To Infinity and Beyond: Space Force

Carl “Shep” Sheppard

Many of you have sent in articles or asked questions about the news around Space Force's fitness test (or lack thereof), so we thought we'd bring on an expert to talk about what they're doing. Shep is currently the Senior Human Performance Specialist at the United States Space Force. His three-decade career in human performance has spanned everything from orthopedic rehab to world-class athletics. His background includes serving as a Combat Medic in the Army, competitive powerlifting, Masters Degrees in both Physician Assistant Studies and Exercise Science, teaching at the collegiate level, and strength and conditioning roles in settings ranging from the Army, to Fire/Rescue, to now the Space Force.

Disclaimers: The Space Force does not yet have an official policy on this stuff published, they're under a one-year exception from existing Air Force policy. As a result, we could not discuss specifics in this conversation, but we do talk about their intentions. To set the record straight, there's a comment in this episode that implies Drew served in the military. He worked for the Air Force for several years and now works for the Army, but he has not served in uniform.