According to this article the Air Force is creating Cyber Command ™! They will
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I don’t know about you, but I don’t think too many hackers, crackers, phreaks, nerds, geeks and other propeller-heads are quite cut out for the military lifestyle. I can’t picture any of the IT guys I’ve worked with ever putting on a uniform. Most of them have hygiene and cleanliness issues in addition to having problems obeying orders. Can you picture a platoon of Nick Burns’?
Do you think this will succeed? Can they function with their own internal nerds or will they have to change their requirements? Will they get a recruiting bonus of Cheetos?
I don’t think it’ll be a problem for several reasons. For one, the USAF tends to attract the vast majority of the propeller-headed military types anyway. Second, there are a LOT of IT types that are ex-military, and a lot more of us who seriously considered it, and for whatever reason decided not to go that route.
I even know a Army Signal Corps officer who joined at the relatively late age of 34, and who’s as nerdy as they come.
Finally, the USAF isn’t probably as interested in the Comic-Book-Guy variety of computer guy, or the pothead UNIX admin type, if they can get the more conventional 1950’s style nerd.