Thank ohtechwiz, I will order it on Amazon tonight when I get home. I appreciate your response.

Yea, I hope to get to that point. I just need a good supplement to my studies, while I'm at work I get quite bored.
lolz.

But yea, I read the description of Counter Hack Reloaded, and it seemed really good.

Part of the reason I have a library of 1/3rd of the way read books.. is that I'm working full time as a network/security guy.  Thank God they pay for most the books I get, since it's 'work related' haha.   Also going to school fulltime to get more school based experience.. besides my on the job experience.  You're right experience is #1, but having certs = more $. 

Hey g00d_4sh, How did you get your start in security? Did you have Certifications before you got the job?

I was actually running my own landscaping business... and one of my biggest customers pulled me aside one day.. and said "Can you see yourself doing this in 10 years?"  I was like... "Nope".  And he outlined going back to school, getting some certs and working with computers.  He suggested that since I'd always been into computers, and had talked with him about his own set up and company a number of times.  He started and just sold a nation wide company that deals with Library software.  Including cutting edge OCR and whatnot.  Pretty nifty stuff, but it was our talks that got him to tell me to get a job doing it. 

I started back into school, and a DOI sub-branch was looking for a cheap student intern.  Cheap being the relative word I think.  I didn't have any certs to start with, but I had already taken a number of classes, and just had a good base to start with.  Did well at the interview, was hired on, and quickly turned full time.  And it's been rather easy to quickly move into more responsibility (and money) by demonstrating ability.  IE, everyone in the gov is retiring... and if you know a bit you're scheduled to move up quick.  40% of the federal workforce is getting close to retirement age within the next 1 to 5 years.  That.. and some of the current people who are my counterparts are rather dense, having just come up in the mentality of "I don't need to learn anything, just keep doing what I'm doing and get a check."  Since I'm actively seeking out answers to problems instead of passing the buck or sweeping it under the carpet.. and since I am not yet embittered toward the job I'm looking rather good at reviews.   It has turned out to be a great opportunity though.  So, to 'quickly' answer your questions.. no I didn't have certs to get the job, it was bottom rung that quickly advanced.  I got into the security aspect because in our regional office I'm the only one interested in security, and hense keeping up to date on it.

What, no Marine Corps love?   

Thanks for your service...thank goodness for the gold old GI Bill.

A good alternative to full time military duty if you can't or don't want to sign up for that is the National Guard.  I was in the AF National Guard for 6 years and it is a great way to get experience with IT or anything for that matter.  Not to mention the college benefits are nearly as good as full time active duty military.  Well that is my recruitment speech for the day.   

Funny you mention that. I just came across this article regarding AF Cyber earlier today. I was curious to see what they were looking for so I went into their online recruiter chat. What I was told was this:

"We are currently looking for people with bachelors degrees in computer engineering."

When I asked him about security testers, his reply was simply "what about them?" Then he re-emphasized what he had already told me by re-stating they are only interested in people with a bachelors in computer engineering.