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Two more Afghan Air Force Lieutenants head to the U.S. for training

  • Published
  • By Capt. Rob Leese
  • 438th AEW PAO
KABUL, Afghanistan --  On Dec 1, the Afghan Air Force's English Immersion Lab know as the Thunder Lab graduated another two pilot candidates who will now proceed to more advanced training in the U.S.

The two officers are going directly to the U.S. for language training at Defense Language Institute in San Antonio, Texas, and then to pilot training at either Columbus Air Force Base, Miss. for fixed wing aircraft or Fort Rucker, Ala. for helicopters.

The Afghan Lieutenants had nothing but good words for their U.S. and U.K. NATO Air Training Command-Afghanistan advisors, and are excited to start the next phase of their training and start flying for their country.

Afghan Lieutenant Fazal Karim Faqeer , a recent graduate, explained, "The Thunder Lab is the best place for education and to improve your English. Before you go to the United States, you will be ready and know the culture. When I can here, my score [on the English exam] was only 30, but after a few months it improved to a 60."

Afghan Air Force Lieutenants Jawid Karimi and Fazal Karim Faqeer were both excited to finish their time at the Thunder Lab, but will have fond memories of the training they experienced provided by the NATO Air Training Command-Afghanistan advisors. While they celebrated, they explained that they still have much more training in the U.S. before they are able to become Afghan pilots.

Afghan Lieutenant Jawid Karimi, an Afghan pilot candidate heading to the U.S., stated, "I would like to fly in Afghan Air Force's Fixed Wing because we need new officer pilots. We are the next generation of Afghan pilots and the future of Afghanistan. We need to fly a new aircraft and the next generation of aircraft. That is why I hope to fly the C-27 Spartan transport aircraft."