Lt. Col. Miller
The 90th is unique because we are the Air force’s only operational squadron tasked with organic development in support of USCYBERCOM. We have a team of about 110 software developers and those software developers internally we spend the time and resources necessary to grow them to be the very best in the world and ultimately writing malware and exploits and we do it internally, and the organic approach means that we can pivot and refocus them on any tasking at any time given what the operator needs. so it gives us a lot of flexibility in order to ensure that we have , an environment and a pipeline that allows us to identify, recruit, grow and ultimately retain the very best talent in this mission area.
TSgt Hanna
I wanted to come to this unit for a couple of years, and I had to maneuver to get here. And then once I got to Lackland, I found out that we were at this nice location downtown, or we were moving to this nice location downtown. I have a degree in Computer Science, and I wanted to actually use that and being able to program here makes that possible.
Lt. Walker
I found myself at undergraduate cyber warfare training in Keesler Air Force Base in Mississippi and kept asking a question: Where can I go to develop software, to write code for the Air Force. And, found out that the 90th COS was the place to do that.
Ms. Perez
I started out as an intern while I was getting my bachelor’s eventually my master’s in Computer Science. I finally graduated in December and I’ve been hired on full-time since then. If you have a desire for cyber and development, you want to defend the nation, and want to be part of a team that constantly strives to improve, then the 90th’s for you.
Lt. Col. Miller
We spend a lot of time here again building an environment where folks can show up ach day having a sense of what they’re gonna be working on knowing what what they’re gonna be working on is something that matters and that is valuable. And then ultimately getting them as closest as possible to the operators that are our customers that we’re gonna be delivering to.
Lt. Walker
Having the opportunity to write code which gets used by our cyberspace affects operators is pretty awesome. To know that we are contributing to efforts which are very much of the tip of the spear. I mean cyber is where war happens now. And I think that, you know, in the traditional kind of war environment if you were making tanks or weapons to be used in the front line, you would know that those things, those tools are getting used. We do that for cyber.
Lt. Col. Miller
What we saw in this move downtown to the Light facility was an opportunity to better integrate with the community both from the commercial industry, but also with academia as well. And we saw a chance at the end of the day provide our own folks, the much higher quality of life by giving them a chance to be downtown near restaurants, near parks, near their own family and friends and ultimately in an unclassified space where they come and go as they need and then we can bring family and friends as well. Whether it for like actual events like promotion, ceremonies or retirements or informal gatherings like when we do our book clubs or coffee and those types of events.
TSgt Hanna
The location downtown is really nice. Just being able to walk a few minutes down the road and see the Alamo, or visit the mall. So, it’s a really nice central location.
Lt. Col. Miller
What you’ll find walking around the 90th and talking with folks, what you’ll find is, they’re some of the most intelligent and motivated people that I’ve ever known, but they also, at the end of the day know as a result of the knowledge and experience they’ve gained, one of the side effects is they are very, very aware of how much new material there is for them to learn. The end result is, you have folks who are very, very passionate about this particular mission area, are very very aware of how much they don’t know. And, as a result, we’ve as a team enjoy coming together, challenging each other to learn new things, and then ultimately deliver what the operators need.
Lt. Walker
I think as an officer at the 90th you have this incredible opportunity to get extremely technical. That’s not necessarily the case for other career fields and certainly not always the case even in cyber career field. We don’t always have the opportunities to dive deep into the code and learn the intricacies of our tech stack. But by doing that here, I think that set you up for success later on in your career, whether that’s inside or outside the military, because it gives you that technical expertise and level of understanding which can help you inform, which can help Inform your leadership and management approaches later on.
Lt. Col. Miller
The biggest satisfaction that I get is knowing that I’m doing everything I can to create opportunities for my folks to learn and grow that I wish I would’ve had when I was in their position. What’s rewarding in that for me, is knowing that my folks are getting a chance to truly learn and grow as a result of their time here in the 90th. As a result, when their time is up and they move on to their next assignment, of if they’re a civilian and they decide to take a job either with another Government entity, or decide to go start their own business, or whatever else, that they can look back at their time in the 90th and know that they are better as they are technically, they are better leaders, or ultimately better human beings as result of the time they spent here, in the 90th.