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By Dennis ConnollyFor the Navigator

A little more than four years ago Aviation Support Equipment Technician 3rd Class Emily Youngblood wasn’t sure what she wanted to do, other than get out of Orange, Mass.

The little town in the northwest part of the state had a population of 6,000 and young people tended to get a job after high school and just stay there, said Youngblood.

By the time she was 20, Youngblood said she had had enough.

“I started to panic one day,” said Youngblood. “I was a waitress and didn’t like the options I had in that town.”

So, following her grand-father’s and several cousin’s example, she joined the Navy.

She decided to be an aviation support equipment

technician. “I didn’t understand a lot

of it, but it sounded the most interesting,” Youngblood said.

She went to boot camp for three months in Great Lakes, Ill., eight months of A School in Pensacola, Fla., and then to Everett, Wash. to report aboard the USS Abraham Lincoln (CVN 72).

On the Lincoln, Young-blood seriously started to learn her job.

She worked in the Support Equipment Division where they do all the maintenance and support for ground equipment on the flight line.

Some of this equipment included the hydraulic jenny, the spotting dolly air-craft tractor, the 31B tow tractor, the P-25 fire-truck, aircraft jacks and hydraulic purifying units.

“I was working as a

technician, doing preven-tive maintenance,” said Youngblood. “But mostly I was a mechanic.”

She loved it. The work, the ship, the friends she made became her family at sea.

They would muster at

0700, determine what piece of gear to work on, what they had parts for and get to work.

At first, one of the hard-est parts of doing her job was being a girl. The men thought she’d be afraid to get too dirty or too greasy or try

to pass off the more strenu-ous jobs. But she didn’t.

“Being a girl, I had to prove myself to the guys that I wasn’t afraid to carry my own weight,” she said.

Aviation Support Technician Chief Loran Thompson says she was definitely not afraid to get in there and do the work.

“She always worked hard and was an extremely good worker,” Thompson said. “Being a girl didn’t stop her from jumping in and doing all her qualifications.”

And work aboard the USS Lincoln was pretty much non-stop.

“Sometimes gear had to be repaired ASAP,” Youngblood said, explaining that they worked long hours with-out a break except maybe for a snack. “But honestly I wouldn’t change it for the world because it’s where I learned the most about my job.”

When the Lincoln pulled into Everett, Youngblood got orders for NAS Whidbey Island where she now works at a major repair and maintenance facil-ity, Fleet Readiness Center Northwest.

She’s been pulled into an office to learn a supervi-sor’s job and has learned how to manage work load, hand out work assignments, establish priorities, order parts and handle her own work assignments.

It hasn’t been all work and travel since she left Orange. Youngblood has also gotten married and has an 8-month old daughter named Rebekka.

But she still thinks about boats (carriers).

“If I could get myself com-fortable with the separation, with leaving my daughter after a few years, I’d go back on a ship in a heartbeat,” she says.

Navy takes Orange girl further than she hoped

Dennis Connolly

Aviation Support Equipment Technician 3rd Class Emily Youngblood turns from her computer screen to answer a question.

By Lt.j.g. Gabriel DuranVAQ-139

The Cougars of Electronic Attack Squadron (VAQ) 139

were recently selected as winners of the Association of Old Crows Navy Unit Award for Electronic

Warfare excellence. The Association of Old

Crows advocates the need for a strong defense capabil-

ity emphasizing electronic warfare and information operations to government, industry, academia and the public.

“It’s an honor and a priv-ilege to have been select-ed for this award,” said VAQ-139 Commanding Officer, Cmdr. Christopher Middleton. “This is a credit to the hard work and dedi-cation of the entire Cougar team.”

The Association of Old Crows publishes “Electronic Defense News” monthly and promotes electronic warfare programs across the Department of Defense. All electronic warfare units within the Department of Defense are eligible for this annual award. Due to the hard work and commitment of the WARCAT team over the last year, the coveted trophy will bear the name of the Cougars.

The squadron will be rec-ognized Oct. 4 during the opening ceremonies of the 47th Annual Association

of Old Crows International Electronic Warfare Technical Symposium in Atlanta, Ga.

The squadron was recog-nized for their accomplish-ments during their Surge 2009 deployment protect-ing coalition ground forces in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.

The Cougars are also the first squadron to employ the ICAP III Block 4 aircraft in the fleet, demonstrating the Block 4 capabilities during work ups at Air Wing Fallon and the Rim of the Pacific Exercise 2010.

The next evolution on the horizon is Composite Training Unit Exercise with the USS Ronald Reagan (CVN 76) and Carrier Air Wing 14 team, sharpen-ing war fighting skills and follow-on qualifications in preparation for an upcom-ing combat deployment.

VAQ-139 headed to Atlanta to retrieve ‘Old Crow’

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