Pennsylvania National Guard Cyber Team Goes To Cyber Shield 2025
The Pennsylvania National Guard (PNG) Cyber Team attended the largest ever Cyber Shield exercise from May 30 – June 13, 2025 at the Virginia State Military Reservation located at Virginia Beach, VA. This year’s exercise brought together close to 1,000 participants from all military services, public and private sectors from across 42 states and 16 countries. The PA Cyber Team consisted of 17 Army soldiers, six Air Force airmen and five Lithuanians; two soldiers from PA held key national level exercise leadership positions as the exercise deputy officer in charge and non-commissioned officer in charge.
The Lithuanian Vice Minister of National Defense, Tomas Godliauskas; Head of National Cyber Security Centre, Antanas Aleknavicius; Cyber Advisor in Cyber Security and IT policy group in Ministry of National Defense, Rugile Katinaite; Defense Advisor for U.S. Ministry of National Defense, Zilvinas Tomkus; and Deputy Defense Advisor for U.S Ministry of National Defense, Kristina Sapkinaite, visited Cyber Shield and participated in International Partner Distinguished Visitor’s Day.
Maj. Gen. Terrence Koudelka, deputy adjutant general-Air and Command Chief Dennis Ward visited PA participants at Cyber Shield and participated in the U.S. Distinguished Visitor’s Day. The PA Army Cyber Team has participated annually in every Cyber Shield event since 2014.
Cyber Shield is the largest recurring unclassified interagency and joint national-level cyber exercise. It fortifies national security by preparing cyber defenders to protect and defend critical infrastructure against our nation’s greatest threats, enhancing homeland defense, building cyber warfighting capabilities, and strengthening industry and international partnerships.
Through classroom training and hands-on application in an immersive cyber environment, participants develop areas of expertise, including industrial control systems security, network penetration testing, advanced network defense, cyber threat analysis, incident response, and cyber law. Cyber Shield involves an average of nearly 1,000 participants, including members of the Army National Guard, Air National Guard, Army Reserve, Coast Guard, Navy, Marines, representatives of state and federal government agencies, industry partners, and academia taking part to test their collective skills and evaluate their defensive capabilities in response to cyber warfare.
The National Guard and Reserve cyber mission forces contain some of the most talented cyber security and information technology government and civilian workforce, significantly contributing to the ability of the National Guard and Reserve to assist in the event of a state or national level cyber security incident. Cyber Shield brings state Defensive Cyber Operations Elements, Cyber Brigades, Cyber Protection Teams, government agencies, and other DoD cyber mission forces together to exercise and validate standard operating procedures, reporting systems, tool sets, and critical skills to better prepare for future cyber mission requirements.
If interested in more information about the Cyber Shield exercise, the PA Army Cyber Team or how to become a member, please reach out to LTC Christine Pierce, J36/PNG director of Cyber Operations at christine.m.pierce.mil@army.mil.
https://www.dvidshub.net/video/963752/cyber-shield-cyber-security-exercise
https://flickr.com/photos/cybershield/
Pennsylvania Army National Guard Child And Youth Program Hosts Summer Camps
The Pennsylvania Army National Guard Child & Youth Program will host several camps this summer! The events are Kids A.T. Camp, Reptiland, and Lake Tobias. During these camps, the kids will participate in fun activities to learn about team building, leadership, and resiliency skills such as problem solving, coping, hunting the good stuff, and thinking traps. They will participate in activities such as swimming, horseback riding, archery, baking, rope courses, rock wall climbing, and so much more! Below are the 5 W’s for the upcoming events:
Kids A.T. Camp
Who: DEERS dependents ages 6-18
What: Free cost camp for military youth
When: July 6-11, 2025
Where: Stoystown, PA
Why: To provide a fun camp for military youth and provide them with resiliency skills
Reptiland
Who: DEERS Dependents (service member, spouse, children)
What: Free cost family day
When: July 26, 2025
Where: Allenwood, PA
Why: To provide a fun day for military families to connect with each other and other military families
Lake Tobias
Who: DEERS Dependents (service member, spouse, children)
What: Free cost family day
When: Aug. 9, 2025
Where: Halifax, PA
Why: To provide a fun day for military families to connect with each other and other military families