PENSACOLA, Fla. – The physical installation of Persistent Cyber Training Environment (PCTE) Regional Compute and Storage (RCS) number 08, nicknamed “Phoenix,” was recently completed on Corry Station with assistance from a group of Sailors from Information Warfare Training Command (IWTC) Corry Station.
 
PCTE Node Phoenix, the first PCTE Node to be installed on a Navy training installation, is the newest addition to a growing virtual cyber training architecture that supports joint cyber schoolhouse training governed by U.S. Cyber Command, cyber work role qualifications, joint qualification requirements, and cyber exercises such as Cyber Shield.
 
PCTE provides Department of Defense cyber operators, and their partners, with a distributed capability to “train as they fight” in a relevant, configurable, and real-time virtual environment in order to increase overall mission readiness.
 
The PCTE Node will also augment the capacity of the expanding IWTC Corry Station cyber school house training program. PCTE is currently used at IWTC Corry Station to provide cyber training for Cyber Mission Forces. IWTC Corry Station currently trains over 300 Sailors joint service members annually utilizing PCTE resources, and the Center for Information Warfare Training (CIWT) Program Office plans to utilize the new RCS PCTE node to pilot the Defensive Cyberspace Operations Host Analyst Course in spring of 2024. Additionally, CIWT has three additional cyber courses in development. 
 
Chief Warrant Officer 3 Todrick Christful, CIWT Training Support Services Deputy Director, said they expect CIWT cyber mission force training personnel to start logging into RCS08 on Nov. 13, to start verifying that the current curriculum has been successfully transferred and all modules and lessons are available.
 
Christful elaborated that having the PCTE Node on Corry Station will be advantageous for the command.
 
“Until now all services, including CIWT and IWTC Corry Station, had to access course content through servers located in either Boston or Orlando,” said Christful. “Now, CIWT and IWTC Corry Station will be able to access schoolhouse training on servers located onsite.”
 
Christful went on to explain that the process of preparing for receiving the node was quite extensive requiring upgrades to power and infrastructure to support its operating requirements. The cost for the PCTE Node was $9 million, with an additional $4 million required annually to maintain it.
 
Phoenix was ultimately installed by Cole Engineering Services, Inc. and Program Executive Office Simulation, Training and Instrumentation (PEO STRI) contractors from Orlando, Fla. However, to streamline the installation process IWTC Sailors assisted with access to spaces, transporting, organizing, and unpacking electronic equipment and three server racks, as well as disposing of the shipping materials. Their assistance allowed for an estimated time savings of one to two work days.
 
The PCTE infrastructure and installation team lead for PEO STRI said, “The Sailors were a great assistance to our installation and logistics teams,” and “they were polite, kind, and extremely helpful, and would love to work with them again in the future.”
 
In recognition for their efforts, Capt. Chris Bryant, commanding officer, CIWT, presented command coins to the Sailors as a token of appreciation for their hard work while working on such an important project.
 
The Sailors recognized were: Cyber Warfare Technician 3rd Class Logan Harris; Cyber Warfare Technician Seamen Noah Brock, Logan Moss, Thomas Trigg; Cyber Warfare Technician Seaman Apprentices Luka Boydos, Miguel Fierros Bernal; Cyber Warfare Technician Seaman Recruit Jhalyn Davis; Cryptologic Technician Collection Seaman Jose Rodriguez; Cryptologic Technician Maintenance Seaman Johnnie Huerta; Cryptologic Technician Maintenance Seaman Apprentices Ashton Harper, Justin Hutchinson, Kaleb Lemcke, Ethan Lucas, Matthew Walseman; Cryptologic Technician Technical Seaman Simon Lopez; Cryptologic Technician Technical Seaman Apprentice Jack Smith; Cryptologic Technician Technical Seaman Recruits Jacob Seymore, Cameron Morriesette.
 
With four schoolhouse commands, two detachments, and training sites throughout the United States and Japan, CIWT trains more than 26,000 students every year, delivering trained information warfare professionals to the Navy and joint services. CIWT also offers more than 200 courses for cryptologic technicians, cyber warfare technicians, intelligence specialists, information systems technicians, electronics technicians, and officers in the information warfare community.