Army vs Navy (crypto question)

[Jay J Alex]

This question isn't geared towards special ops per say, but this is out of curiosity. I want to join the Army or Navy in the cyber community. The two jobs that stick out to me is 35Q (CRYPTOLOGIC NETWORK WARFARE SPECIALIST) and Cryptologic Technican. I was wondering which branch is the better route when it comes to information warfare?

 

[Ooh-Rah]

@Jay J Alex

Thought I was going to open this thread and find a question about football; so I added the "crypto question" to your title to better clarify what you are seeking.

 

[DA SWO]

This question isn't geared towards special ops per say, but this is out of curiosity. I want to join the Army or Navy in the cyber community. The two jobs that stick out to me is 35Q (CRYPTOLOGIC NETWORK WARFARE SPECIALIST) and Cryptologic Technican. I was wondering which branch is the better route when it comes to information warfare?

Air Force

 

[Teufel]

It really depends on what you want to do. The Navy is the only service that does not have a dedicated cyber force. Their cryptologists bounce between cyber and SIGINT jobs. I think their SIGINT field is very interesting as well. You can serve on a ship, with intelligence agencies, or attach to Naval Special Warfare units. It's really up to you. Senior Chief Kent was a cryptologist and spent almost all of her career with various special operations units. The Legend of Chief Shannon Kent

 

[Steve1839]

@Jay J Alex

Thought I was going to open this thread and find a question about football; so I added the "crypto question" to your title to better clarify what you are seeking.

I was going to take Army and the points...

 

[Salt USMC]

If I’m not mistaken, Navy cryppies can also serve on subs, which is one of the spookiest of spooky jobs you can do in the military.

 

[AWP]

If I’m not mistaken, Navy cryppies can also serve on subs, which is one of the spookiest of spooky jobs you can do in the military.

The only problem is that you're on a sub, but talk about a cool job...

 

[TYW27]

The Marine Corps crypto's also have the option to work for a government agency, or in the regular Marine Corps they can attach to infantry units or MARSOC. My old unit also had a role supporting other SOF units. Of course once your a SIGINT you can get pulled for other cool jobs that open up once you establish yourself.

 

[Jay J Alex]

Wait are you telling me cryptos can be attached to special forces units?

 

[Jay J Alex]

It really depends on what you want to do. The Navy is the only service that does not have a dedicated cyber force. Their cryptologists bounce between cyber and SIGINT jobs. I think their SIGINT field is very interesting as well. You can serve on a ship, with intelligence agencies, or attach to Naval Special Warfare units. It's really up to you. Senior Chief Kent was a cryptologist and spent almost all of her career with various special operations units. The Legend of Chief Shannon Kent

So basically the only branches that have a cyber force is the Army, Marines, and Air Force?

 

[Hillclimb]

Wait are you telling me cryptos can be attached to special forces units?

SIGINTers are in way bigger demand than team guys are imo.

Seems like we never have enough of them, and theres always work for them to do.

 

[BloodStripe]

So basically the only branches that have a cyber force is the Army, Marines, and Air Force?

No. Navy has Cyber bubba's, to include red cells.

 

[TYW27]

Even the Coast Guard has SIGINT. We had a petty officer in my class.

 

[Teufel]

So basically the only branches that have a cyber force is the Army, Marines, and Air Force?

The Navy has not dedicated personnel to cyber like the other services. SIGINTers perform SIGINT and Cyber roles. I can't speak to defensive cyber but I think it's still built out of their comm field.

 

[TYW27]

You should also look up Radio Reconnaissance Teams. I’m not sure how likely you would get to MARSOC straight from the schoolhouse. And I wouldn’t recommend that you did. Radio Battalions have a lot of solid training and after a deployment or two you can bring that experience to MARSOC or other unique units.

 

[Devildoc]

I have an old friend who was a Navy SIGINT/cyber guy, and got into The Unit; not Delta, but the other one no one acknowledges (ISA). He can tell me nothing about what he did there, but the way he talks about it is very intriguing. Aside from that which he cannot discuss, in his 20ish years he had been co-opted to CIA, NSA, Army SF, as well as more traditional roles.

 

[TYW27]

They used to recruit from Radio Recon too. Our monitor was one those guys. He also never said anything so it must have been wild.

 

[Jay J Alex]

I'm wondering though is being a crypto officer a better route than going enlisted?

 

[Kaldak]

As an officer, at some point you'll pull staff duty outside your field. Not that higher enlisted won't serve on joint staffs, but officers typically will sooner than enlisted. In my experience at least.

 

[Jay J Alex]

I figured as much. I want to do more hands on work, but idk if officers do crypto work or just stay in a office all day.