April 9, 2018
A Royal Australian Navy weapons specialist with almost 30 years service will be this year’s special guest at Kingaroy’s Anzac Day commemorations.
Warrant Officer Dale Young was born in Carlton, Victoria in 1971 and joined the Royal Australian Navy a few months before his 18th birthday as an Electronic Technical Weapons sailor.
After completing basic electronic and mechanical training, he served as a weapons maintenance Junior Sailor at the West Head gunnery range, maintaining 4.5” Mark 6 Turrets and 40mm Bofors Mountings.
On completion of Fremantle class patrol boat training in 1991, Warrant Officer Young went on to serve in Cairns on the Ipswich, Gladstone and Bendigo patrol boats, where he was promoted to Leading Seaman.
WO Young continued to serve in the patrol boat community until 1997, when he was posted to HMAS Cerberus in Victoria as a weapons maintenance instructor.
From there, he was promoted to the rank of Petty Officer and provided hands-on maintenance training for many junior weapons maintainers.
In 1999 WO Young was selected to conduct specialist maintenance training in the United States for the Destroyer Mk42 5 inch Gun Mounting, which was followed by postings to the now-decommissioned Destroyers Hobart and Brisbane.
From there, he was posted to the Directorate of Navy Weapon Systems in a staff role, and promoted to Chief Petty Officer to begin training for the Anzac class Frigates.
He was selected as the Command and Control and Armaments Chief for HMAS Stuart in 2004.
On Stuart, he was employed as Maintenance Chief and the ship’s Fire Control Officer and was awarded a Fleet Commander’s Silver Commendation for his exemplary performance in running the Weapons Electrical Engineering department, and for the training of junior sailors.
In 2009, he was promoted to Warrant Officer and posted to Fleet Engineering Division and Sea Training Group as the Navy’s subject matter expert on Fire Control Systems.
This role – and his performance within it – led to his selection for employment at the Navy’s Human Resources branch in 2011 as an Establishments Manager and Electronics Technicians category Workforce Manager.
WO Young was appointed as a Tier Bravo Warrant Officer, and then as Ship’s Warrant Officer, on HMAS Sirius in 2016, and in 2018 he was posted as the Command Warrant Officer for Sailors Career Management within the Navy People Group in Canberra.
WO Young holds a Master of Business from the University of NSW, and as a technician completed a Diploma of Engineering and trades qualifications as an Electrical Mechanic and Electronic Systems Technician.
Despite a life spent largely at sea, WO Young currently lives on a rural property in Manton NSW, and has been married to his wife Elizabeth since 1992.
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Warrant Officer Young will arrive in Kingaroy on Monday, April 23, accompanied by his father, Mr Neville Young of Yamba.
The following day the pair will be visiting Kingaroy State School for their 10:00am Anzac Day Service, and then Kingaroy State High School’s service at 12:05pm, where WO Young will also be the day’s guest speaker.
On Anzac Day, WO Young will attend the Dawn Service, the Graveside Service at 8:00am and the main Kingaroy Commemoration Service at 11:00am.
The two men will then be invited to attend Wondai’s Anzac Day race meeting in the afternoon, before WO Young returns to his duties in Canberra on Thursday, April 26.
