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TUTONG CAMP, Brunei — As ground troops train in the jungle during Exercise Pahlawan Warrior 26, a team of Oklahoma National Guard cyber specialists is working side by side with the Royal Brunei Armed Forces to sharpen defenses in cyberspace and deepen bilateral cooperation.
“We are working alongside the RBAF to train on cyber incident response,” said Maj. Danny Huddleston, defensive cyber operations team chief with Joint Force Headquarters, Oklahoma National Guard.
The curriculum moves from the building blocks of incident handling and industry-standard processes to practical scenarios. Participants are slated to tackle a capture-the-flag event in a simulated network environment to apply new skills, then transition to a policy- and procedure-focused tabletop drill. “The [tabletop exercise] is similar to a range exercise,” Huddleston said. “You have a simulated environment where they can test everything that they’ve learned from the prior week.”
By adding a cyber track, Pahlawan Warrior broadens a bilateral exercise long associated with infantry training while sustaining its focus on interoperability and relationships. “In the past, [the exercise] primarily entailed an infantry element to it,” Huddleston said. “Now that cyber is a prevalent area in defense, we added that piece to help continue that cross-training and relationship building.”
The collaboration also gives Guard cyber teams additional practice communicating across organizational boundaries—an essential skill for Soldiers who may partner with other military units, civilian agencies and private-sector entities during real-world incidents.
Lessons from Brunei will inform new blue-team incident-response training Huddleston’s team is building for Oklahoma that will include civilian state partners. The event provides a proving ground to refine that program before it rolls out at home. “This training has allowed us to take a step back and ask ourselves, ‘What went well with this? What do we need to adjust?’ so that when we conduct the training back home in a couple of months, it’s more efficient,” Huddleston said.
Huddleston noted the relevance of these skills beyond military networks as everyday life relies on interconnected systems. “Everything is connected nowadays,” Huddleston said. “Electronics are everywhere. Connectivity is everywhere.”
Bringing cyber into a multinational setting, he added, underscores its growing role in overall readiness. “Cyber is still new, and getting our word out there and our name out there is critical,” Huddleston said. “Having this be part of an exercise that is multinational is a huge part of improving our overall mission set.”
