FORMER  SEAL KILLED  IN  IRAQ

Ryan Brandt Young was born on November 4, 1972 in Hagerstown, Maryland.  Following graduation from high school he attended Hagerstown Junior College before enlisting in the Navy in 1991.  During his first five years of service he was reportedly assigned to F-18 fighter squadrons at Naval Air Station Cecil Field in Jacksonville, Florida.  He had a long-time ambition to become a Navy Seal, next underwent Seal training, and then served with Seal Team 8.  He specialized as a scout sniper and jump master and was appointed as a Seal Instructor, serving his final three years at the Naval Special Warfare Center in Coronado, California.  He left the Navy in July 2004 having attained the rate of Gunners Mate Guns First Class.

In view of his Seal training, Young acquired employment with Triple Canopy Company, a private contractor that supplied high risk diplomatic security to the Bureau of Diplomatic Security, U.S. Department of State.  On September 7, 2005, Young was riding in the lead convoy vehicle in Basra, Iraq, when the vehicle was destroyed by a roadside bomb.  Young and his three companions were instantly killed by the blast.  He has been buried at Greenlawn Memorial Park in Williamsport, Maryland, where his grave marker is inscribed:  NAVY SEAL.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)