Month: May 2023

Source: United States Navy

The exercise took place May 17-19 at United States Navy Hospital Yokosuka. To simulate the disaster, the exercise sent a significant number of mock casualties to the hospital for triage and treatment over a 3-day period. In addition to the evaluation of medical treatment and delivery, USNMRTC Yokosuka tested its integration with its joint and host-nation partners to deploy critical medical care. The focus of this exercise was to increase emergency preparedness and to test the ability to respond to large-scale disaster events. Exercise participants included Commander Navy Region Japan, Commander Fleet Activities Yokosuka, Japanese Self-Defense Force, American Red Cross, International SOS, United States Air Force 374th Medical Group, the 459th Airlift Squadron, BG Crawford F. Sams U.S. Army Health Clinic, and U.S. ARMY Medical Department Activity (MEDDAC)-Japan.

“I believe that the friendship between the US Navy Hospital Yokosuka and the JSDF Hospital Yokosuka is the foundation not only for the development of the two hospitals, but also for the joint protection of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, stated RADM Satoshi Tsukazaki, Commander, Japan Self-Defense Forces Hospital Yokosuka. “We would like to continue to conduct various exercises together to deepen and strengthen the ties between Japan and the United States.”

“By conducting these exercises, we are conditioning ourselves to meet the challenges of large-scale disasters while reinforcing our interoperability as joint partners,” said USNMRTC Yokosuka Commanding Officer CAPT T. Blair Hines. “The deployment of critical medical care requires not only organizational readiness but deft execution by our Sailors and staff, I think we have shown that through this integrated training exercise.”

USNMRTC Yokosuka provides healthcare and ensures medical readiness to the largest area in the INDO-PACIFIC, serving over 337,000 operational forces, including Seventh Fleet commands; III Marine Expeditionary Force assigned to mainland Japan; USFK in South Korea; and Military Sealift Command in Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. USNMRTC Yokosuka provides a vast array of healthcare to our service-members, families, and Allied Forces from primary and specialty medical care to dental services. USNMRTC Yokosuka leads the AOR with breakthrough performances in healthcare delivery Key Performance Indicators and consistently implements innovative programs to deliver specialty healthcare services efficiently across vast distances.

Public Affairs Points of Contact:
United States Navy Medicine and Readiness Training Command (USNMRTC): Mr. Gabriel Archer, Office: 243-2502, DSN: 315-243-2502, Cell: 080-6784-9065; 080-7661-7583. E-mail: gabriel.a.archer.civ@health.mil

Source: United States Navy

The event commenced with remarks from Rear Adm. Michael Wettlaufer, MSC Commander, and featured keynote speaker Mr. Dave Yoho, World War II Merchant Marine Veteran.

“The Department of Defense depends on the Merchant Marine to support 90 percent of our sealift requirements in national emergency, crisis or conflict,” said Wettlaufer. “Long serving as our nation’s ‘fourth arm of defense,’ American mariners bravely faced combatants and pirates, pandemics and natural disasters. They answer the call to serve their fellow Americans in ways and in places many of our fellow citizens don’t know about.”

“Today, and every day, we honor our American mariners, especially our MSC Civil Service Mariners, past and present, courageous women and men who serve our nation.”

In 1944, Yoho enlisted in the United States Merchant Marines at just 16 years old. He was assigned to a T/2 Tanker ship, often referred to as a fleet oiler, which was sent to the South Pacific during World War II.

There was a great wave of patriotism after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, which inspired thousands to join the United States Merchant Marines. These mariners would become a part of the 250 thousand who served during World War II, said Yoho.

“They moved 15 million tons of goods to Europe and the United Kingdom, eight million tons of goods to the Mediterranean, 13 million tons of goods to the Pacific Ocean, and five million tons to Russia.”

During his speech, Yoho recalled his experience as a young Merchant Marine during wartime.

“We were in great trouble when the war started. We were outmanned, outmaneuvered, out-gunned, and out-financed, but we took a collective stand,” said Yoho.

“I was a fireman water tender. I [asked an officer], ‘Sir, what’s the best way to get out of here if we take a hit?’ He said, ‘Kid, if we take a hit, you don’t get out of here.’ That’s the first time I realized we could get killed.”

“The Merchant Marine had the highest mortality rate of any of the services. One out of 26 of us died,” said Yoho. “I bring you my story in hopes that you will tell others. Tell them about [mariners], and say we gave up our yesterdays for their tomorrows. Tell them this is from a 16-year-old boy in a 95-year-old man’s body.”

After Yoho’s speech, the ceremony ended with a moment of silence for fallen mariners and the ringing of eight bells.

On May 20, 1933, Congress designated May 22 of each year as “National Maritime Day” to commemorate the first transoceanic voyage by steamship S.S. Savannah in 1819. The S.S. Savannah was the first steam-powered ship to successfully cross any ocean. Today, National Maritime Day celebrates the thousands of merchant mariners who serve on United States vessels around the world.

Source: United States Navy

The internship is open to the University of Hawaii at Manoa and all other campuses and community colleges under the University of Hawaii system.

