Photo By Master Sgt. Ryan Matson | Spc. Saad Khokhar, an infantryman from Rawalpindi, Pakistan, 368th Military...... read more read more
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JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, N.J. - It's as if he is a leaf in the wind, drifting from one place to another.
For most of his life, Spc. Saad Khokhar will tell you, he has gone with the flow, making major decisions at the drop of a hat while seeking new experiences.
Just coming to the United States was not something the soft-spoken 27-year-old said he envisioned while growing up in Pakistan.
“It just kind of happened,” Khokhar, an infantryman with the 368th Military Intelligence Battalion, said quietly, with a smile. “I just applied to the University of Connecticut, got in, and my parents sent me over.”
The wind has carried the quiet, shy Soldier 6,942 miles – from Rawalpindi, Pakistan, to Fort Dix, N.J., where he is competing in the grueling Best Warrior Competition June 23-27 against some of the Army Reserve’s top Soldiers in a variety of warrior tasks.
It has been a long journey, but it seems he has found a home in the U.S. Army.
“When it comes to decisions, joining the U.S. Army was probably one of my better ones,” Khohkar said softly from behind a pair of thick glasses.
There have been many unexpected turns to get to Best Warrior.
Just like coming to the United States, he said he never planned to enter the Army. But, after nearly four years at the University of Connecticut, where he was studying geographic information systems, Khokhar said it was a challenge he was seeking.
“I guess really I was just bored,” he said. “Stuff was stagnant, and I just wanted to do something bigger. I just enlisted, and a couple weeks later I was in basic training, and I’ve just been playing it as it is.”
He enlisted in the active duty Army as an infantryman in September 2009.
“I had no idea what the infantry was when I enlisted,” said Khohkar, who never fired a weapon or worked out before joining the Army. “If I knew, maybe I would have done something else, but I’m glad I did infantry and have it under my belt.”
Going with the flow is Khokhar's style, his sponsor, Staff Sgt. Michael Parodi, also with the 368th, said.
“He came to the U.S. pretty much on his own, which says a lot about his character,” Parodi said. “I would sum him up as a quiet professional. He just knows what he needs to get done, and he does it. He makes things happen, he just gets the job done.”
Khokhar said his time attending school in Pakistan helped him make the transition to life in the military.
“In Pakistan the schooling is kind of military oriented,” he said. “It's always about uniforms, having a clean appearance, and we do morning assemblies – kind of 'attention' and 'parade rest' kind of stuff, and that's normal. It's much more structured. You wear uniforms and need to be at certain places at a certain time, so following instruction wasn't that hard for me. We even marched sometimes.”
Immediately after basic and advance individual training, he deployed to Iraq with Company B, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry Regiment. Despite having been sitting in a classroom a few months before deploying, Khokhar said he was unphased by the deployment.
“It wasn't bad,” he said, calmly. “I know a lot of people go through culture shock and stuff, but for me it was a really similar culture to the one I had experienced in Pakistan, so I assimilated rather easily to the terrain, the locals and everything.”
Speaking Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi and - of course - English, didn't hurt either.
After serving three years on active duty, he left the military in October 2012.
He completed his geographic information systems degree in Connecticut. He also finished his emergency medical technician certification in California. He said his move to the West Coast was also random.
“I'd never been there and it seemed nice,” he said, almost as nonchalantly as if he had been deciding where to eat that evening.
Khokhar missed the Army lifestyle and structure and re-entered the Army Reserve. His road to this competition was also unplanned.
When asked why he wanted to participate in the Best Warrior Competition, he answered with a slight smile, “Why not? Just for the heck of it, I guess! I've just been seeing where the chips fall and playing it as it is.”
To look at Khohkar, one might not initially think he is one of the Reserve’s top Soldiers. He has a lean build with glasses and one might expect to be more likely to find him in a computer lab than on a rifle range. Despite having only been in the country for only 10 years, he doesn’t carry an accent when he speaks. But to overlook the even-keeled Khohkar as a fierce competitor might be a mistake for other Soldiers in the Best Warrior Competition. Inside his slight build is the tactical expertise of a trained infantry Soldier who keeps his emotions in check, and did not come here to lose.
“I’m pretty confident, and it should be fun,” Khokhar said. “It’s not about winning or losing for me. It’s about having fun and doing better than you did yesterday, that’s all that matters.”
Getting schools as a reward for winning the qualifying Best Warrior competitions leading up to the Reserve-wide competition has been the best part of the experience thus far, Khokar said. He completed Air Assault School a week before this competition, and is excited about the possibility of attending Airborne School.
Khokhar said for the first time in his life, he feels like he really knows where he wants to be and what he wants to do with his life. His goals are to return to active duty and to pursue trying out for the Special Forces as a medic. In the meantime, he's working toward another degree in nursing.
Ironically enough, his interest in the Special Forces came not from his time on the battlefield, but in a homeless shelter instead.
“I try to volunteer at St. Anthony's shelter up in San Francisco as much as possible,” he said. “I enjoy helping people, and it does fall in with the whole Special Forces idea. I talked with the SF people and they said the best way to see if you can handle the community is to work with the homeless, and people who need help, because their job is more to help people and train them up and stuff.”
Until then, the quiet warrior continues on his journey, taking each new day as it comes, not knowing where the breeze may take him next.
| Date Taken: | 06.26.2014 |
| Date Posted: | 06.26.2014 17:55 |
| Story ID: | 134574 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE MCGUIRE-DIX-LAKEHURST, NJ, US |
| Hometown: | RAWALPINDI, PK |
| Web Views: | 95 |
| Downloads: | 2 |
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