This article by David Roza originally appeared on Task & Purpose, a digital news and culture publication dedicated to military and veterans issues.
A recent Space Force letter of reprimand is truly a sight to behold. According to the letter and an accompanying memorandum for record, a Space Force member was 30 minutes late for a fitness lesson because he was scouting out nearby Target stores for the new PlayStation 5 console.
When the Space Force member was reminded by his superior to get to the fitness lesson, he responded "Yolo, PS5 > letters of discipline."
Yolo, as the kids say, means “you only live once,” and it’s that kind of reckless attitude that gets one’s name written up in a letter of reprimand.
"You were late to work and insinuated to your supervisor that buying a PlayStation was more important to you than the disciplinary consequences of your actions," reads the letter, which was shared on the popular Air Force amn/nco/snco Facebook page Tuesday. "Your actions are an extreme deviation from the professionalism expected of you as a member of the armed forces."
As a result, the Space Force member was knocked down a rank from senior airman to airman 1st class on Tuesday, according to the letter. It might have been a worthwhile trade-off to get a highly sought-after PlayStation 5, but the letter does not indicate whether his search was successful.
The letter has remarkable timing: It was posted just days after the Space Force trounced American and British military teams at a Call of Duty tournament. As the letter clearly demonstrates, Space Force members will put their careers on the line to maintain their gaming dominance. We can only hope they employ a similar ferocity in their fight for American interests in the final frontier. Semper Supra!
This article originally appeared at Task & Purpose. Follow Task & Purpose on Twitter.
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