By William Roche, U.S. Army Cyber Command
FORT GORDON, Ga. -- You’d think that making the jump from
serving as an enlisted Marine Corps signals intelligence specialist to an Army
cyber warrant officer would be a pretty complicated process that involves more
than a few flaming hoops, but Army Chief Warrant Officer 4 Raul Negron Jr.
makes it sound almost routine.
In fact Negron not only made that leap, he ultimately jumped
into the role of proponent, and helps to recruit Army cyber warrant officers
and guide their careers.
Negron, a native of Tampa, Fla., says he became interested
in being an Army warrant officer during his second assignment as a Marine. That
tour was his first exposure to warrant officers, and he was intrigued by the
fact that they served as the leading technical experts in their fields. But
though he was an ambitious young Marine, he says he recognized that he wasn’t
quite ready for that move at that time.
“I recognized that I was still too junior, and I had a lot
more to learn before I was ready for that,” he said. “I didn't want to be a
technical expert if I still needed to learn a lot more.”
Service Transfer
But Negron stayed focused on his goal, and when he felt he
was ready he applied for a service transfer to join the Army’s ranks as a
warrant officer. He was returning from deployment in 2005, he said, a Marine
staff sergeant with seven and a half years in the Corps, when he learned that
his request had been approved.
It sounds like a rare occurrence, but Negron said that while
it’s not widely advertised, there are quite a few Army warrant officers who
transferred from other services.
The next jump was from signals intelligence to cyber. Negron
said it really wasn’t that much of a stretch, since cyber grew from signal and
military intelligence. And it had been his first interest. He had earned a
bachelor’s degree in computer science and was pursuing his master’s degree. So
when he was offered the opportunity to help build the brand-new Army Cyber
Command in 2010, it “lined up perfectly” with his goals and he jumped at the
chance.
“It just happened to be that I had the right degree, the
opportunity presented itself, and I was in my [permanent change of station]
window. And I guess timing is everything,” he said.
At the time Negron was still a signals intelligence warrant
officer. He said the occupational code for cyber warrant officers -- 170A,
cyber operations technician -- didn’t even exist. But building Army Cyber
Command required people with technical expertise.
“It was something new that no one really knew, [and when] I
got to Army Cyber Command in 2010, it was mostly about organizing the command,
[developing] authorities and things of that nature. I did start doing technical
stuff eventually, because the organization was so new, and you had to figure
out who was supposed to be doing what,” he said.
Recruiting Others
A few years later, he says, when the first call went out for
interested Army warrant officers to transfer into the cyber field via the
Voluntary Transfer Incentive Program, he again jumped at the chance. Eventually
his experience and drive earned him his job as the Army’s career field
proponent, a role that keeps him busy making recruiting trips, talking with
noncommissioned officers in all services about being an Army cyber warrant officer,
and developing and facilitating training, career paths and retention programs
for cyber warrants.
Negron clearly likes what he does, and clearly believes in
the opportunities and satisfaction the cyber warrant officer profession has in
store for anyone who wants to pursue -- and remain in -- a technical career
path.
“The selling point I give to the NCOs that I brief, whether
it's Army, Navy, Marine Corps or Air Force, is that there's only one place that
you can remain technical in cyber for an entire career. And that's with us, in
the Army. As an Army cyber warrant officer. We are the only [specialty], the
only service that can offer that,” he says. “Our warrant officers … are very
technical. We are hands on keyboard. We want you to ... remain technical for an
entire career. That is how we built the and have set up the [specialty].”
“In the Army, typically you make E-7 [the rank of sergeant
first class], and what do we do? Probably make you a platoon sergeant,” he
adds. “That's kind of the rule, if you will. And there's nothing wrong with
that. That's a vital function. We need that. But there are some guys and gals
that want to remain ‘hands on keyboard.’ And so those are the folks that we
recruit, because they want to remain on a keyboard for an entire career.”
But Negron stresses that being on a keyboard and being a
cyber technical expert is a challenge, not a vacation.
“Things are changing fast and are changing every day. We're
very busy. This really isn't going to be a career where you join and you get to
kick back and relax. You are going to be busy,” he says.
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