VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. – Red, white, and blue. These colors together symbolize the flag of the United States, but in the largest and longest running cyber exercise, they represent the teams of Cyber Shield 2025 working together to test the nation’s cyber defenses from May 30, 2025 to June 13, 2025. Among the 900 participants is a young couple from the Oklahoma Army National Guard, both working in the cyber field and this time, on separate teams.
Staff Sgt. Diana Hutcherson, an information technology specialist with the Oklahoma Defensive Cyber Operations Element is attending Cyber Shield for the first time with her husband Spc. William Hutcherson, an electromagnetic warfare specialist, with the 45th Infantry Brigade Combat Team out of Norman, Oklahoma. Diana will be serving on the blue team where they will focus on defense approaches, whereas William will serve on the red team through more offensive approaches by testing the blue team’s capabilities.
“I am excited,” said Diana. “I think this will be a lot of fun because it leverages our different strengths as we are on opposing sides.”
Originally joining the Oklahoma Army National Guard in 2017 through the Officer Candidate School, Diana found that it was challenging for her to maintain a living while attending the course. She decided half-way through to make a drastic career change.
“I was half way through the Officer Candidate School, but I was broke and I couldn’t find a job with my college degree so I decided it was best to leave the school and find a career that would help me on the civilian side,” said Hutcherson. “I decided on the 25B route and it worked out really well for me.”
Hutcherson points out that despite her advanced individual training at Fort Eisenhower, Georgia, taking only five months to complete, the certifications she earned allowed her to be competitive in the private job market despite having limited experience. Through her training, she was able to get her A+, Net+, and Security+ and her CCNA.
“I felt like I was plugging myself into the Matrix, and when I came up for air, it’s almost like I learned Kung Fu,” joked Hutcherson. “I went in with very little knowledge of it, and I came out being able to secure my first job that initially required five years of experience.”
William, on the other hand, originally enlisted as an 11B, Infantryman, in 2021, two years after he married Diana. After some time, he decided to change career paths in 2024 to become a 17E, or electromagnetic warfare specialist. Although some dual-military couples may find challenges being in service together, William saw it as an opportunity to be closer to Diana and understand her experiences.
“It’s easier to connect now, because we now share similar experiences both in cyber and the military,” said William. “It feels wonderful to participate in this exercise with my wife, because this is one of the reasons why I joined: to be able to go on these adventures and do these things with her.”
Despite being on opposing teams, Diana and William both look forward to being able to participate in the same space and share experiences at the end.
“I think it creates a fun challenge, where it would be a good opportunity for us to learn new skills and practice existing skills,” said Diana. “When the exercise is over, I’d love for us to talk and share our knowledge with what we learned, and help cross-train one another.”