{"id":75029,"date":"2019-09-30T11:24:28","date_gmt":"2019-09-30T15:24:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/?p=75029"},"modified":"2022-10-25T16:15:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-25T20:15:55","slug":"battle-tested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/2019\/09\/30\/battle-tested\/","title":{"rendered":"Battle tested"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Loghan Young, a Master of Public Administration student, helps fellow veterans succeed as a graduate assistant in the Veteran and Military Center.<\/p><\/div>\n

Leading truck convoys in Afghanistan that survived suicide car bombings and firefights should be on Loghan Young\u2019s resume. But it\u2019s probably not.<\/p>\n

The Army veteran and Wright State University master\u2019s degree student talks about it matter of factly and only when asked. But her yearlong deployment in war-torn Afghanistan, where she drove through the narrow, dangerous streets of Kabul, was a crucible for Young that steeled her for the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt gave me the courage and strength to conquer anything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Young has since traded the battleground for a college campus and is pursuing her master\u2019s degree in public administration<\/a>. She also works as a graduate assistant in Wright State\u2019s Veteran and Military Center, where she helps veterans achieve success in the classroom.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all a far cry for a girl who grew up on Barbie dolls.<\/p>\n

\u201cI loved Barbies,\u201d said Young, who grew up mostly in Dayton with a four-year interruption in Kissimmee, Florida. \u201cIf we went on a family camping trip, my Barbies replicated it. They lived the story.\u201d<\/p>\n

But Young was also a bit adventurous. Fishing, slip-sliding in mud and riding four-wheelers and dirt bikes were part of her childhood. She once had a close call with alligators after falling off of a knee board in a Florida lake near the animals\u2019 nest.<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s journey to Wright State was a twisting, winding road.<\/p>\n

After graduating from Fairborn High School in 2006, she worked various jobs while trying to support her young son.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was at rock bottom,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

A friend of hers was an airborne and Military Police officer in the Army stationed at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, and one day she went to visit him there. She was impressed with the Army life and the level of respect the soldiers were given.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe military just became a fantasy to me,\u201d she said. \u201cIt was this respectable lifestyle, family, camaraderie. Everything about it was very attractive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young also saw the military as a way to get housing and an education. So in 2009, she joined the Army.<\/p>\n

At the recruiting station, she met a recruit who agreed to help her train for the running she would need to do at basic training. (Four months later, the couple was married and recently celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary.)<\/p>\n

Young said basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, was the best time of her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was stressful in the moment, but I made the best friends I\u2019ll ever meet,\u201d she said. \u201cI still talk to them to this day.\u201d<\/p>\n

After completing basic training in 2010, she went to Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where she trained to be a truck driver. Then she was assigned to Fort Sill, Oklahoma.<\/p>\n

On July 4, she deployed to Afghanistan, where she would become the lead convoy driver and part of the personnel security team. The convoys would deliver supplies and ferry high-ranking military officers to meetings in Kabul. The mostly unpaved streets and paths teemed with pedestrians, carts, bicycles, motorbikes and Toyota Corollas.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would see 2-year-olds roaming the streets by themselves,\u201d she recalled. \u201cIt was surreal. It was an extreme culture shock.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young\u2019s convoy group was called the Spartans and featured the ancient Greek warriors spray-painted on the trucks. A general told her that a review of intelligence reports revealed that the convoy had a reputation and that the enemy Taliban fighters were told by their leaders to stay away from the Spartans because of their diligence.<\/p>\n

Young drove a M-ATV, a heavily armored Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle crowned with a gun turret.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll never forget leaving the camp gate for the first time,\u201d she said. \u201cI remember thinking, \u2018This is it. I\u2019ve got to stay focused. Don\u2019t get complacent. Scan everything.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Although not a single member of the convoy was killed during the year\u2019s deployment, the group twice came under attack, once from a terrorist car bombing directed at another convoy near the gate of Camp Dubbs. A second time Young\u2019s convoy came under fire just outside the gate of Camp Phoenix and barely escaped harm from detonations by two suicide bombers. The convoy barricaded the gate to protect the camp during a 15-minute firefight. Young was awarded a Combat Action Badge.<\/p>\n

Young returned from Afghanistan on July 4, 2011, and left the Army at the end of 2012. She completed cosmetology school in Oklahoma and in 2014 moved back to Ohio.<\/p>\n

She became a first-generation college student, earning her associate degrees in psychology and liberal arts and a certificate in human resources from Sinclair Community College in 2016.<\/p>\n

She then chose to transfer to Wright State and in 2018 graduated with a bachelor\u2019s degree in organizational leadership<\/a> and a minor in veterans services.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrowing up in Dayton, Wright State was THE college of Dayton,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s affordable, it\u2019s convenient, it\u2019s local, it\u2019s right in the middle of everything. It\u2019s extremely appealing in that sense. It was a no-brainer.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Veteran and Military Center<\/a> affirmed Young\u2019s decision to attend Wright State and within a few months she had a job there as a front desk peer adviser.<\/p>\n

Today, the 31-year-old Young flashes a blinding smile framed by a sleek black mane. A tattoo on her upper arm is that of a vine that entwines a mother kissing a baby and the names of her three children.<\/p>\n

She works at the VMC as a graduate assistant, focusing on what veterans need to succeed in school. She teaches workshops on how to study, conduct research, write papers and get involved in campus activities. One workshop focuses on the area\u2019s \u201chidden gems,\u201d the best places to eat, get coffee, study privately.<\/p>\n

Young also has been aggressively pursuing and saying \u201cyes\u201d to opportunities even though it might take her out of her comfort zone.<\/p>\n

She was on a panel at Antioch University directed at transfer students and a mental health panel at the Dayton Veterans Administration Hospital. She also spoke at a national military symposium in Las Vegas attended by representatives of 300 colleges around the country.<\/p>\n

Young was bombarded by questions about the success of the VMC.<\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone wanted to know how Wright State does it with their military students,\u201d she said. \u201cIf you are a veteran, there is no better place to be than Wright State. We are close to Wright-Patterson. Faculty get it if students have National Guard responsibility or have to deploy. And the VMC tries really hard to form personal relationships and really mentor students. There is an indescribable support system at the VMC if you are willing to use it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Young says her military experience has given her confidence, the ability to multitask and a much greater appreciation of living in the United States.<\/p>\n

After graduation, she wants to continue working with military veterans and help them transition from the military into civilian life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Loghan Young, a Master of Public Administration student, helps fellow veterans succeed as a graduate assistant in the Veteran and Military Center. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":75041,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[722,733,2104,2060,744,4896,747,2039,715,4855,4298],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-75029","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academics","category-alumni","category-teacher-education","category-graduate","category-education-human-services","category-leadership-studies-in-education-organizations","category-liberal-arts","category-military-veterans","category-news","category-social-sciences-and-international-studies","category-student-profile"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75029","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75029"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75029\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":75053,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75029\/revisions\/75053"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75041"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75029"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75029"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75029"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}