Photo By Capt. Brendan Mackie | Sgt. Matt Young, photojournalist, 117th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, works on a...... read more read more
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SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii – He was the story. On the front lines in Iraq, he lived in real-time what most Americans only saw on nightly newscasts. As a front-line Marine, he survived mortar attacks, shrapnel, and the effects of shell shock. He survived attacks in which other service members died. Although only 28 years old, he’s experienced more in his life than most people in the United States ever will.
He is Sgt. Matt Young, a native of Nashville, Tenn., now a photojournalist with the 117th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Hawaii Army National Guard. He served two tours in Iraq from 2004 to 2006 with the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Division.
Toward the end of his enlistment in the Marines, Young found out that one of his longtime childhood friends, a public affairs specialist with the Tennessee Army National Guard, was scheduled to deploy to Iraq. Young didn’t even know what public affairs was, but saw this as an opportunity to deploy again, this time with his friend.
“Once I heard about public affairs, I realized that taking on this job would give me the opportunity to better tell the story of military personnel over there from first hand experiences,” Young said. “In the Marines, I felt like, what we were doing was the story, but I felt, it wasn’t being captured the right way.”
In order to deploy with his friend’s unit, Young attended a three-month photojournalism course at the Defense Information School, Fort Meade, Md. There, he met his roommate Sgt. Satya Chhe, of Kapolei, Hawaii.
“When people meet him, they know right upfront that he’s an easy going guy. You can talk to him, and he’ll crack jokes,” Chhe recalled. “He’s never really serious unless he has to be and that’s almost never.”
After graduating from DINFOS, Young went back to the public affairs unit in Tennessee and immediately started lengthy pre-mobilization training. There he met Spc. Ashley Curtis.
“When I first met him I thought, ‘this guy is nuts’,” said Curtis. “He just came in one day out of nowhere, […] and he was loud and rambunctious and hilarious.”
After all the months Young trained at DINFOS and even more months completing pre-mobilization training, the unit’s deployment to Iraq was cancelled.
“I continued on with my civilian life while hoping for other deployment opportunities,” Young recalled. “A year after getting off-ramped, my old DINFOS roommate Chhe, called out of the blue, asking me if I wanted to deploy with his unit to Afghanistan.”
Young didn’t even think twice, accepting right away. A few months later, with his life packed up in bags, and a one-way plane ticket purchased on his own dime, he left his life in Nashville and boarded a plane for Hawaii.
“I’m grateful that he would sacrifice his own time to come down from Tennessee all the way to Hawaii,” Chhe said, “and that he would deploy [with us] to Afghanistan, one of the most dangerous places on earth.”
In Hawaii, for approximately three months, Young went through all the pre-mobilization training again, this time gearing up for the 117th MPAD’s deployment.
“The time here has probably been [one of] the best military experience I’ve had so far,” Young said. “Along side other military personnel, being treated as a person and not so much as a social security number, like a weapon or something.”
Young’s first deployment made him realize that the world was not flat and believes that this deployment will only help him become a better person.
“Each deployment makes a person different in their life. From the past two, I’ve felt that I’ve grown exponentially from what I – when I – started out as a 19-year-old kid out of high school,” Young said.
His friends agree that Young’s past deployment experiences and his dedication to the service of others will only positively impact the upcoming deployment to Afghanistan.
“He has a huge heart and cares a lot about his friends and family, probably more than himself,” said Curtis, who also transferred to Hawaii. “These characteristics are going to give him a great advantage when it comes to story telling because he already pays attention to his fellow soldiers and feels what they feel.”
After two years of training, setbacks and selfless sacrifice, Young will finally get to deploy with a unique group of friends, and he will finally be able to tell the story of those on the front lines.
“Even though I was off-ramped from my original deployment, I feel privileged to be able to go downrange with my new group of friends, the 117th MPAD, and to be able to put my skills to use, not only to tell my story, but the story of all service members, past, present and future.”
| Date Taken: | 04.27.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 04.27.2012 22:30 |
| Story ID: | 87509 |
| Location: | SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 630 |
| Downloads: | 4 |
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