The 1st Infantry Division’s Mobility Chief Warrant Officer 2 John Young was awarded the Reserve Warrant Officer of the Year 2020 for his achievements during a division wide National Training Center Rotation. He was presented this award on December 10, 2021 at Fort Lee, Virginia.

FORT RILEY, Kan. -The 1st Infantry Division’s Mobility Chief Warrant Officer 2 John Young was awarded the Reserve Warrant Officer of the Year 2020 for his achievements during a division wide National Training Center Rotation. He was presented this award on December 10, 2021 at Fort Lee, Virginia.

Deploying at a brigade level is no easy task, but deploying at a division level comes with additional challenges and preparation. For the first time in 30 years the entire 1st Infantry Division deployed to Fort Irwin, California September 2020 for NTC rotation 20-10.

“My role was to get everyone deployed to NTC and then redeployed. What made this rotation unique is usually when you do a NTC rotation it's just one brigade. This was a division level rotation including the brigades that supported the division as well as brigades from Fort Bragg, Fort Bliss, and elements from the National Guard and Reserve Units to support the division level rotation,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 John Young. “What made this extremely challenging is I had to synchronize each one of those movements into the NTC footprint. I had to synchronize all those movements into theater so there would be no congestion and we also ensured that we kept accountability of all personnel and equipment.”

Young arrived at Fort Riley January 2020 as the mobility officer and immediately dived into his responsibilities to prepare for the NTC Rotation 20-10. This division wide deployment came with an additional unique set of challenges. Deploying all these elements during the height of Covid-19 restrictions.

“Chief Young has been the senior mobility tech in the division as a relatively junior officer during a time of very intensive deployments for the division. I think since he’s been here we deployed and redeployed almost the entire division and he has been absolutely instrumental,” said Lt. Col. Paul Licata, 1ID ACofS G4 Chief of Sustainment. “Without his efforts we wouldn't have been able to deploy and redeploy the division as successfully as we have over the last 18-24 months and he’s just been an outstanding member of the team.”

His dedication to this mission had a great impact on 1ID and was recognized by the U.S. Army Transportation Corps. U.S. Army Transportation Corps Reserve Warrant Officer of the Year is a very prestigious honor. The award recognizes individuals who have served the Transportation Corps with distinction. The program maintains and enhances the legacy of the Transportation Corps and promotes cohesiveness and esprit de corps.

Young says, “I am extremely honored and humbled to be nominated for this award and if it wasn't for all the soldiers and the 1ID team I wouldn’t be receiving this award. There's no way I could've accomplished anything if it wasn't for the amazing support that I got from the staff all the way down to the company level.”