💻 TWO TEAMS. ONE CREW. 💻 The Cyber Viking Crew Launches the 2026–2027 CyberPatriot Season!

Hear the horns! Sound the alarms! Boot the computers! And somebody make sure the cookies are secure! 🍪😂

After a long summer ashore, the ships have launched, the keyboards are clicking, and The Cyber Viking Crew is officially back on the Cyber Seas! 🌊⚔️💻

And when I say the whole Cyber Viking Crew, I mean it.

This past week marked the first full week of CyberPatriot practices for both teams I have the privilege of coaching:

🛡️ Medina Valley AFJROTC 🦉 Hondo Cyber Owls CyberPatriot Teams

Different Teams. Different practice locations. Different divisions.

But when the computers boot up and the cyber battles begin...

⚔️ TWO TEAMS. ONE CREW. ⚔️

And what a first week it was!

We had new team members, Windows hardening, Linux zombies, Cisco networking, PowerShell, AI challenges, and the return of one of the most feared adversaries in Cyber Owl history...

THE DESKTOP GOOSE. 🪿😈

Yes, apparently, we are starting this season normally.

🛡️FIRST STOP: MEDINA VALLEY AFJROTC

The Medina Valley AFJROTC CyberPatriot Team completed its first full week of practice for the 2026–2027 season, and one of the best parts was welcoming new cadets to the crew! 🎉

There are few things I enjoy more as a coach than seeing new students walk through the door ready to learn cybersecurity.

So, to our newest cyber warriors:

WELCOME TO THE BEST TEAM IN THE TX-20009th! ⚔️

Is Coach Hall biased?

Absolutely.

Is The Cyber Viking changing

his mind?

NOT A CHANCE! 😂

Our returning team members didn't get much time to ease back into things. Summer vacation was over. Practice images were waiting.

The mission was simple:

💻 Boot the image.

🔎 Investigate the system.

🛡️ Find the vulnerabilities.

⚔️ Secure the machine.

Welcome back, veterans!

NEW CREW MEMBERS ENTER THE KINGDOM OF WINDOWS

While our experienced members knocked off the summer rust, I took our newest crew members on their first expedition into the wonderful—and occasionally confusing—Kingdom of Microsoft Windows.

We explored users, groups, permissions, user rights, Group Policy, Local Security Policy, Command Prompt, and PowerShell.

And then came an important lesson.

The mouse is useful. 🖱️

The graphical interface is comfortable.

But...

⚡ THE COMMAND LINE HAS POWER! ⚡

We started using Command Prompt and PowerShell to manage accounts, change group memberships, modify users, and remove unauthorized accounts.

Why?

Because I don't want students simply memorizing where to click.

I want them to understand what Windows is actually doing.

Then it was time for their first official Cyber Viking SIDE QUEST! 📜⚔️

🤖 THE AI COMMAND-LINE CHALLENGE 🤖

Our new members were challenged to use AI as a learning assistant to research Windows commands for managing users and groups.

But there was one very important rule.

Actually, several.

🧠 THE CYBER VIKING RULE OF AI

Don't just COPY it.

🔎 Read it.

❓ Question it.

🧪 Test it safely.

💡 Understand it.

🗣️ Be prepared to explain it.

AI can be an incredible learning tool, but cybersecurity students need to understand something very early:

Typing a command that somebody—or some AI—gave you is easy.

Knowing what that command will do when you press ENTER is cybersecurity. ⚔️💻

And for those brave enough to accept the BONUS QUEST, the challenge was even bigger:

Create a PowerShell script or Batch file capable of managing users, deleting unauthorized accounts, and changing group memberships.

We'll bring those creations into Val-HALL-ah, test them, walk through the code, troubleshoot them, and see what happens.

I'm sure everything will work perfectly the first time. 😂😂😂

And somewhere, a student is already preparing the ancient battle cry of IT professionals everywhere:

"BUT IT WORKED ON MY COMPUTER!"

🦉NEXT STOP: HONDO CYBER OWLS!

Then Saturday arrived, which meant it was time to sail west and join the Hondo Cyber Owls at the Hondo Public Library!

