Photo By Tech. Sgt. Hailey Haux | Airmen from the Mongolian Air Force Command and Pacific Air Forces take a group photo...... read more read more
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Honolulu, Hawaii – USAF Major Oyunchimeg “Meg” Young is one of the few; she can count on two hands the number of Mongolian speakers throughout the Department of Defense. Growing up under the Soviet regime in Mongolia, Meg envisioned a different life for herself.
“I picked up English when I first came to the States in 1996. I did not speak a word of English. I wanted something different, a different life, but if I were to do it tomorrow I don’t know if I would have the guts to do it now.”
Young was asked by Pacific Air Forces to serve as a translator for Airmen-to-Airmen talks with the Mongolian Air Force Command (MAFC), March 26-28, 2019. This was the first A2A engagement between the United States and the MAFC, and was designed to improve relations and share best practices between two air forces, but it’s not the first time she’s worked with her countrymen. In 1997, she was living in Hawaii and was contacted by U.S. Pacific Command who was hosting a Mongolian delegation. She then began working with DoD and specifically with the Asia Pacific Center for Security Studies.
“Every year the Mongolians were coming for an engagement, or to the Asia Pacific Center for some courses said Young, “so I would translate for them, or translate ahead of time.”
She joined the Air Force in 2009 as an Acquisitions Officer and has been stationed at Hill AFB, Eglin AFB and completed two deployments to Afghanistan. One of these deployments found her creative problem-solving and facility for languages critical to her team’s success.
During her first deployment, Young led a transition team, which was a small team of Afghan police and a US-supported engagement team. The team visited different forward operating bases and different villages to assist the Afghans as they took over perimeter security responsibilities throughout Afghanistan.
After a month on the job, Young’s Afghan interpreter had to return home for a family emergency. Young had learned little Dari by that time, but fortunately the Afghan General she worked with spoke fluent Russian.
“When I grew up, Mongolia was allied with the Soviet Union and Russian was a required language you learned from 4th grade on.” The team was able to function with the General translating from Dari to Russian for Young, and Young translating from Russian to English.
While attending Naval Postgraduate School, Young applied and was accepted for a position at DTRA-Europe as one of two Foreign Area Officers in the European Surety team. She has been stationed there since 2018. While her next assignment may take her back to the Acquisitions career field, no doubt her rare language skill will keep her a part of future U.S. and Mongolian engagements.
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Mission
DTRA enables the Department of Defense, the U.S. Government, and international partners to counter and deter Weapons of Mass Destruction and Improvised Threat Networks.
| Date Taken: | 03.28.2019 |
| Date Posted: | 05.01.2019 07:50 |
| Story ID: | 320228 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 189 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, DTRA-E Officer supports United States - Mongolian Airmen to Airmen talks, by Marty Schaeffer, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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