{"id":230726,"date":"2026-06-12T11:30:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/dvids-news-irt-cyber-guam-2026-reinforces-networks-partnerships\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T11:35:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T15:35:20","slug":"dvids-news-irt-cyber-guam-2026-reinforces-networks-partnerships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/12\/dvids-news-irt-cyber-guam-2026-reinforces-networks-partnerships\/","title":{"rendered":"DVIDS – News – IRT Cyber Guam 2026 reinforces networks, partnerships"},"content":{"rendered":"

DVIDS – News – IRT Cyber Guam 2026 reinforces networks, partnerships<\/a><\/p>\n

https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/news\/567567\/irt-cyber-guam-2026-reinforces-networks-partnerships<\/a><\/p>\n

Publish Date: 2026-06-12 11:30:00<\/a><\/p>\n

Source Domain: www.dvidshub.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Author: <\/a><\/p>\n

Using an unordered list, summarize the following article with between 4 and 8 key points.
\n HAG\u00c5T\u00d1A, Guam \u2013 Sixty active duty and reserve Airmen, Sailors, and Soldiers teamed up to refine Guam\u2019s cyber network and emergency radio infrastructure for a Department of War Innovative Readiness Training program cybersecurity training opportunity June 1-12.
\nWorking alongside the Government of Guam Office of Technology, the team continued work from previous IRT Cyber Guam IRT iterations to assess physical and virtual limitations, identify vulnerabilities, share best practices, develop an improved emergency radio network, and train with joint and community partners.
\nThis year\u2019s training was the third iteration of partnering with OTECH for IRT Cyber Guam. U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Kyndra Ridenhour, Cyber Guam 2026 team lead, explained the first year\u2019s focus in 2024 was establishing what the network looked like, the second implemented best practices, and this third iteration continued implementation and provided options for scaled long-term solutions to vulnerabilities and operating requirements that support Guam\u2019s critical infrastructure.
\nThroughout the two-week training, the team decommissioned obsolete equipment, tested emergency response communications across military installations, utilities, and the governor’s office, upgraded and deployed new network equipment, and assessed upgrade requirements for the Government of Guam\u2019s Adelup offices.
\nRidenhour, whose role has evolved over the three IRT Cyber Guam iterations from trainee, to trainer, to team lead, emphasized the value for military IT professionals to be able to train on live networks compared to the military\u2019s more limited closed systems.
\n\u201cWe have to be a lot more flexible and shift to what the community partners\u2019 needs and guidelines are,\u201d she said. \u201cWe get to find solutions to work around what support and funding they have, and that forces us to think critically and help solve complicated problems our closed military networks can\u2019t necessarily provide us. I think this type of experience is essential.\u201d
\nCyber Guam 2026\u2019s training proved highly timely when, on June 8, a 7.8-magnitude earthquake off the coast of the Philippines triggered two tsunami advisories for Guam mid-exercise, emphasizing the need for the radio team\u2019s work.
\nU.S. Air Force Tech. Sgt. Sean Gmachowski, Cyber Guam 2026 Radio Team lead, said the team researched topographic maps of Guam to find the island\u2019s highest points, and established feasible repeater sites that would help military bases and municipalities communicate in the event of a natural disaster.
\n\u201cThere were a lot of blind zones we established last year,\u201d said U.S. Navy Senior Chief Petty Officer Cory Cox, Cyber Guam 2026 Radio Team trainer. \u201cThis year\u2019s focus has been establishing another backbone to allow Land Mobile Radio systems to work even if they\u2019re using normal repeaters or not.\u201d
\nThis year\u2019s participants, made up of active duty and reserve Airmen, Sailors, and Soldiers from 18 different units, worked across the island in radio, assessment, and network teams.
\n\u201cI love the joint aspect of IRT,\u201d said U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer Travis Gentz, Navy service lead for Cyber Guam 2026 and Automation Deployment Team trainer. \u201cWe\u2019re around other people who love technology, are motivated to be here, and love what they do. We get to have a mission-first mentality to learn, engage, and see the impacts of our work right away.\u201d
\nGentz welcomed the challenge of training troops on a live network because of the tangible impact on developing junior members\u2019 skills and serving the community.
\n\u201cI think the big thing is the sense of pride,\u201d Gentz said. \u201cIt means a lot knowing the troops got to do something important like decrease Guam\u2019s security footprint that has a long-term effect on their neighbors.\u201d
\nAs a program centered on working in American communities, IRT not only exposes participating service members to the other branches but also often provides once-in-a-lifetime opportunities to travel across the country and U.S. territories to support American communities.
\n\u201cThe IRT team have become trusted resources for our team,\u201d said Beatrice Santos, OTECH acting chief technology officer. \u201cWe value the techniques we have learned from them, and we hope working with our team in real-life scenarios and systems over these last three years has provided a good learning environment for new service members as well.\u201d
\nThe service members participating in Cyber Guam 2026, along with their community partners, value the unique opportunity the IRT program provides.
\n\u201cJoint and community opportunities like this are fantastic because they can bring every branch and component together,\u201d Ridenhour said. \u201cI hope the Airmen and Sailors on this trip try to experience it all, from the productive networks to the culture. I never thought this was possible, and now that I\u2019m here, I don\u2019t want to leave!\u201d
\nAs a training tool and outlet for service members\u2019 innovation, participating units signed off on 2,000 training tasks, saved an estimated $630,000 in service costs, facilitated live network training equivalent to $250,000, and plotted 520 emergency radio network sites.
\nThe IRT program, created in 1992, offers unique training opportunities to develop mission-ready forces while providing real-world benefits at no cost to the American communities they partner with in cybersecurity, medical, aerial spray, transportation and other focus areas. Cyber Guam 2026 has the particular benefit of delivering critical training to troops while supporting valued community partners in the Indo-Pacific, which is a key strategic area for the 2026 National Defense Strategy.
\nFor more information on IRT or how your community can apply for a training activity, visit irt.defense.gov.
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DVIDS – News – IRT Cyber Guam 2026 reinforces networks, partnerships https:\/\/www.dvidshub.net\/news\/567567\/irt-cyber-guam-2026-reinforces-networks-partnerships Publish Date: 2026-06-12…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":230727,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/d1ldvf68ux039x.cloudfront.net\/thumbs\/photos\/2606\/9745675\/1000w_q95.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-230726","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cybersecurity","tag-cybersecurity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230726"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=230726"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230726\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":230728,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/230726\/revisions\/230728"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/230727"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=230726"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=230726"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/testing.news-you-need.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=230726"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}