Posted on 08/13/2007 6:29:21 PM PDT by SandRat
/13/2007 - KABUL AIR BASE, Afghanistan (AFPN) -- An Afghan translator soon will attend Air Force pilot training in the United States as part of the service's Aviation Leadership Program, becoming the first such trained pilot in the Afghan National Army Air Corps.
Cadet Faiz Mohd Ramaki said he is the luckiest person in Afghanistan because of the opportunity to attend pilot training at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas.
"I am still shocked that I was selected," said the 25-year-old translator who has worked for various U.S. government agencies in Afghanistan for about five years. "It's still like a dream to me. I can not believe it."
The Aviation Leadership Program, sponsored by the Secretary of the Air Force International Affairs office at the Pentagon in Washington D.C., is open to airmen in 20 international countries, with each country receiving one slot in the program for a deserving candidate.
Candidates are required to pass a series of tests. They must be in good health, must speak good English and have high test scores on various aptitude tests. Each candidate is also personally interviewed.
Cadet Ramaki, who was referred to the program by Air Force officers who worked with him while deployed to Afghanistan, scored the highest amongst his peers in all areas.
"He is a go-getter," said Col. Steele McFarlane, Combined Security Transition Command-Afghanistan operations group mentor here. "He has a good attitude and is very motivated to become an aviator."
Cadet Ramaki, who learned English during his youth at private learning centers as well as in college in Kabul, said he is anxious to return to Afghanistan to share the knowledge he is going to learn in the United States.
"I want to help my country," he said. "Whether [the ANA Air Corps] uses me in operations or as an instructor, I am ready to serve."
U.S. Air Force mentor Maj. Mark Campbell (right) talks with cadet Faiz Mohd Ramaki (left)from the Afghan National Army Air Corps before a mission July 25 at Kabul International Airport, Afghanistan. Cadet Ramaki serves as a translator and was recently selected to be the first ANA Air Corps member to attend Air Force pilot training in the United States. (U.S. Air Force photo/Master Sgt. Jim Varhegyi)
FR WAR NEWS! What’s going to happen when Faiz wigs out on Allah and turns off the engines and aims his flying WMD at us?
I sure as hell wouldn’t trust ANY muslim in the flight deck in this day and age.
Maybe we should try trusting the Afghanis, since we are dying for them, you think?
Regards
Yup. When W said the WOT was going to last a generation, this is precisely what he meant. We may not change the minds of older Muslims, but every kid that gets candy or school books or flight training from an American soldier is going to grow up with a decidedly different attitude about us than his parents had.
An example of Afghani Air Force equipment - Bagram Air Base-2003
Right, just keep thinking that their loyalites and sentiments are in favor of us—”the infidels.”
Allowing a war to drag on forever is not to our advantage.
I suppose by that rationale we should have just given up on the Cold War in 1952...
Thanks....This can not be repeated enough.
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