Sergeant Major Young enlisted into the Marine Corps in June of 1992 and completed recruit training at Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island on August 28 1992. Following recruit training; Private Young attended Marine Combat Training at Camp Geiger and upon completion of M.C.T. he was forwarded to his initial MOS school at Naval Air Station Memphis in Millington Tennessee from October 93 to June 93.
Private First Class Young attended a follow-on course at Naval Aviation Maintenance Training Group Detachment in Cherry Point N.C. from July 93 to Sept 93, which was specific to his Military Occupational Specialty. Upon completion of the course he obtained the MOS as a 6332, an Aviation Electricians Mate for the AV-8b Harrier.
Lance Corporal Young reported to VMAT-203 2nd Marine Air Wing in Cherry Point N.C. in September of 1993. While attached to VMAT-203 he was meritoriously promoted to Corporal. Later on during his tenure with VMAT-203 he was promoted to Sergeant as he exercised the billets of a work-center supervisor, collateral duty inspector and leader of Marines.
Sergeant Young was then transferred to VMA-513 in Yuma, Arizona where he served as an Aviation Electrician, Collateral Duty Inspector, Low-power Certification Instructor and the Night-Crew shift supervisor. Sergeant Young was hand selected to execute the duties of a Gunnery Sergeant by fulfilling the billet as the Detachment SNCOIC while embarked aboard the U.S.S. Essex with the 13th Marine Expeditionary Unit. During his last six months at VMA-513, he served as a night-crew Lead Maintenance Controller and was promoted to Staff Sergeant.
Staff Sergeant Young was transferred to VMA-223 at 2nd Marine Air Wing, Cherry Point N.C. to serve as a Maintenance Controller. While serving with VMA-223 he embarked aboard the U.S.S. Bataan during the winter of 2001 to participate in Operation Enduring Freedom I. During the winter of 2003 Staff Sergeant Young embarked aboard the U.S.S. Kearsarge to participate in Operation Iraqi Freedom. In February of 2003 he was promoted to the rank of Gunnery Sergeant.
Gunnery Sergeant Young was awarded the 2003 James E. Nicholson, Non-Commissioned Officer Leadership Award for his “remarkable leadership skills while preparing for and executing a combat deployment”. As a Gunnery Sergeant, he executed the billet as the squadron’s Maintenance Control Chief. “For his outstanding contributions to Marine Aviation as Maintenance Control Chief” he was presented the 2004 Sergeant Major Frederick B. Douglass Award which was presented by the Commandant and the Sergeant Major of the Marine Corps.
During the summer of 2005 Gunnery Sergeant Young deployed with VMA-223 to Al Anbar Province, Iraq and served as the Staff Non-Commissioned Officer in Charge of the unit’s Avionics Division. In the winter of 2006 Gunnery Sergeant Young was transferred to the Center for Naval Aviation Technical Training in Cherry Point North Carolina. During his 16 months at CNATT he discharged the duties as an Aviation Electrician Lead Instructor, followed by the billet as the Chief Instructor and lastly the Unit Adjutant. In February of 2008 he was promoted to the rank of First Sergeant and immediately received and executed orders to Fort Leonard Wood Missouri to serve as the Military Police and Chemical Biological Radiological Nuclear Instruction Company First Sergeant from March 2008 to November 2009. He later served as the First Sergeant for Motor Transport Instruction Company.