> About_

Mission Background

I came to cybersecurity the way most good things happen, not all at once, but through a series of decisions that, looking back, were always pointing the same direction.

I spent over a decade in high-pressure operational environments. First as a combat veteran, then as a police officer and field training officer with the Tucson Police Department. That career was built on reading situations fast, protecting people under pressure, and making sound calls with incomplete information. Skills that translate better to this field than most people expect.

The decision to make the switch was easy once it was clear. When my daughter was on the way, I wanted something more stable, something with a ceiling worth chasing, and a career I could actually build a future around. The GI Bill made it possible. And if I'm being honest, it was never that far a leap. My dad has been in IT since the mid-80s. My grandfather worked in telecommunications before things were digital. You could argue I was always going to end up here.

Since making the transition I have thrown myself into the technical side of this work. I run a home lab on enterprise-grade hardware, study adversary behavior through active honeynet deployments, perform malware analysis using static and dynamic techniques, and build detection and monitoring infrastructure using open-source tooling. I am currently pursuing my Associate in Cybersecurity at Pima Community College, with plans to continue into a Bachelor of Applied Science in Cyber Operations at the University of Arizona.

I am also a badged volunteer at the National Cyber Warfare Foundation AZ03 cyber range in Tucson, where I help facilitate Capture the Flag events and community talks on emerging threats and techniques.

The work is the point. Everything else follows from that.