The Owls also kicked off their new season by welcoming three new team members to the flock—two high school students and one middle school student. 🎉🦉

After introductions and talking about everyone's goals for the season, we finally reached the moment everyone had been waiting for:

⌨️ HANDS ON KEYBOARDS!

And that's when things got weird.

Not Cyber Viking Crew weird.

Okay...

Exactly Cyber Viking Crew weird.

🐧🧟 WELCOME TO LINUX LAND

Our middle school Linux warrior booted his practice image and quickly discovered a minor cybersecurity issue... ZOMBIES!

Lots of zombies. 🧟‍♂️🧟‍♀️

While the rest of the team was securing computers, our Linux warrior was apparently tasked with saving the operating system from the undead.

• Linux permissions?

• Services?

• Users?

• Processes?

• Zombie apocalypse?

Just another Saturday morning with the Hondo Cyber Owls. 😂

But Linux Land wasn't the only place experiencing trouble.

Because over in Windows...

Something had returned.

Something terrible.

Something with feathers.

🪿😈 THE DESKTOP GOOSE RETURNS!

Cyber Owls veterans know the name.

They remember the chaos.

They remember the stolen mouse cursor.

They remember the memes dragged across their screens.

🪿THE DESKTOP GOOSE!🪿

Our Windows crew had to secure their practice systems while an angry goose ran across their desktops, interfered with their work, stole their mouse cursors, and generally behaved like it had administrator privileges.

Fortunately, our new Windows defenders had backup. One of our seasoned Cyber Owls has decided to expand her skills this year by tackling Cisco and networking. While working through her networking course, she also jumped in to help the Windows team battle the Goose.

She knows this enemy well.

The Desktop Goose was once HER nemesis.

Now she is passing that trauma—

Ahem.

I mean...

That valuable cybersecurity training experience—

on to the next generation. 😂🪿⚔️

That's leadership!

🌐 WINDOWS. LINUX. CISCO. POWERSHELL. AND A GOOSE.🌐

By the end of the week, I had watched students across both teams work on Windows, Linux, networking, command-line tools, PowerShell, practice images, troubleshooting, research, and cybersecurity fundamentals.

But the most important thing I watched wasn't happening on a computer screen.

It was teamwork.

Experienced students helped newer students.

Returning competitors shared what they had learned.

New members asked questions.

Students tried things.

Some things worked.

Some things didn't.

And then they figured out why.

That is what these programs are really about.

CyberPatriot gives us the competition and the challenge, but what we're building goes far beyond points on a scoreboard.

We're building problem solvers.

We're building leaders.

We're building students who aren't afraid to look at a problem they have never seen before and say:

"Okay...let's figure this out."

That mindset will serve them long after their final CyberPatriot round.

⚔️ TWO TEAMS. ONE CREW.⚔️

The Medina Valley AFJROTC CyberPatriot Team and the Hondo Cyber Owls are very different teams.

One is an AFJROTC team. One is a community CyberPatriot program based at a public library. They practice in different places with different students and different traditions.

But they share the same mission.

Learn. Teach. Challenge. Compete. Lead.

And maybe battle the occasional zombie or rogue desktop goose along the way. 🧟🪿😂

So as I look back on our first full week of the 2026–2027 CyberPatriot season, I couldn't ask for a better beginning.

• The returning crew is back.

• The new crew members are aboard.

• The computers are running.

• The practice images are loaded.

• The side quests have begun.

• And somewhere out there, the Desktop Goose is undoubtedly plotting revenge.🪿

Let it come.

Because...

🌊⚔️ THE CYBER VIKING CREW IS SAILING AGAIN! ⚔️🌊

To every member of the Medina Valley AFJROTC CyberPatriot Team and the Hondo Cyber Owls:

Welcome to the 2026–2027 Cyber Season.

We've got a lot to learn.

We've got competitions ahead of us.

We've got challenges we haven't even discovered yet.

And we're going to have a whole lot of fun getting there.

• TWO TEAMS.

• ONE CREW.

• ONE GREAT CYBER ADVENTURE.

🛡️⚔️ Coach Hall — The Cyber Viking

Train Hard. Learn Always. Defend Everything.

💻⚔️ CYBER LIKE A VIKING! ⚔️