“I see my path, but I don’t know where it leads. Not knowing where I’m going is what inspires me to travel it.” In this episode, I interview Lt Matthew Banuelos, a fellow cyberspace operations officer. We talk about our digital origin story, the pros and cons to being a prior enlisted officer, early commander expectations of a Lieutenant, and the advantage of having fresh perspectives to tackle dynamic challenges.
Summary
1st Lt Matthew Banuelos is a Crew Commander at the 561st Network Operations Squadron, Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. He oversees cyber operation missions across 245 locations globally and at an enterprise level.
Lt Banuelos, a reserve prior enlisted Airman, served at the 26th Aerial Port Squadron in San Antonio, Texas for 8 years. He deployed in 2014 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom and attained the rank of Technical Sergeant. He was commissioned in 2018 through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corp at the University of Texas at San Antonio entering Active Duty as a Cyberspace Operations Officer.
Lt Banuelos married his beautiful wife Stephanie in May of 2019 and are expecting a baby girl in January of next year.