Army Reserve Cyber Protection Brigade provided cyber defense support to Saber Strike 22 training

By Capt. Jevon ThomasApril 5, 2022

Army Reserve Cyber Protection Brigade (ARCPB) forward team in Wiesbaden, Germany
ARCPB's forward team in Wiesbaden, Germany on Mar. 10, 2022 to provide cyber defense support to Saber Strike 22 training environment. (Photo Credit: Capt. Jevon Thomas) VIEW ORIGINAL

The Army Reserve Cyber Protection Brigade (ARCPB) trained in their defensive cyber skill sets with United States Army Europe – Africa (USAREUR-AF) during Saber Strike 22 in Europe from Feb. 2nd – Mar 18th, 2022.

Saber Strike is a bi-annual training event that demonstrates USAREUR-AF’s ability to deploy European-based units to Poland, Central Europe, and the Baltics. The event provides training to approximately 13,000 participants from 13 nations in a winter environment to demonstrate their ability to operate in austere conditions, increase air defense-interoperability within the Baltic Region, and increase the host-nations’ ability to integrate U.S. capabilities and reinforce the alliance.

ARCPB deployed a training task force with Soldiers from several of their Cyber Protection Teams (CPT), during the exercise in both Germany and remotely in the U.S. The team demonstrated their ability to perform Defensive Cyber Operations through Split Based Operations (SBO) and improve the exercise network's Cyber security.

Comprised of an entirely Army Reserve force, the training task force brought an array of relevant expertise gained from their civilian employment experiences. Experiences range from network architect, cyber threat hunter, data engineer to technical project manager, Cybersecurity technical sales engineer and Cybersecurity consultant.

“One of the things that’s been valuable, as we met with network owners, has been their ability to use my [civilian] experience to help inform their future architectural decisions,” says Capt. Daniel Jones, Team Lead for forward team.

While training USAREU-AF’s Multi Domain Effects Battalion (MDEB) on threat-actor informed security practices on the MPE, Chief Warrant Officer Tyler Baysinger leveraged his experience with Advanced Threat Hunting to enhance the training with real-world understanding.

“Senior Warrant Officers have a great deal of experience to provide a wide range of support functions, including training the next generation of Cyber Soldiers. My tenure and diverse background as a warrant has enabled me to plug in to meet the demands of a fast-paced operational environment, both in uniform and as a civilian,” remarked Chief Warrant Officer 3 Baysinger.

ARCPB’s support to Saber Strike 22 ensured that participants were allowed freedom of action in and through their network and improved collaboration with allied forces. This opportunity provided the unit to demonstrate their cyber defense capabilities and improved the Cybersecurity of the exercise network. The team was able to enhance training with their collective skills obtained through significant civilian industry experiences.

“The best part about performing Defensive Cyber Operations is knowing that we supported the Network owner and established an enduring relationship, founded in trust. that serves to improve their Cyber Security,” remarks Maj. Vincent Cooper, Officer In Charge (OIC) for the team.