Firstie at West Point branched cyber. Ask me anything.

Perspective said:
Depends on the AOC. 17A and 17D don't get attached to combat units like a 17B might. 17A is "cyber warfare officer", 17B is electronic warfare, and 17D is developer. 17A is the 2nd largest, 17B is the largest, and 17D is by far the smallest (develop new hacking capabilities for 17A to deploy).

It is true that you probably won't see physical combat, although some 17B's will. But this isn't a bad thing -- it's critical for our military to compete in cyberspace, or our efforts elsewhere are overshadowed.
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I have to ask, what happened to 17C?
 
Also, I wouldn't say that you wouldn't deploy for combat. Perhaps you could serve an entire career in rooms without windows; however, the literature is clear that the Army is moving toward integrating more Cyber capabilities into operational units. There is an unmet demand for 'leaders who can code.'
In the past we may have thought of the opening of the first 'Mission Impossible' movie--where the hacker is seated on top of the elevator--and we would think, 'In Cyber, you don't need to be in the elevator shaft, the building, or even the country.' Based on what we read in the literature, the Army appears to be transitioning to 'sometimes you need to be in the elevator shaft.'
 
Perspective said:
Depends on the AOC. 17A and 17D don't get attached to combat units like a 17B might. 17A is "cyber warfare officer", 17B is electronic warfare, and 17D is developer. 17A is the 2nd largest, 17B is the largest, and 17D is by far the smallest (develop new hacking capabilities for 17A to deploy).

It is true that you probably won't see physical combat, although some 17B's will. But this isn't a bad thing -- it's critical for our military to compete in cyberspace, or our efforts elsewhere are overshadowed.
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Really appreciate the answer and info, now do you choose which AOC you are in on post night?
 
How's the Comp Sci/Eng facilities in Mahan Hall, do you think it is competitive with facilities in D1 schools? What's the update on the CEAC and do you think Class of 2026 will get to use the new CEAC facilities?
 
Do cadets just get the 1 MIAD during the one summer before their yuk year, or are there more opportunities during other summers?
 
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Candd82026 said:
How's the Comp Sci/Eng facilities in Mahan Hall, do you think it is competitive with facilities in D1 schools? What's the update on the CEAC and do you think Class of 2026 will get to use the new CEAC facilities?
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EECS classes are taught in Thayer Hall. Mayan is generally for international relations and law.

The first floor of Thayer is where the EECS department is, but not all classes are taught there.

There are several research labs in the EECS department that are absolutely top notch. There are a few large “maker labs” which have a lot of space and setups for electrical engineers - CS doesn’t use them as often. In any case, the academic facilities at West Point are fully capable of imparting a high quality education.

Mentioned above, CEAC could be finished in the next few years - but this shouldn’t really affect your decision to attend or not to attend, to be honest. CEAC looks like it will be awesome, but the institution still does a great job of teaching in EECS today.
 
How are the airborne and air assault candidates selected? Decided at company level, or class level or brigade level?
 
Perspective said:
It is not required, but a majority of people who branched cyber were computer science (probably at least half of the 40 cyber slots), about 5-10 were IT/cyber science/ electrical engineering, and the rest miscellaneous other majors.


They might be increasing the slots next year, but this year were there 40 slots and the branch commandant managed to acquire 2 extra.

It is true that cyber comes with a 1 year ADSO, so you owe 6 years active minimum. If you BRADSO, you'll owe 9 years active. You also don't need to be at the top of the class -- that part is not true. People got cyber ranked well into the bottom half of the class. One of the most important things is the ability to demonstrate technical competence during the live interview.
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When you mention “technical competence“, what exactly does that mean? What are the prerequisites to applying to cyber? Are they expecting you to have already mastered a language or two?
 
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