John S W Hawkes

British Army, Royal Signals — Information Services Engineer

July 2019 - PRESENT

I have served in the British Army for five years, joining in July 2019 when I began my 14 weeks of Phase 1 training, where I was taught the fundamental skills and discipline necessary to live and operate in the field. During Phase 1, I was presented with the Most Improved Soldier Award. I have been on multiple overseas exercises where I was away from home working in a high pressure remote environment.

Opnet Blue Detachment Commander

April 2022 - PRESENT

Operated within COPS (Current Operations) under 3rd Division (3Div), managing Windows Server 2016 hypervisor with Antillion CDISCs and Cisco switch. Oversaw deployment and maintenance of enterprise services for 120 Staff Officers on Windows Server 2016 hypervisor. Ensured seamless service delivery and optimised network performance in dynamic operational environments. I have deployed on numerous Military Exercises in this Role Including Cerberus 2022 and 2024 (two month deployment in Germany) and WFX 23.4 (four month deployment in Texas).

Red Team Operator

June 2023 - PRESENT

I am an active participant in the Army Cyber Association, which led to the fantastic opportunity to deploy on Exercise Defense Cyber Marvel 3 as a Red Team Operator. In this role, I utilized various hacking tools and techniques such as Kali Linux, Metasploit, C2 frameworks such as Cobalt Strike and Sliver.

Bulldog Crew

September 2020 - March 2022

I operated within the Bulldog Crew, managing communication systems within Armoured Personnel Carriers (APCs), deployed as part of the forward headquarters under 3rd Division (3Div).

Henry Burgers — Chef

September 2016 - May 2019

Before I was in the Army I was a chef at a Burger restaurant for two and a half years. Here I worked long unsociable hours in a high-paced kitchen, working on prep and service.