[captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] >> this week on "defense news," the marine corps cyber command. the annual senator cowan event was hosted by "defense news" and several publications. executive director of the marine corps cyberspace command to ask what capability his office brings to the war fight. >> commanding general, major general reynolds and i really focused. we are operation control for u.s. cyber command. we provide joint force headquarters submarine capability to the operational commander and we provide the cyber mission force. we have 13 cyber mission force

full operational capability. 2 with the joint force for operations as directed by admiral rogers. second to that, the value for general miller and the commanders inside the marine corps. we have service-oriented cyber protection teams we integrate into exercises, we provide cyber readiness visits to provide education and training and awareness of the networks so they assured command and control as we engage in the operational fight. we work with the supporting establishment inside the marine corps and the marine corps systems command to energize cyber acquisition capability for the requirements from both the commander as well as the joint operating forces.

concept. how does your outfit fit in with that? >> that is a great question . the innovation the general is driving towards to bring in all the emerging capabilities and cyber information office operations into a cohesive unit to support the commanding general for the commander is really an initiative very focused on providing a lot of support through lieutenant general walsh down in quantico, virginia, for the commandant 's eventual decision where we are going to go. through the cyber mission forces we have, we will provide the operational capability and awareness, working with assistance command to procure capabilities and toolsets the forces would use and laying out

capability with the intelligence department, both on the uniformed and civilian side, to provide the responsive, agile workforce for the commandant and commanders. reporter: much as every service has unique missions, i was hoping to get your perspective on what the unique mission the center forces -- cyber forces in the marine corps do to larger objectives of the marine corps. >> with regard to the unique missions of the marine corps, we are an amphibious force. we need to understand the ground component leveraging. we need to understand the naval component leveraging. we provide a capability awareness and bring those joint capabilities and a new methodologies through our relationships with fleet cyber and army cyber command. that would be pretty much the

informational awareness capability. most recently for one large-scale exercise we were able to support the exercise with the fleet cyber, cyber protection team, to have the integrated force structure that was required by the commander on his network to be able to drive the operational maneuver force at that time. from our perspective it is the integration between graham, and naval forces -- ground combat and naval forces. ror reached operational capability. i'm wondering, what are some of the challenges and opportunities you see going forward as operations continue to grow in importance and capacity? >> great question, because there is a lot of both, challenges and opportunities. in regard to the challenges, it is working across all the networks and understanding the department of defense

able to rapidly and basically have agility across the network to respond or get in front of any kind of network anomaly or adversary action. you have to have the personnel that are trained and you have to have the capabilities that are able to be employed, but then also we do need to work and we do work without chief information officer in regard to having the authority to operate on these different networks. the goal is to be able to have that preplanned and preapproved so that we don't have to from that perspective. in regards to opportunities, there is wonderful opportunities for training, skill sets. to me, it is an exciting new time to work with the chief information officer and the systems command on how to acquire, what is information technology, what is the best way to ensure we can provide assured command and control to our commander. and then the second aspect that is really number one in priority

at the commander level in the commandant level talking about how to integrate cyberspace operations and support the maneuver commander, and looking at it as a domain maneuver and combat operations by supporting establishment. to me that is one of the biggest innovations in the change of the mindset and culture inside the service and the joint force. aaron: when we return, we with it -- pivot to af lost over bit and national lost over bit and national leaders it was happening so fast. somehow it felt like everything was moving in slow motion. if i didn't react, things could have gotten messy in a hurry. i mean just got that sweet ride with a great rate from navy federal. i was not about to let anything happen to her. just looking out for my wingman.

the dod and their families.

aaron: welcome back to "defense news." with ongoing operations in the middle east, the obama administration into this for, and a resurgent russia, the role of africa can be overlooked. our reporter set down with the army's top officer in discuss his command. >> first i will say that i don't know that africa gets glossed over. our national leaders establish priorities, and if you look at what we are doing in africa come in as grown tremendously the last couple of years. as to the future with africa, in 30 years, one out of every 4 people born in the world will be born on the continent of africa. 41% of all nigerians are under

