KABUL, Afghanistan - The Central Intelligence Agency world fact book states that the natural resources of Afghanistan include but are not limited to; natural gas, petroleum, coal, and precious and semiprecious stones. A quick search on the internet will bring up a multitude of websites that concur with that assessment and all of the sites fail to list its' strongest resource which is most obviously, its people.
Most specifically, the next generation coming of age in the last few years that will be largely responsible for shouldering the development of their country in the coming years as the old guard retires and the United States makes its exit from Afghanistan. 2nd Lt. Ahmad Shafi of the Afghan national army air corps is one of the new generation officers who will be shouldering that responsibility.
"Since I was a child I have always wanted to be an officer" said Shafi. "When I could, I joined the National Academy with the goal of becoming an officer, to serve the people."
The National Military Academy of Afghanistan is a four year institution which is based upon the United States West Point. The goal of the academy is to provide an education as well as develop potential officers for the National Army and the Air Corps. One of the strongest benefits of the academy is that upon graduation all students will have a bachelor's degree in one of a variety of fields. The fields include the English Language, Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Management, and Law. Shafi has a degree in Civil Engineering.
"I was very excited to find out that the academy offered opportunities for a civilian and military career. I picked civil engineering for my civilian career and aviation was my goal for my military career" explained Shafi.
Shafi earned the position of honor graduate by graduating at the top of his class. As such he was able to choose the Air Corps and pursue his goal of becoming a pilot. Although Shafi already speaks English well, he will be traveling to the US to continue his studies in English at the Defense Language Institute English Language Center at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas, and begin initial flight training for a period of three months before continuing on to Columbus Air Force Base in Mississippi to conduct undergraduate flight training.
"My father is a principal and I have one brother who is a doctor, another who has graduated from college, and two more in school. My father wanted me to become an engineer and I did for him, but I became an officer and hope to become a pilot for me" said Shafi.
With the training Shafi will receive at Columbus AFB, he will have no better opportunity to do so. The host unit at Columbus AFB is the 14th Flying Training Wing which is assigned to the Air Education and Training Command Nineteenth Air Force whose mission is to provide specialized undergraduate pilot training to US Air Force and allied officers.
It is there that Shafi will be able to fly with some of the best aviators that the United States and its allies has to offer and be able to qualify for his own aviator wings. Upon completion of pilot training at Columbus AFB, Shafi will return to the Air Corps and conduct training and qualification on the C-27 transport plane at the Air Corps base in Kabul.
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