Students who participated in the program and have since graduated from UH have already been hired by government agencies such as the National Security Agency (NSA) and the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).

The program’s early success has garnered the interest of Hawaii’s top legislators, like U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono and U.S. Rep. Ed Case, who recently visited the UH campus at Manoa.

“This is a really important program to prepare students to be in the cybersecurity area … I’m really glad that we’re doing a lot of it here in Hawaii, at the University of Hawaii,” Hirono said during her visit April 12.

Representatives from NIWC Atlantic, NIWC Pacific and UH gave the senator and congressman an overview of the internship program and how this cooperative effort empowers university students preparing to work in the field of cybersecurity to transition into federal employment.

“The internship provides a pathway for students to familiarize themselves with government cybersecurity work,” said Ayaka Sharp, NIWC Pacific Action, Business Operations and Strategy Management team lead who represented NIWC Pacific during the visit.

Current interns presented their research on cybersecurity topics important to the Department of Defense (DoD), ranging from Quantum Key Distribution, Malware Attribution, and Common Information Models for DoD Defensive Cyber Operations.

During Case’s visit May 3, Jericho Macabante, a junior from UH Mānoa, highlighted how the internship has provided him invaluable experience.
“I’ve had the chance to work on risk assessment, gaining technical knowledge and studying different areas that are part of cybersecurity,” Macabante said.

Case said he was impressed by what the students are learning, the opportunities afforded to them through participating in the program and that he looks forward to doing what he can to contribute to the program’s success.

“I’m trying to make sure that people come out of my school here with the skills, and to find jobs and can stay home,” Case said. “I’m looking at how we can help further these efforts.”

Since creating the internship three years ago, NIWC Atlantic and NIWC Pacific personnel have collaborated with the UH administration, including participating in advisory boards and interacting with UH professors to develop the program, Sharp said.

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“The professors’ involvement and openness allowed NIWC Atlantic and NIWC Pacific personnel to better understand the student community and ensure a positive internship experience,” Sharp said. “Thanks to the collaboration through the program, internship advisors have a better understanding of the requirements of cybersecurity students and what they want for their careers.”

NIWC Atlantic conducts an in-class internship course at UH that feeds into an on-site internship program with NIWC Pacific, where students are assigned to work on relevant projects at NIWC Pacific’s Indo-Pacific department in Hawaii.

“Mentors from NIWC Pacific and NIWC Atlantic identify the types of IT and cybersecurity professionals desired and use that information to tailor the internship course curriculum,” Sharp said. “This tailored approach helps prepare students for work performed by the warfare centers. It allows us to evaluate students more realistically and select the right candidates for our workforce rather than relying solely on academic performance.”

One such project is with NIWC Atlantic’s Cyber Security Service Provider (CSSP) team. Interns do research over the course of the semester based on a problem statement that the CSSP has provided.

“That problem could be anything from malware analysis to cloud monitoring – something that is going to interest the students but also aids the CSSP,” said Cecilia Dallier, CSSP director. “This allows the students to dip their toes into what our work is about.”

The NIWC Atlantic CSSP has several teams under its umbrella who provide cybersecurity services across the Department of Defense.

“Our team includes network monitoring response professionals, senior analysts that make sure we can appropriately detect malicious activities, counter-insider threat professionals and numerous network defense professionals,” Dallier said.

One of the CSSP team’s largest customers is the Defense Health Agency, which provides health services to 9.6 million service members, their family members and veterans.

“Our customers have a lot of sensitive data that they need protected so they come to us for premier cybersecurity services,” Dallier said.

To provide these services, the CSSP has to maintain a steady pipeline of cybersecurity talent. Dallier said she hopes the internship program will encourage college students to not only pursue cybersecurity careers, but more specifically, positions with the organizations that fall under their parent organization, Naval Information Warfare Systems Command (NAVWAR).

“We’re trying to make sure that we have that ready workforce who can help lead us into the next generation of services that we need to offer to defend the warfighter,” Dallier said. “We have a lot of competition from private industry for cybersecurity talent. But what makes us special is our service to the mission. We’re protecting the warfighter. We’re making sure our service members and our DoD civilians and their families are all protected, that their health information is protected and that they are able to do their jobs.”

Eric Inouye, head of the Command and Control (C2) and Networks division for NIWC Pacific’s Indo-Pacific department, said he believes this internship program and programs like it will not only provide students a solid understanding of cybersecurity fundamentals but will also be critical to warfighters as they confront cybersecurity challenges unique to the DoD.

“The cybersecurity problem space will only get bigger as technologies advance, and our adversaries get more sophisticated,” Inouye said. “Having a knowledgeable workforce allows us to better evaluate and integrate industry solutions. We serve as honest brokers to identify the best solution, not a vendor-specific one, to meet the unique mission of the DoD. This internship is another ‘weapon’ to strengthen our national defense and achieve NAVWAR’s vision to rapidly deliver cyber warfighting capability from seabed to space.”

For more information about the internship program, visit https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2023/04/12/cybersecurity-interns-meet-hirono/.