- As an exchange officer to the operations research career field, I gained a lot of perspective on the gap between the operational need and the timelines to deliver operationally ready products.- Observed first hand the gap between expectations of what data can do for an organization and the infrastructure required to enable that reality as well as the need to meet unspoken customer requirements.- Gained first-hand experience analyzing real operational problems through a variety of data sources and systems utilizing both Python and other built in analysis toolsets.

- Learned the structure, history and function of the DOD cyber enterprise which is crucial to understanding today's intelligence environment- Gained understanding of how to develop targeting strategies that meet the customer need

- Built a course and all associated courseware to provide on-the-job training that took Airmen from their first day of work to qualification to support aircrew mission planning and train/evaluate fellow analysts.- Realized (again) the importance of an analyst's ability to apply simple technical concepts broadly across threat systems to improve the speed of analysis. - In tandem with the above, encountered the general fear that comes with learning technical concepts and worked to break down that anxiety and build confidence in understanding technical concepts.- Realized (again) the need to allow analysts to use brain space for the hard problems rather than wrote memorization

- Balanced multiple competing no-fail priorities and discovered how to effectively utilize my team members to achieve customer needs. - Supporting aircrew made it obvious that timeliness of analysis is at times more important than the depth of it. Mission planning is happening now and if you can't deliver the insight on time then it will wreck the entire plan or be ignored. - My first experience with the idea that intel analysts should be able to have massive amounts of information on hand and easily accessible/searchable so they can focus their efforts on application and analysis.-Experienced a deployed environment and the necessity of supporting your personnel's needs and ability to balance personal and professional requirements in a high stress environment.

- First time leading Airmen who weren't my peers which taught me all about meeting people where they are at in terms of on-the-job training and building on their strengths- Learned to meet the customer's unspoken need and take unspoken feedback. Intelligence means nothing if it isn't relevant to the customer and can't keep them engaged. This requires tailoring both the product and the sources used to develop it to meet the audience.

- My second chance at an Air Force Career - First time I realized that an Intelligence Analysts' ability to apply technical concepts to threat understanding makes all the difference in providing timely analysis. This is not a skill that is taught well to our young analysts.

- Learned flying planes was not my skill- Gained incredible perspective on the mindset imbued in Air Force aircrew critical to my success in supporting operators' intelligence needs. Bottom Line: Intel is but one of so many items aircrew must digest. If it isn't delivered clearly, directly, and memorably it isn't going to stick.