When Sung Kim joined the U.S. Air Force in 1997, he envisioned himself as a pilot at the controls in an aircraft cockpit. His military experience, however, took him on a different course – one that solidly landed him earlier this year as Senior Manager for CPS Energy’s Enterprise IT Security.
Sung is one of nearly 300 veterans working for the utility. Although Veterans Day is still a few weeks out, we’re kicking off a series today spotlighting a handful of the men and women at CPS Energy who selflessly served, or currently serve, in our nation’s Armed Forces.
Born in South Korea, Sung joined the U.S. Air Force in an administrative role and later cross-trained in the computer field, a defining moment in his career. He used his computer system skills as a Help Desk Technician, Server Administrator and while serving with the Combat Communications Unit and Air Control Squadron.
Those skills were invaluable as Sung participated in three of the seven Operation Iraqi Freedom campaign phases.
“My first deployment was to Balad Air Base, an Iraqi Air Force base near Baghdad, to help manage air resources – attack, support and medical – for the entire operational area,” he explained. “I ensured communications were available to our air controllers, and managed data between a Central Reporting Center and radar systems to support the air portion of combat operations.”
His technical experience and expertise didn’t go unnoticed. Sung was selected by the Air Force as one of only 200 initial members of what is now called Cyber Warfare Operations. This elite group oversaw computer network defense, response and attacks while supporting counter terrorism operations and cyber operations for theater-level war plans.
Master Sgt. Sung Kim retired from the U.S. Air Force in 2019 ..
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