relationship to what it is in the u.s. it is vast in size and resources. and it is also vast in threats. there are nefarious actors there -- boko haram, al-shabaab, da esh. reporter: so talk about central accord. enormous exercise. >> syntel accord was the largest exercise conduct it occurred last june in the country of gabon. but it taught me as a commander who had been in the job for a week at that point is how you integrate multiple nations. we had 15 different countries, units from the third infantry division come over, tended warfare school with the french, french instructors and we had units from the 82nd airborne division absolute transatlantic

linux lights. and we continued operations in exercise. what tommy is the vast potential of our partners and how they are eager partnering with the united states army. reporter: what are the challenges you have ringing these countries together? obvious things like interoperability, or other things? >> sure. we face the same challenges in africa that we face in other parts of the world. there is a 1 different languages spoken in the continent of africa. 8 different tribes. if you ever hear someone say they are an expert on africa, you got to wonder, because africa is so vast, so complex, that getting to know a little bit at a time is important. the challenges are the same. interoperability is very common. we are working through it. the purpose of this exercise is to bring over and train, learn,

relationships and trust down the road. trust is the cornerstone of all relationships. it is wonderful opportunities for us to bring the army, develop relationships. the reserve units are critical to engagements within africa. reporter: the general said earlier that we would be operating over large areas. alone making decisions at a lower level. so what are you doing in terms of leader development in africa to approach this for the future? >> leader development is my number one priority. i can guarantee in the future, we won't quite see the threat properly. we won't quite have the right equipment. and we won't necessarily give

have utility -- what we do now is develop leaders that have the agility, physical and mental agility, to address problems. when africa allows us to explore -- we have young officers that met with country teams, worked with other agencies, worked with other services, to understand complex military problems and how to deal with them. the leader development aspect of africa is only an upside developing relationships. reporter: i also wanted to ask about chinese projection in africa. it is well-known that the chinese have an interest in the continent. can you talk about your observations in terms of how they are projecting into the country, what they are doing? and are you seeing any movement towards a more militaristic -- >> china, like us, has great interest in africa. they see the same africa we do.

them that much. they have attended some of our exercises, closing ceremonies, as invited guests of the host nations. there is a future that we can work together, but that is down the road a bit. i'm excited for the opportunity to work with our partners, the ones we have established, and develop those relationships even further. reporter: ok, and also, the los resistance army and joseph kony, is the army doing anything to track down -- >> that has been an ongoing priority and special forces have been involved for several years. you notice the lord's resistance army, you haven't heard much about them recently. i will differ that question to the special forces guys. but it is clearly a priority for our nation.

resistance army, doesn't mean they may be dying out? >> i think the numbers are very low but i don't track that one specifically. aaron: when we return, more on africa. you are watching "defense news." >> we deploy as a company, but as a platoon, we are response before a lot. , it was a great opportunity for

aaron: welcome back to "defense news." the size and scope of the u.s. army's mission in africa requires different types of training. we sat down with 2 soldiers to discuss their experiences on the continent. >> this is right in the heart of djibouti. it is a unit that is able to rapidly deploy a platoon sized element within six hours to one

respond to potential threat going on at an american embassy in one of those countries. so it is an infantry company. we rotate in and out as far as responsiveness, who is going to be on that platoon ready to deploy. and the genesis of it is to respond to a potential threat, given the rising threat in east africa. there is the realization we need a force in place to be able to defend his american indices, american soil, and american lives in place over there. reporter: >> we prepare like any other infantry company, year-long training. as we got closer to the deployment day, we took a left turn and got more mission-specific. we establish our own mock deployment, at our own urban area training sites could we pretty much had a fake embassy,

were challenged with those complexities in the rule of engagement and stuff like that. it prepared us for the worst that may happen on this mission. reporter: and can you talk about your role once you are there? what responsibility level did you have? >> my responsibility is platoon leader. i was in charge of the platoon that be sent out to the embassy call up for activation. we rotated off so one was ready at all times. we had three platoons there. we did attend aggregate rotation. -- we did a 10-day rotation. we trained a lot. martin richard, land navigation, physical fitness, maneuvers at the platoon level. reporter: what were some of the lessons learned or challenges encountered? >> similar challenges was definitely the waiting. you are there is a response force so you are waiting on the call.

challenge but i was lucky enough to have excellent leaders above me and below me. we were able to stay mission focused and ready at all times. reporter: how long have you been in the army? >> just over two years now. reporter: how do you believe this experience as per pair you for your future? >> i would say it has prepared me a great way. it has widened my skills as a platoon leader. it really expanded my skills as a platoon leader, as i was able to consistently operate in a environment, totally new to me. and really expanded my horizons as well as my readers below me. we saw things that my peers and there's wouldn't be able to see on a regular basis. reporter: i wonder if you could talk about the general's comments about how the soldiers in the future will be operating in environments -- example, you are given a high level responsibility.

