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GEORGETOWN, Guyana – Service members from the United States Army National Guard, Air National Guard, and Marine Corp helped train international military personnel participating in TRADEWINDS 23 and concluded their training with a simulated exercise putting their students’ skills to the test on July 26, 2023, at Georgetown Guyana.
“Cyber is down here to work with our partner nations to teach them cyber operations and cyber threat intelligence and how to collaborate in a multinational environment to defend their networks.” Said U.S Marine Gunnery Sgt. Janelle Beier from Alpha Company, 6th Communication Batallion.
“Over these past two weeks, the students have learned a variety of skills in the cyber field to include cyber operations, cyber threat operations, how to defend their networks, and how cyber operations and cyber threat intelligence work together.” Beier said.
Service members from partnering nations arrived with a variety of skills in the cyber field ranging from experts to a simple understanding of the basics.
“One of the biggest initial challenges was grouping everyone up by skill sets. The students ranged across the board from beginner to advanced and only interacted with students from their own country.” Said U.S. Airman Staff Sgt. Connor Buckingham of the 110th Air Communications Squadron’s Mission Defense Team. “We saw the struggle from the beginning and quickly changed our game plan. We instructors taught in civilian clothing and allowed the students to do the same. We quickly saw the tension disappear and the students were more receptive in this relaxed environment.” Buckingham said.
“Cyber’s key intent for TRADEWINDS 23 is to pull these different countries together and share their knowledge of cyber security, cyber defense, and participate in a final exercise that tests their ability to work together so they can see what attacks look like in a virtualized environment.” Said U.S. Army National Guard Soldier Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jim Tournade of the Defensive Cyber Operations Element. “The biggest takeaway we wanted our students to walk out with was to keep up the comradery. Cyber is a team sport where we all depend on one another.” Tournade said.
TRADEWINDS 23 cyber operations concluded their training with a graduation ceremony held July 26, 2023, at the Ramada Georgetown Princess Hotel in Georgetown, Guyana where a distinguished honor graduate was recognized.
“The most challenging part was trying to keep up with the information our instructors were giving us in a small period of time.” Said able seaman Emilio Smith of the royal Bahamas defence force. Smith is the distinguished honor graduate of the TRADEWINDS 23 cyber class. “The most rewarding part of this training was working with multiple countries, learning from each other, and the comradery. At first, we thought it was just a competition, but we quickly realized we had to work with and learn from one another to succeed.” Smith said.
The partner nations in TRADEWINDS 23 worked together to strengthen and harden their knowledge in cyber security and defense through joint exercises under the supervision of seasoned professionals to be prepared for all the many potential cyber threats in the world today.
Written by U.S. Army National Guard Sgt. Michael Dunagan
| Date Taken: | 07.26.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 07.27.2023 16:32 |
| Story ID: | 450147 |
| Location: | GEORGETOWN, GY |
| Web Views: | 71 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, CYBER WARFARE SPECIALISTS WORKING WITH PARTNER NATIONS, by SGT Michael Dunagan, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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