September 1, 2024 marks the 10th anniversary of the creation of the Cyber branch, the U.S. Army's youngest career branch.
U.S. Army Cyber Command (ARCYBER) was established in October 2010, but it would be four more years before Cyber became a distinct branch of the Army.
In early 2013 Gen. Robert Cone, commander of U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command, advocated for creation of a Cyber school and career field. Later that year Army Chief of Staff Gen. Raymond Odierno approved a consolidated Army Cyber School, which was unveiled at Fort Gordon, Ga. (redesignated Fort Eisenhower in October 2023) the following year.
Former director of the Army Cyber Institute (ACI) at West Point Col. (Ret.) Andrew Hall recently recalled a briefing in late 2013, when he was serving as Chief of Military Personnel Structure and Plans in the Army Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (G-1) and Army leadership was moving toward the creation of a separate Cyber branch.
“We were looking at the force as it existed -- a mixture of Signal and Military Intelligence Specialties ... on the longer-term actions slide, we had ‘Establishment of Cyber Career Management Field’ and ‘Development of Officer Branch or Functional Area’. The future establishment of the branch had not yet been determined.”
But once the momentum for a branch began, Hall said, things moved quickly. He coordinated with the Army staff, ARCYBER, Human Resources Command, and the Army G-1; wrote and staffed the General Order for creation of the branch; and finalized approvals and implementation for creation of the 17-series Military Occupational Specialty. Leaders and personnel professionals began developing career paths for Soldiers and warrant officers in the final month before the branch was established, he said.
In May 2014, seven cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point were designated to become the Army's first Cyber officers. Initially they would be commissioned in the Signal or Military Intelligence branches but would transfer to Cyber when the branch was created.
On Aug. 21, 2014, the Army issued General Orders 2014-63, signed by Secretary of the Army John McHugh, establishing the Army Cyber branch to create a career path to permit Soldiers, warrant officers, and officers to specialize in cyberspace operations. The order took effect Sept. 1, 2014.
Two months later 15 cadets at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point became the first class at the academy to branch directly into the Army as Cyber officers.
The following June, 2nd Lt. Daniel Brown wrote in ACI’s Cyber Defense Review about the night he became one of those first Soldiers selected.
"The night was like any other branch night at West Point with all of the first class cadets anxiously awaiting their fate as Army officers," Brown wrote. "The only difference with this branch night as opposed to the previous decades of them was the inclusion of the new branch, Cyber, to the list of possibilities. I knew going into this night that there were roughly 40 to 50 cadets that were competing for Army Cyber slots.
"I thought my chances were decent because I had put hours into my application packet and had done everything I had been asked to do. I knew I would branch either Army Signal or Army Cyber. My grandpa had been an officer in the Army Signal Corps, so I had a historical connection to Army Signal, but my hope and dream was to branch Army Cyber.
"When the order came, I ripped open the envelope and confirmed my hopes and dreams. ... To branch cyber means that you are a member of a profession. The hours and time it takes to become proficient in the skills necessary to be an effective cyber officer set cyber Soldiers apart. It could be compared to learning several foreign languages proficiently; learning to think analytically as well as logically work through incredibly complicated problems that utilize everything from cryptographic algorithms to complicated arithmetic equations. I knew that night that I was joining the ranks of such Soldiers, and that was what made it one of the greatest nights of my life."
A year after the formation of the Cyber branch, distinctive insignia was authorized for wear by officer and enlisted personnel assigned to the branch. The insignia centers on a dagger that signifies readiness to prevent global cyber incidents, over two crossed lightning bolts that symbolize the origins of the branch in the intelligence, security and communications disciplines.
In 2016 the U.S. Army Center of Military History officially designated September 1 as the Cyber Corps birthday.
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ABOUT ARCYBER: U.S. Army Cyber Command integrates and conducts cyberspace operations, electromagnetic warfare, and information operations, ensuring decision dominance and freedom of action for friendly forces in and through the cyber domain and the information dimension, while denying the same to our adversaries.
ARCYBER ON THE WEB: https://www.arcyber.army.mil
ARCYBER TWITTER: https://twitter.com/ARCYBER
ARCYBER LINKEDIN: https://www.linkedin.com/us-army-cyber-command
ARCYBER ON INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/armycybercommand/
ARCYBER TALENT MANAGEMENT ON FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/ArmyCyberCommandTalentManagement
ARMY CYBER ON THE U.S. ARMY WEBSITE: https://www.army.mil/armycyber
Interested in the challenge of joining the Army Cyber team? Check out military and civilian cyber career, employment and internship and fellowship opportunities by clicking on the "Careers" tab at www.arcyber.army.mil
Members of the U.S. Army Reserve and Army National Guard interested in pursuing Active Duty for Operational Support (ADOS) or Individual Mobilization Augmentee (IMA) tours or other opportunities with ARCYBER can get more information at
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