2d Regional Cyber Center changes unit patch

An important step in the evolution of Army cyberspace operations took place at Fort Huachuca, Ariz., an historic Army post in the desert Southwest, when the 2d Regional Cyber Center officially changed the 7th Signal Brigade shoulder sleeve insignia patch to the U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) patch during a short ceremony on the 2RCC watch floor, July 25.

ARCYBER's Brig. Gen. Richard Angle, deputy to the commanding general for operations, removed the 7th patch from the 2RCC Director's uniform, Lt. Col. Joseph Gilbert, and replaced it with the ARCYBER patch.

This ceremony marks the final RCC to complete the historic patch change this year.

"The change from the 7th Signal Brigade patch to the Army Cyber Command patch unifies the command of all operational cyberspace forces, placing both defensive and offensive cyberspace forces under one commander," said Angle during his remarks.

"Over the last decade, we've gone form thinking of information technology and the network as support services, to seeing the network as a weapons platform and network operations as an operational mission," said Angle. "The ARCYBER patch underscores the fact that your mission, to operate, secure, and defend DoDIN [Department of Defense Information Network] operations, is our most important mission and that our Reginal Cyber Centers are a vital part of our operational force."

The 2RCC area of operations covers all of the continental United States [CONUS], and Angle said the 2RCC is the largest and most complex of the Army's five global Regional Cyber Centers and during a typical month blocks and deters more than one billion potential threats.

"You've proven yourselves capable serving over 500,000 users across CONUS maintaining a 99.998 percent critical incident response rate for legacy and JRSS [Joint Regional Security Stack] networks," said Angle. "You have led two Continuity of Operations and multiple table-top exercises to ensure continuation of critical functions while expanding data service redundancy to the four enduring data centers in CONUS."

During the narration of the ceremony, it was explained that the shoulder sleeve insignia is an embroidered patch used by major formations of the United States Army, and that the Army is unique among the U.S. armed services, in that all Solders are required to wear the patch of their headquarters as part of their military uniform.

The symbolism of the Army Cyber Command patch was explained during the ceremony as follows: The patch is a pentagon shape, a little over three inches in width and 3 inches high with a green border, which alludes to ARCYBER as a land-based organization. Inside the green border is a centered sliver lightning bolt over three gold spears layered over a terrestrial globe against a black grid background.

The gold spears represent ARCYBER's three areas of computer network capabilities: attack, defend, and exploit. The black grid background represents cyberspace and the shifting electronic energy of its environment, and the terrestrial globe shows the global electronic reach of the command, and is divided from light to dark signifying the command's round-the-clock operations. Finally, the lightning bolt illustrates the command's ability and swiftness to strike anywhere.

The 2RCC can trace its origins back to World War II, when, as the 2d Signal Center, it provided signal support at Normandy, France, and earned awards in the European Theater, said Angle. "The world was in turmoil then, but today the pace of change is unprecedented, and you fight at its edge.

"You have a tremendous role to play during a critical time," Angle added. "Wear this patch proudly. It symbolizes that you are part of a team of teams with a mission that is critical to our Army and our nation."