Photo By Mark Abueg | Mike Quinn, Danny McLaughlin, and Nick Lopez, left to right, engineers with the 579th...... read more read more
KANDAHAR AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – He must have clicked his heels only twice because he didn’t quite make it back to his home country of Pakistan. But he did manage his way to the neighboring nation of Afghanistan.
M. Javed Ahmed, highway engineer for the 579th Engineer Detachment (Forward Engineer Support Team - Main), is stationed at Kandahar Airfield, Afghanistan, where he designs roads and buildings for the people of Afghanistan. Yesterday afternoon, he took the time to improve his teammates’ understanding of the country they are trying to aid.
“I am from this area, but I was born in Pakistan,” he said. “Born and raised there, so I know the history, culture and the people of Afghanistan. Many things common and many things different.”
Ahmed explained that Pakistan and Afghanistan’s history is what weaves them so closely together, and it also gives him a better understanding of the country where he is now serving a year-long deployment.
“I have studied Afghanistan’s history since my school years,” he said. “As a Pakistani, I share my history with the Afghani people.”
Born in a small Pakistan agriculture community, Ahmed comes from a humble background that not many people can say they have experienced.
“I got my early education in the village school, and it was literally under the trees,” he explained. “There was a two-room school, five classes taught, and one teacher teaching these five classes.”
After finishing grammar and middle school, he was selected for a high school-level program that prepared him to become a military officer.
“That actually helped me a lot in helping me advance in my career,” he said. “It served as a springboard in my education and career.”
Though Ahmed had a different calling. He opted not to join the military, and instead pursued a career towards engineering.
“I was really into chemistry and the sciences,” he said. “I really enjoyed designing things.”
He worked as a chemical engineer in Pakistan before moving to Canada, where he received a master’s degree in chemical engineering.
“Then I moved to USA, and then I got my degree in civil engineering and here I am,” he continued.
Here he is now. Here being Afghanistan. A place he knows all too well. A land he grew up so close to and eventually moved far away from. Now Ahmed is doing his part to help stabilize Afghanistan in every way he knows possible.
“I am part of this team and I can contribute a lot,” he said.
Ahmed’s skills will shine through when the time comes for him and his teammates to go outside of the wire. Out into the unknown where danger lurks from every corner of the very roads and buildings he’s designing.
He understands the bad that goes with him being in Afghanistan. He also understands the good that will occur by him also being here.
“So it will be my experience that will be of great help to the team,” Ahmed said. “I’ll help them to understand the people, understand the culture, how to communicate with them and it will actually help us in our mission. I really feel proud of that. I have some knowledge of the history, culture, and people of the area.”
For now Ahmed will have to do without being in the comforts of his native home. Though there are some aspects that still remind him of his days as a child running through his village.
“Afghanistan reminds me of the weather when I was in Pakistan," he said. “Same kind of heat. Same kind of hot weather. So I feel like I am back home.”
| Date Taken: | 07.13.2010 |
| Date Posted: | 11.10.2010 09:48 |
| Story ID: | 59822 |
| Location: | KANDAHAR AIRFIELD, AF |
| Web Views: | 36 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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