Photo By Capt. Abraham Gonzalezsilva | Keynote speakers, U.S. Air Force Col. Erick Welcome, Director, J6, U.S. Forces Korea,...... read more read more
HONOLULU – As cyber domain changes kept their frenetic pace, Signal Soldiers seized each moment of this dynamic international event to build solid partnerships – from military mission partners, to inquisitive students, to vendors in the information technology industry.
Brig. Gen. Ray Phariss, commanding general, 311th Signal Command (Theater), collaborated with military cyber components, government agencies, students and industry professionals at this year’s Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association's TechNet Indo-Pacific Symposium and Expedition at the Hawaii Convention Center, Oct. 22-24, 2024.
Other senior leaders and Soldiers assigned to the 311th SC (T) and subordinate units also participated in the symposium. Col. Richard Becker, 311th SC (T) G3 Director, and Col. Andrew Brokoff, 516th TSB commander, and Lt. Col. Izabella Lundy, battalion commander of the 307th Expeditionary Signal Battalion spoke during the breakout session, “Setting the Digital Theater in the Indo-Pacific.” Command Sgt. Maj Pamela Colon, 30th Signal Battalion, and Command Sgt. Maj Dominique Davis, 516th Signal Brigade, spoke on “Leading, Training, and Cultivating Signal & Cyber Teams in Competition and Conflict,” during the senior enlisted discussion panel.
Led by Maj. Bethany Gridley, Command Business Officer, Soldiers manned a booth in the industry & vendor exhibition hall, displaying communications equipment to show strategic and tactical capabilities. One of the Soldiers, Spc. Damyron Orr, Information Technology Specialist, B Company, 307th Expeditionary Signal Battalion, from Chicago, IL said of the event, “My time here was good. I got to show people about what we do as a ground team under the only Signal theater in the Pacific.”
“I got a lot of job offers—I even had a representative of the Pentagon come and talk to me about what I do to support the 311th SC (T),” said Orr. “They offered me a job on the J6 team in D.C.”
The three-day symposium focused on regional issues military leaders identified as crucial to operating seamlessly and ensuring robust, secure networks for fellow warfighters in the dynamic, complex environment. Discussion panels and breakout sessions addressed an array of cyber security topics and explored how government and industry can improve collaboration to face modern regional cyber challenges.
The theme of this year’s symposium, “Free - Open - Secure,” emphasized the strategic focus regional military leaders to maintain and protect data and information flow, while enhancing interoperability with mission partners across the Indo-Pacific.
Phariss shared ideas during breakout sessions and panel discussions each day of the symposium, on topics such as the need for sharing intelligence with regional allies on how evolving communication systems can support present and future warfighters.
With the 311th Signal Command playing a crucial role within INDOPACOM, Brig. Gen Phariss’ feedback helped to shape a picture of the important challenges that need to be tackled in today’s complex environment. Key points he brought up were policy impeding intelligence sharing, limitations when attempting to allow coalition partners access to network data, and the ready state of the unit if called to action.
“The mission partner networks are very complex. In most cases, it's not the technology that's the biggest challenge, it's getting the various participants to agree and have binding agreements in terms of trust relationships, to facilitate a wider sharing of information,” Phariss said. “It is an inherent necessity to be able to collaborate with your mission partners.”
“One of our habits in the Army that will have to change is that when we develop new systems, we need to design them for a coalition network,” Phariss said. “Any significant outbreak is going to involve coalition partners, so we need to take the next evolutionary step and practice in a coalition environment.”
As the designated U.S. Signal command for the Indo-Pacific theater, the 311th serves a theater enabling command with subordinate units across 16 time zones including California, Alaska, Hawaii, Japan, Guam, and Korea.
“I do want to reassure—we are ready to operate now,” Phariss said. “We are never satisfied. We always want more, better, faster, because we want our Soldiers to have the ultimate in capability. We don’t want a fair fight. We want to make our Soldiers rockstars.”
| Date Taken: | 10.24.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 02.10.2025 20:52 |
| Story ID: | 489441 |
| Location: | HONOLULU, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 71 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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