Hope for Air Force Cyberoperators

Last November I wrote about the Air Force Cyberspace Command. I said:

I'd like to see the new Cyberspace Command sponsor a new Air Force Specialty Code (AFSC) for information warriors. The current Intel or Comm paradigm isn't suitable.

Today I read Air Force moves to populate Cyberspace Command:

The Air Force is developing plans for a dedicated force to populate the ranks of the service’s new Cyberspace Command, its commanding general said today.

Lt. Gen. Robert Elder, commander of the 8th Air Force and chief of the new command, said the service will finish deliberations on a force structure for the command within a year and then start filling those positions.

Once service officials have laid out career paths and training guidelines for the jobs, Elder said, recruits will be able to join what he called the Air Force’s cyberforce just as they could opt to become fighter pilots or navigators.

I hope this "cyberforce" is an AFSC for "cyberoperators." These "cyber" terms make me cringe, but whatever they are called it's important to create a new AFSC for these people. I left the USAF in 2001 because I was the only company-grade intelligence officer in the Air Force with hands-on computer network defense skills. Because I wasn't a comm officer or engineer, the personnel weenies at Air Force Personnel Command had no career path for me. That's why I pulled the ejection handles and joined the civilian workforce, where I could control my own career path.

I'd still like to see an independent Cyber Force to centralize information warfare capabilities alongside the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marines.