From Army Signal to DoD Networks

I started out as a 25N Nodal Network Systems Operator-Maintainer with the 59th Signal Battalion in Alaska. Tactical IP networks and COMSEC for brigade operations, usually in conditions where “just reboot it” wasn’t an option. That’s where I learned to troubleshoot calm.

After the Army I built out data centers for J.P. Morgan Chase, supported enterprise users at SAIC, and finished my B.S. in Information Technology at William Paterson University.

Now I administer network infrastructure for the Army National Guard at the Picatinny Arsenal Network Enterprise Center. Cisco routers, switches and firewalls, STIG hardening, ATO support. The part I enjoy most is automating the boring stuff. I built a database and script that took our STIG scans from hours down to minutes.

Why the homelab

Honestly, because I like knowing how things work all the way down. My lab is where I try things before I’d ever suggest them at work: upgrading a hypervisor off an end-of-life release with a real runbook and rollback plan, putting an IDS where the firewall can’t see, figuring out why a “high severity” alert fired. It keeps me sharp and it keeps me honest. If I can’t explain it, I don’t put it on this site.

Languages: English, Spanish (conversational)