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Growing up in landlocked SD, Young becomes commander of Navy diving unit

MITCHELL, S.D. - The fate of hundreds of Navy, Army and Air Force divers rests in Jay Young's hands.Young and the entire Navy Experimental Diving Unit, of which the Mitchell native is the commander, are responsible for conducting tests on the div...

Jay Young, left, and Brad Hickey, right, prepare to dive dives using a MK-16 closed circuit underwater breathing apparatus. Young, the commander of the Navy Experimental Diving Unit, is a 1994 Mitchell High School graduate. (Photo courtesy of Jay Young)
Jay Young, left, and Brad Hickey, right, prepare to dive dives using a MK-16 closed circuit underwater breathing apparatus. Young, the commander of the Navy Experimental Diving Unit, is a 1994 Mitchell High School graduate. (Photo courtesy of Jay Young)

MITCHELL, S.D. - The fate of hundreds of Navy, Army and Air Force divers rests in Jay Young's hands.

Young and the entire Navy Experimental Diving Unit, of which the Mitchell native is the commander, are responsible for conducting tests on the diving equipment used throughout all branches of the Armed Forces.

Promoted to the gig in December, Young is settling in following his first few months in his new position with the diving unit - referred to as NEDU.

As commander of the NEDU, Young draws from his South Dakota ties that have helped shaped him as a person.
"But being from South Dakota, that's where I established my work ethic and my character, and I used that work ethic and character throughout my career in the Navy, and I still use it often here in my job as commander at NEDU."
Across the entire U.S. Navy, there are 322,390 active duty members, with 53,696 of those as officers, including Young.

Serving in the Navy was a longtime dream of Young's, since he was a kid growing up in Mitchell. After graduated from high school in 1994, he immediately attended the U.S. Naval Academy and graduated in 1998.

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Young is one of four midshipmen - a naval cadet - from Mitchell since 1988 to attend the Academy. In that time, there have been a total of 104 cadets from South Dakota.

After graduating from the Academy, Young spent two years as a surface warfare officer with the U.S. Navy destroyers before being transferred to the Navy's engineering and diving community. He attended dive school in 2005, and became certified in air and mixed gas diving on several pieces of equipment.

And since then, he's continued his career in the engineering and diving world for the last 12 years - and he loves it.

But being from the landlocked South Dakota, becoming a part of the naval warfare branch of the United States Armed Forces was a completely different way of life.

"It was an eye-opener, and I got to experience the Naval Academy, and everything the Navy has to offer, and it has been fantastic - and a big change from South Dakota," Young said.

What is NEDU?

At 7 a.m. each day, the divers of the NEDU have physical training for two hours, including Young. Staying in "top-notch" condition is essential to the unit's day-to-day operations.

That's because the divers of NEDU are always performing tests of diving equipment. Young said the NEDU, established in 1927, has a mission of conducting manned and unmanned biomedical research development tests and evaluations of all diving equipment. This includes equipment used by divers in the Navy, Army, Air Force, Department of Defense and the Coast Guard, to name a few.

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"Whether they're Navy divers, Army divers, Navy Seals or Navy explosive ordnance technicians, they're using undersea hyperbaric equipment," Young said. "We have to make sure it's safe."

The team at NEDU have several procedures before undergoing manned tests. All underwater equipment is sent to the NEDU, based in Panama City Beach, Florida. Young said the first test is unmanned, and the unit has hyperbaric chambers - vessels that can simulate various pressure levels - for testing.

The equipment is tested for breathing rates, different environments, temperature, and basically, Young said, how a human would react. Once that is complete, and all glitches are worked out, Young said the next test is manned with his divers - including himself.

The NEDU has an ocean simulation facility, built in 1972, Young said, and it consists of five dry chambers and one 55,000-gallon wet chamber. This allows the unit to simulate various footage of seawater.

On top of the tests, the unit also conducts physiological research and development, meaning how the human body responds to situations such as a change in hyperbarics, temperature, breathing gasses or decompression plans, Young said.

"The U.S. Navy does not dive and dive safely without the work we do at NEDU to make sure their equipment they're using and the procedures they're using are the standard to keep the divers safe," Young said. "Without us, the Navy doesn't have any certified diving systems for any of the underwater operators."

Young said there are 100 active duty service members within the NEDU who range from Navy divers, Navy seals, support staff to logistic specialists. There are also 38 civilian employees that include researchers and medical staff.

A demanding environment

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To conduct the manned tests of the diving equipment, Young said many of the divers are putting their lives on the line.

It can be stressful, but very rewarding, Young said, and it's all because of the people he works with.

"The most important piece of NEDU is our people," Young said. "They come to work every day and work in an extremely demanding environment, that's often dangerous, and they do so very professionally, and very safely. They are always committed to each other, committed to teamwork and committed to communication within our groups here. It all comes together with trust."

The days can be long, sometimes ending at 8 p.m., depending on the experimental protocol, Young said. But everybody is finished when the divers are out of the water, equipment is shut down and staff is safe to go home.

In January, the unit conducted a 11-day saturation dive, and it's one of the few places in the world, Young said, that conduct saturation diving operations. Saturation diving is when a person remains in an underwater chamber at a certain depth while breathing a mixture of gases under pressure for an extended period of time. While in the chamber, they have food and other needed supplies.

So for 11 days, six Navy divers utilized the NEDU's ocean simulation facility, at which they were compressed in depths greater than 300 feet. It's a 24/7 operation, with watch teams and medical personnel on standby.

This 11-day dive was the longest and deepest in the past 10 years, Young said, and he was proud to be the commander overseeing it.

"It feels great, and makes me proud to be able watch the teams execute the mission, plan and prepare for a mission like that and execute it flawlessly," he said. "It made me proud to be a part of that, and watch the team in action and do something like that that hasn't been done in quite some time."

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'A fantastic job'

Young, whose parents reside in Mitchell, makes it back to South Dakota about once a year. With a wife and two kids and a full-time job as commander, life can be pretty busy for the 41-year-old.

But he wouldn't trade it for anything.

"It's a fantastic job, and I get to work with some of the best Navy and government civilian personnel. These are folks who day in and day out not only put their lives on their line for some of these tests, they are extremely hard-working individuals," Young said. "They come to work and do their jobs so the war fighters, who are out on the front line, can operate safely and they have the equipment and procedures to make sure those warfighters always have the advantage. That's what we're here for."

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