PHOTO OR ILLUSTRATION CREDIT TK
In Young’s home, a photo from before she enlisted hangs next to a photo from her time in the Marines.
the opportunities I had at the
time. I wanted to be great … I
knew I was capable of it.”
She excelled in boot camp,
won promotion after promotion.
She was deployed to Okinawa
when a call came from home:
her mother was unable to care
for her six year-old son and was
giving Natasha custody. Natasha
was 19 years old. She scraped
together money for a plane ticket
and flew home on emergency
leave to complete the paperwork.
Just before she was sched-
uled to fly back to Okinawa, her
father was beaten to death in a
bar fight. Natasha was next of
kin. The Marines extended her
emergency leave so she could
arrange the funeral. The Marine
Corps League and the American
Legion chipped in to replace her
non-refundable plane ticket back
to Okinawa. Family and friends
looked after her brother until her
overseas tour was over.
By the time she was assigned to
the 2nd Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Company, at Camp