan, one conversation with a recruiter in 1996 showed him a world he knew he wanted to be a part of."They said that I could, among other things, work with satellites,” James Franciere, United States Space Force Veteran said. “One thing that caught my eye was that I could help the space shuttle with reentry and I thought that sounded, you know, pretty appealing."Ultimately, Franciere got to do just that, assisting with a mission involving the space shuttle.That is not where it all began, however. After completing Basic Training for the United States Air Force, Franciere attended tech school at Vandenberg Air Force Base, now known as Vandenberg Space Force Base, in California.This would be where a majority of his Space Force Training and other missions took place.His first assignment and work with space surveillance was at Eielson Air Force Base, Alaska, now called Clear Air Force Station, working on radar sites."It was what's referred to as a ballistic missile early warning system radar site, where we watched for ballistic missile launch attacks against North America,” Franciere explained. “We also did some space surveillance, where we watched for satellites and other objects in space, orbiting Earth."Alaska was also where Franciere got started working as an instructor. He was then selected to go to Woomera, Australia, which was a ground site for the defense support program satellites and IR."Being an infrared sensor in space, they discovered that it had a number of other capabilities as well,” Franciere said. “And so we assisted with not only ballistic missile warning, but also with some other missiles, space launches. So we would watch for any launches around the world eventually, that we're putting a satellite up into space."After a short stint as Inspector General at Schriever Air Force Base in 2001, Franciere was selected to go to Vandenberg Air Force Base to be an instructor for GPS satellites."I really enjoyed teaching, and so I got to put in a lot of hours teaching,” Franciere said. “I had a lot of great students come through. And then these are some of my favorite patches. Master Instructor, you have to go through a number of different hours of teaching before you get awarded that."In 2005, Franceire returned to Buckley as a Space-Based Missile Warning Operator and Instructor. He says the Aerospace Data Facility Colorado - National Reconnaissance Office, or NRO, was another great experience.“Debris in orbit poses a significant risk to satellites. I mean, it's big space in theory, but we try to track as much as possible to prevent [collisions]. Either way, an anti-satellite, being able to take out our satellites that we perform these missions with, pose a significant threat, and that's ultimately why the Space Force was set up, because there is a threat to our capabilities in space," Franciere explained.In 2015, Franciere was selected to attend the USAF weapons school at Nellis Air Force Base.“This is my class from 15 Alpha, probably the best class to go through weapon school for the Air Force and probably Space Force," Franciere recalled.Franciere returned to NRO, back in charge of weapons and tactics for that site. The squadron he worked for was called the Flight Ops Division"I think it was my best assignment as far as the people and the missions and what we're able to accomplish," Franciere said.Then, he received a call from one of his old bosses."He was like, ‘Hey, you want to come to the National Space Defense Center?’  So again, the prominence of counter-space weapons. They set up a space defense center in order to help operationalize defense of all our space systems,” Franciere said. “This was prior to the Space Force standing up."Franciere helped with training and webs and tactics. He says all of the satellite command and control, GPS, SPSS, and the defense support program are all essentially sitting targets for the weapons developed by our adversaries. The Space Defense center was meant to help organize our nation's defense of that.But ultimately, change was in the air. It was 2020 and Franciere had a few opportunities to move on with the Space Force, but by this time, he and wife, Monique, who is in the Reserves and nearing retirement, knew they wanted to be home, around at least one of their families.“At this time, I sort of realized that retirement was in the books,” Franciere  said. “I went up to UND and sort of ended it where I started it, because I went back to University of North Dakota, where I originally was going to school, and ended up teaching ROTC."Franciere officially retired from the military in 2022, and decided to take his family even closer to home, to raise his son, Matt, and daughter, Jamy, back where it all began: New Salem. Today they live on a farm northwest of New Salem, working the farm, raising cattle, rodeoing and more.He also landed a job working for Patchplus Consulting from home, continuing the work he loves by helping to identify different types of information that can help commercial operations on the space side and looking at some satellite command and control.He says it's the best of both worlds, getting to tell stories."I will take a look at a space launch for vehicle, like a new type of technology going to low Earth orbit, report on that, and then in the afternoon, go out and rake and bail,” Franciere explained. “Before, I'd work ops, and then I come back and help on the farm, we'd brand or whatever, and then go back to it. Now, those things have kind of reconciled to a certain extent, and it's really kind of worked out very well." Close Thanks for signing up! Watch for us in your inbox. Subscribe Now Today's Top Stories SIGN UP NOW