Comment by dm2 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by dm2 | Hacker News Reader

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Many hackers / security researchers wouldn't mind working for the military but they don't have the desire to go through basic training and learn the things that will be unnecessary to their main job.

If I were to join the military right now wanting to work on computer systems, how long would it take before I'm actually preforming that role, or would they have to "break" me first? Hackers have no desire to do that when they can easily stay in the private sector and earn twice the pay and have a nice cushy office to work out of.

There should be some kind of alternate route to joining the military for officer and specialization roles (in my opinion of course, I am certainly interested to here if anyone has objections). Give me a few tests, an interview, a basic physical, a polygraph, and some IT training to get familiar with the systems and let me go to work. High pay isn't really an issue for me personally as long as I enjoy the work and am constantly learning or teaching.

Having access to that information is a huge responsibility. There have been spies at all ranks that have done large amounts of harm to the US military. It is absolutely necessary to lock down machines and have strict security checks over each other a logging of everything.

I thought there already sort of was that kind of pathway. Do Air Force Academy pilots go through boot camp, for example?

Yes. http://www.military.com/join-armed-forces/air-force-bmt-boot... How much of that is really necessary to be in IT security though? I'm sure it makes you a better person, but when you have highly skilled individuals and show them that kind of requirement, the majority of them would rather stay in the private sector.

The exception is if you have a specialized degree there is officers school for the branches, but basic training is still required, you will still be marching and be broken in, but after that will be more classrooms than physical activities.

Pilots especially must be physically fit. I've heard that leg strength is especially important so that you don't pass out at high g-forces. Drone pilots probably not so much, obviously.

The Reserve forces might be slightly less rigorous, but I'm not positive.

The cyber warfare stuff is mostly Army and Navy though as far as I know.

Agencies like the DHS are the ones that are really struggling to find IT talent. They have a huge amount of responsibility (security all non-military government infrastructure) and have a bad reputation currently (because of airport security staff).

I more or less agree just some minor clarifications/nitpicks > Officers got through OTS not BMT > Reserve physical requirements are the same as Active duty requirements > The Air Force's cyber warfare career field is called 1B4[1]

[1] http://static.e-publishing.af.mil/production/1/saf_cio_a6/pu...

Huh. I mean, I knew that pilots need to be fit, I just didn't think they'd be crawling through the mud and such.

My dad was a helicopter pilot for the marine corps for 20 years and flew in desert storm and Iraq in the early 2000s. Growing up he was always in insane physical shape and actively participated and taught in Crucible[0] trainings. Part of it was certainly the 'culture' that surrounds the squadrons, but one day I asked him why he stays in shape when in war he'd never had to stand up to do his job? He told me the only thing separating him from a 'grunt' (ground soldier) was his helicopter, which the enemy could take away in an instant. The moral was you always train for the worst possible situation (being grounded behind enemy lines) and hope for the best (never having to stand up).

[0] - http://www.team-crucible.com/

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