Posted on Jan 23, 2018
The Marine Corps Wants to Make Cyber More Like Special Ops
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Interesting story line. Cyber specialty codes are already defined to some extent. Is General Neller onto something?
The Marine Corps Wants to Make Cyber More Like Special Ops
Posted from military.com
Marines
Cyber
Special Operations
Military Career
Posted 7 y ago
Responses: 6
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absolutely! I guess what folks have to understand not all special operations guy/gals are knuckle dragging barbarians. This goes way back to the OSS/OSI with Wild Bill Donavan. Bill take a look back at some of the specialities during WWII the OSS/OSI etc used. General Neller may be on to something.
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I see the Corps is into the Cyber Command deal. Everyone needs some skin in that game. Smarter folks than I, of course! LOL
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TSgt David L.
LTC Jeff Shearer - Thank you. But you don't have to rub it in that these guys are smarter than I am! LMAO
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Yes, we should do this and it should be centered around trying to get the best minds vs the most physically fit. This isn't to say we shouldn't require the same physical standards we require of all military personnel, but they obviously do not require that of the SOF community. That said, we need to challenge them more through their cyber training. Only the best should be allowed to enter from the communities of signals/communications. Cyber is not easy and it's certainly not for everyone who claims to be familiar with a computer. We are on the right track, but a lot more needs to happen if we want to get serious about cyber. To start with, we need to build a cyber campus, meant entirely to organize, train, equip, and even execute cyber operations. These facilities need to be built with the most advanced cyber technologies and capabilities available, with the proper means to introduce newer ones without dealing with the lag time required today. Along with the operators themselves, a whole support structure needs to be created as well. One which can provide for the training, weapon system maintenance/advancement, and a cyber range with teams of experts available to maintain it along with changing it to introduce the latest threats/vulnerabilities reported (or not reported).
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SMSgt Thor Merich
I agree with you Major. But I don’t see how that will fit into the current Marine culture. If every Marine is a rifleman, then I can see cyber guys having a big issue with that. There is no need for Marine cyber folks to be riflemen. It would take an extreme culture shift in the Marines for cyber folks to be successful.
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Maj Kevin "Mac" McLaughlin
GySgt John Olson - SMSgt Thor Merich - To answer both of you... ASVAB currently isn't the best way (at least not from what I can tell is still in it). But it does give the initial assessment as to who is "logically inclined". From there and possibly after boot camp when everyone gets their MOS/AFSC, signals/communications would be the starting point in which to see if the individual is able to take on the challenges of cyber training. To put it in Air Force terms (sort of), this is their undergraduate pilot training (in the AF's case we have undergraduate cyber training), which comes after basic training. For pilots, they are either weeded out and sent to some other career field or they are matched to the type of aircraft best suited for them. In the case of cyber (for the AF it is provided to both enlisted and officers), you either get accepted to go to cyber operations or not. Those who don't essentially become traditional communications Airmen. On top of that, a few others might be selected to test for even more specialized cyber operations (the really REALLY smart ones).
So this does not change the culture as it exists today, even for the Marines. You are still trained to become a rifleman as you put it. I would also argue that even Air Force cyber operators should still not be excluded from combat military training as they can still be tasked to do traditional communications jobs in a tactical combat location, and I have even seen a small portion of in theater jobs for cyber operators too.
So this does not change the culture as it exists today, even for the Marines. You are still trained to become a rifleman as you put it. I would also argue that even Air Force cyber operators should still not be excluded from combat military training as they can still be tasked to do traditional communications jobs in a tactical combat location, and I have even seen a small portion of in theater jobs for cyber operators too.
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