>> i think the response force is a testament to that. as the platoon operating, we are responsible for a lot. my platoon would apply to intimacy and be in charge of that. it is a testament to the kennedys and flight operation. -- that kind of decentralized operation. >> it was a great opportunity for my soldiers and myself to be able to interact with -- we had five partners in african nations that were at the we were able to split my platoon, each squadron, with a different partner nation. i was adjusting for me -- that was interesting for me, because it decentralized my platoon. i was moving between the different elements that my squads were with. also with that, it was a great expensive stream -- great expense for our junior leaders, squad leaders, to get that opportunity to influence another

their -- our techniques and their techniques, bouncing ideas off of each other. i think one of the most interesting stories we had from their was -- we had from there was my second squad leader at the time, he was originally from uganda. it was usually for him to go back, he was partnering with a chad platoon. after a week and a half-long exercise, they were spending plenty of time with the chad soldiers and they were sharing experiences, they were really growing and bonding as a team. you could tell, they were in different exercises from different problems given to them. and i thought one of the coolest things was when i came marching in, i believe it was the day before the last portion of the exercise, they were both switching off from american

they were watching the soldiers up to the building areas. reporter: you said you were operating a dispersed environment. can you talk about your response ability level with that? >> my responsibility level, i would normally check in at the command center, and see where my platoons would be that day, seeing there different missions, where my soldiers would be at. and for me i would go and sort of observe and see how they were interacting with different countries. had a platoon a squad with chad, another squad with the congo platoon. i would bounce around and talk to their platoon leaders, of course with the translator. and i would see how my squads were doing, if they were helping anything they needed help with. more of an advisory role to their platoon leaders. and my guys were taking care of. reporter: could you talk about

what were some of the challenges? you are working with a lot of different countries as well. can you elaborate on that? >> a great challenge is definitely the translation. especially with our military lingo we like to use a lot committed and always translate over. -- we like to use a lot, it didn't always translate over. how we were able to overcome that is by drawing in the dirt lot of times -- here is what we are trying to say, based on our doctrine, based on your doctrine. we were able to work through problems. a good example, in the warfare school, we had a patrol base. we didn't know what they were talking about. we drew it in the dirt and were able to figure out across the language and culture barrier, that hey, we do something very similar. give good ideas and we will give you good feedback as well. it was probably our greatest challenge. aaron: on this week's "money

jeanette mack explains credit. jeanette: many service members graduating from basic and are at the beginning of their financial life. if that is you and you find yourself in need of a car or home of your own, you will need to take out loans. those loans require established credit. a good credit history does not happen overnight, but there are ways to get started. when you enter the military, you have to open a checking or savings account for direct deposit. if it is with a fina cuts, maintain that in good standing for six or more months. it will show future letters you can handle money. then you can apply for credit card to a stylish credit. a secure card, one backup by a cash amount, is a good starter option. use the discipline you learned in boot camp and make payments on time. this goes a long white when it comes to evaluating your credit. once you have established credit, make sure it stays in good standing by only using

of the available credit. eventually you will have the good habits and credit history that can help you achieve your financial goals. aaron: we will see you next week. when we return, we will stay with u.s. army. you are watching "defense news." >> on the far end we have the antenna and slide. that being detected was not an option. if i was recognized the whole operation was blown. the element of surprise was imperative. wow. he won't even recognize you. and thanks to my cashrewards credit card from navy federal with never-expiring rewards it's gonna be a killer honeymoon. woo! maui!! boom open to the armed forces, the dod and their families.

aaron: welcome back. we finish up this learning about radar capabilities. >> the army del potro has a one-of-a-kind facility for testing counter mortar radars once they are repaired. the padding in his unique room rights clean radio frequency environment. >> what you see is the test chamber. behind it is the lightweight counter-mortar radar.