Virginia Wing’s Gluck Honored as One of 10 Outstanding Young Americans

Award recipient

U.S. Air Force and Civil Air Patrol Maj. Julian Gluck is among the 2023 recipients of the Ten Outstanding Young Americans award from Junior Chamber International USA, recognizing his contributions to the fields of military leadership and volunteer service.

Gluck, cadet programs officer for Virginia Wing Group 2, received the award Sept. 9 in Minneapolis.

Since 1934, the award has recognized and celebrated young individuals like Gluck between ages 18-40 who have excelled in various fields while creating positive change in their communities and exemplifying leadership, innovation, and service.

A Civil Air Patrol member since 2005 and recipient of the Gen. Carl A. Spaatz Award in 2011, Gluck began his military journey in 2008 upon entering the U.S. Air Force Academy, where he was a distinguished graduate with academic and military distinctions and was chosen 2012 Outstanding Cadet in Citizenship. In 2014, he graduated from Euro-NATO Joint Jet Pilot Training — a program staffed and managed by multiple nations to train military pilots.

While deployed in the Middle East as a bomber pilot, Gluck engaged in critical combat missions against ISIS in Iraq and Syria, as well as the Taliban in Afghanistan, as a member of the 96th Expeditionary Bomb Squadron. His B-52 crew saved the lives of coalition groups, halted enemy advances, and protected Iraqi and Syrian noncombatants from machine gunfire.

Recognized with the Air Medal and Aerial Achievement Medal on his first deployment, he was also honored as the top company grade officer of the deployment. After a further deployment in the Indo-Pacific, flight command in Louisiana, and an aide-de-camp assignment in South Korea, he most recently served in the operations directorate at Air Combat Command, simultaneously holding roles as the director of staff for a division and chief of mission sustainment. He provided strategic guidance as an aviator to the Department of Defense on advanced energy development across the U.S.

He is transitioning this month to the Air Force Reserve, joining the Defense Innovation Unit in the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Gluck’s service as a combat pilot and global volunteer earned him recognition as 2018 Air Force Times Airman of the Year. He has since expanded and amplified his leadership roles, dedicating more time to providing guidance and innovation within the armed forces and the nonprofit sector.

In 2019, he received the Secretary of the Air Force Leadership Award as the top graduate of 3,803 students at Air Force Squadron Officer School, and he was named to the 2020 Forbes 30 Under 30 in the Law & Policy category for North America.

He has also been affiliated with the Shawn Brimley Next Generation National Security Leaders Fellowship at the Center for a New American Security, the SAFE Energy Security Fellows Program, the Project on International Peace and Security Military Fellowship at William & Mary, the Republic of Korea-United States Next-Generation Leaders Initiative at the Pacific Forum, and the Nuclear Scholars Initiative at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Gluck has been published in various academic journals, co-founded the Young Professionals in Foreign Policy’s Northeast Asia Security Symposium, and has studied abroad in Japan with the Air Force Language Enabled Airman Program and in Germany, Taiwan, and the United Arab Emirates on bilateral and multilateral exchange programs.

He is attending Harvard Business School in the Master of Business Administration program with the class of 2025.

Beyond his military career, Gluck has shown a commitment to community service. He has led programs locally and nationally with Civil Air Patrol and the Knights of Columbus, and he actively serves on the boards of the Daedalian Foundation, the Spaatz Association, and the Department of the Air Force Company Grade Officers’ Council as chairman emeritus.

He was also chosen as the Knights of Columbus’ inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award and received the Air Force Academy Association of Graduates’ 2022 Young Alumni Excellence Award.