IT & Security Administrator — Republic of Korea Army Aviation

I spent 5 years in the Korean Army Aviation as an NCO. My official title was Power Maintenance NCO, but honestly, I wasn't great at turning wrenches. I ended up doing most of the IT and admin work for the battalion instead — and it turned out I was actually good at it.

What I actually did

Most of my day-to-day was running DELIS, the military's logistics system. Think of it as a clunky ERP that tracks every part, every maintenance record, every flight hour for UH-60P Black Hawk helicopters. If a part number was wrong or a record was missing, helicopters didn't fly. So accuracy mattered.

I also handled the usual IT admin stuff: managing computers and equipment across the unit, setting up accounts, fixing things when they broke, and being the person everyone came to when "the system isn't working."

Security side

Military networks are closed — no internet, no external connections. My job was to make sure it stayed that way. Regular checks on USB ports and external devices, making sure nobody plugged in something they shouldn't. Workstation inspections before security audits. Shredding classified documents. Maintaining access logs.

Not glamorous work, but if you messed it up, you'd hear about it fast.

The people part

I ran security training sessions and taught new soldiers how to use the systems. When people had complaints or issues with IT, I was the first stop. Somewhere between helpdesk and compliance officer.

Recognition

I received 9 commendations over 5 years, including a Division Commander Award at discharge. Got promoted to Sergeant First Class.

How this connects to what I do now

I didn't touch servers or write scripts in the military. But I spent 5 years keeping systems running, dealing with security compliance, and solving problems under pressure. When I started learning cloud infrastructure and DevOps after discharge, the mindset — keep things reliable, control access, document everything — already made sense.