SAN DIEGO - The U.S. Navy is a massive machine that requires an extraordinary amount of data storage and information technology.
One of the men responsible for maintaining the Navy's data center is a 50-year-old Monroe native named Kim Wunschel.
Wunschel, a 1985 Monroe High School graduate, is an engineering lead at the Navy Enterprise Data Center in San Diego, one of three Navy data centers run by the Navy's Space and Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR).
Wunschel said the data center is a vital resource for a modern military organization. The center hosts databases for the Navy's backend, including the Navy's payroll information, acquisitions information, emergency notification systems and more.
"If a tornado hits the Midwest, we host the emergency systems that Navy staff and their families call in to," Wunschel said.
Wunschel's involvement with SPAWAR is in a civilian capacity, but he is not without military experience, he said. From 1988 to 1999, he was enlisted in the Navy, working as a rescue swimmer and an instructor in anti-submarine warfare, taking two tours of duty in the Mediterranean and working on drug interdictions in the Caribbean. Wunschel reached the rank of petty officer first class before retiring from military service.
"I didn't know what to do after I left," Wunschel said. "I did construction work for a year, but then the VA contacted me."
The Department of Veterans Affairs offered Wunschel the opportunity for some free college courses, so Wunschel took some computer classes and began working in IT, eventually being hired by SPAWAR as a Windows administrator.
"I learned it all so quickly, the old infrastructure lead retired and I took his place," Wunschel said.
Wunschel said 80 percent of his work is spent considering ways to upgrade the data center to keep it safe from cyber attacks. For related reasons, Wunschel was unwilling to disclose the level of access he has to the center's databases.
More data centers will be constructed in Kansas City and Washington by early 2018, Wunschel said, whereupon the San Diego center will be relocated elsewhere. Fortunately, Wunschel said, he is eligible for other SPAWAR positions in San Diego after the data center is moved.
"It's like I just can't work enough," Wunschel said. "One good thing about working for SPAWAR is that hard work is always rewarded."
Although Wunschel plans to remain on the West Coast - with a wife and two children, relocating would be time-consuming - he visits his family in Monroe once a year.
"We take the kids to see their grandma and grandpa," Wunschel said. "It's always good to come back home."
One of the men responsible for maintaining the Navy's data center is a 50-year-old Monroe native named Kim Wunschel.
Wunschel, a 1985 Monroe High School graduate, is an engineering lead at the Navy Enterprise Data Center in San Diego, one of three Navy data centers run by the Navy's Space and Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR).
Wunschel said the data center is a vital resource for a modern military organization. The center hosts databases for the Navy's backend, including the Navy's payroll information, acquisitions information, emergency notification systems and more.
"If a tornado hits the Midwest, we host the emergency systems that Navy staff and their families call in to," Wunschel said.
Wunschel's involvement with SPAWAR is in a civilian capacity, but he is not without military experience, he said. From 1988 to 1999, he was enlisted in the Navy, working as a rescue swimmer and an instructor in anti-submarine warfare, taking two tours of duty in the Mediterranean and working on drug interdictions in the Caribbean. Wunschel reached the rank of petty officer first class before retiring from military service.
"I didn't know what to do after I left," Wunschel said. "I did construction work for a year, but then the VA contacted me."
The Department of Veterans Affairs offered Wunschel the opportunity for some free college courses, so Wunschel took some computer classes and began working in IT, eventually being hired by SPAWAR as a Windows administrator.
"I learned it all so quickly, the old infrastructure lead retired and I took his place," Wunschel said.
Wunschel said 80 percent of his work is spent considering ways to upgrade the data center to keep it safe from cyber attacks. For related reasons, Wunschel was unwilling to disclose the level of access he has to the center's databases.
More data centers will be constructed in Kansas City and Washington by early 2018, Wunschel said, whereupon the San Diego center will be relocated elsewhere. Fortunately, Wunschel said, he is eligible for other SPAWAR positions in San Diego after the data center is moved.
"It's like I just can't work enough," Wunschel said. "One good thing about working for SPAWAR is that hard work is always rewarded."
Although Wunschel plans to remain on the West Coast - with a wife and two children, relocating would be time-consuming - he visits his family in Monroe once a year.
"We take the kids to see their grandma and grandpa," Wunschel said. "It's always good to come back home."