Cowboys, fighter jets and US Border Patrol - inside Trump's big recruitment drive - BBC News

Space Force and Customs and Border Patrol are using a rodeo as a way to drive up recruitment numbers.

Image source, BULL STOCK MEDIAImage caption, Professional Bull Riders (PBR) staged an event at the US Air Force Academy in conjunction with Space Force to celebrate America 250

It's a sweltering Saturday in Colorado Springs as 33 new recruits, some of them baby-faced, line up to be sworn in at the Air Force Academy's Falcon Stadium.

Off in the wings, there are chaps-clad bull riders waiting to battle against 1,600lb (725kg) horned bovines.

It's an in-your-face marriage of Western grit, rodeo and military strength. Billed as Professional Bull Riders (PBR) Space Cowboys, the one-off event is celebrating America's 250th anniversary. But the spectacle is not just trying to draw fans to rodeo, but also to branches of America's military and law-enforcement agencies.

Space Force - a military branch for space - co-sponsored the event and is recruiting on site, as is US Border Patrol.