Page 2 - Luke AFB Thunderbolt, June 2023

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June 2023 News www.aerotechnews.com/lukeafb
Fight for a better life
Thunderbolt http://www.luke.af.mil
Courtesy photo
U.S. Air Force Capt. Ahmed Alghadhban
That same year, he was arrested once again for his family name, but this time was different than the rest.
“I was held hostage in a small room with 35 other men,” he said. “This time, I thought they were going to kill us all. I did not think I would make it out alive. Luckily my uncle had some money to get me out.”
Shortly after his final release from jail, Ahmed was notified that he had been accepted for the Fulbright program. After years of dedication to his schooling, he was finally heading to America.
“I had two choices,” he said. “One, surrender to the fate many Iraqi men my age fall into; joining a terrorist organization or militia because there is no hope for a better life. Or two, just keep fighting. I chose the latter. It was a simple decision to me.”
Ahmed explains that his dedication to school came from the values embed- ded in him by his parents.
“I worked hard, but I was also very lucky. I had parents that taught me the value of books and education,” he said. “My mother was not allowed to go to school when she was younger, so she did everything in her power to give me that opportunity. My father always pushed my brother and I to read books and think for ourselves. My parents have been behind me every step of the way.”
After being selected to study in the U.S., Ahmed’s first stop was the Uni- versity of South Alabama in Mobile, where he earned a Master’s in electri-
See FigHT, Page 4
PHONE NUMBERS
Airman and Family Readiness Center .................... 623-856-6550 Airman’s Attic ......................................................... 623-856-6415 Armed Forces Bank ................................................ 623-535-9766 Base Exchange main store ...................................... 623-935-2671 Base taxi .................................................................. 623-856-6866 Beauty shop ............................................................. 623-536-1897 Chapel ..................................................................... 623-856-6211 Chapel (after duty hours) ........................................ 623-856-5600 Child development center ....................................... 623-856-6338 Clothing sales .......................................................... 623-856-6310 Club Five Six .......................................................... 623-856-6446 Command post ........................................................ 623-856-5600 Commissary ............................................................ 623-935-3821 Community center ................................................... 623-856-7152 Computer IT service desk ..................................... DSN 945-2900 Crime Stop .............................................................. 623-856-6666 Dental clinic ............................................................ 623-856-2273 Dermatology ........................................................... 623-856-2273 Dining hall .............................................................. 623-856-6396 Dorm management .................................................. 623-856-7841 Education center ...................................................... 623-856-7722 EMERGENCY ONLY ............................................................. 911 Equal opportunity .................................................... 623-856-7711 Eye clinic ................................................................ 623-856-7965 Falcon Dunes Golf Course ...................................... 623-535-9334 Family health clinic ................................................. 623-856-2273 Family housing 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Identification cards .................................................. 623-856-7832 Information, tickets and travel ................................ 623-856-6000 Law enforcement desk ............................................ 623-856-5970 Legal assistance ...................................................... 623-856-6901 Library ..................................................................... 623-856-7191 Lodging office/switchboard .................................... 623-856-3941 Maintenance control center ..................................... 623-856-5469 Marine Corps .......................................................... 623-856-2417 Marine Corps 24-hour duty desk ............................ 602-421-5806 Marketing ................................................................ 623-856-3245 Medical appointments ............................................. 623-856-2273 Military equal opportunity ...................................... 623-856-7711 Military pay 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623-856-2273 South Gate VRC ...................................................... 623-856-4768 Straight-Talk line ..................................................... 623-856-7064 Telephone repair (Base) .......................................... 623-856-4400 Thrift store .............................................................. 623-935-5782 Ticket/tour office ..................................................... 623-856-6000 Travco ......................................................................855-896-7939 Travel management office household goods ........... 623-856-6425 TMO passenger travel ............................................. 623-856-7035 Transient alert ......................................................... 623-856-6204 Travel pay ............................................................... 623-856-7028 Vehicle maintenance ............................................... 623-935-6576 Veterinary services .................................................. 623-856-6354 Weather ................................................................... 623-856-6805 Wellness center ....................................................... 623-856-2273 Youth center ............................................................ 623-856-7470
By Senior Airman DoMInIC TYLeR
56th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
LUKe AIR FoRCe BASe, Ariz. — “When I first arrived in America I could not sleep for weeks. There were no bombs, no gunshots or sirens. It was just so quiet.”
U.S. Air Force Capt. Ahmed Al- ghadhban was born and raised in a middle-class family in Karbala, Iraq, about 60 miles south of Baghdad.
“My father owned land and a farm, so my brother and I had basically everything we needed,” he said. “But everything changed for me in March 2003, when I was 16 years old.”
On March 19, 2003, the U.S. and
“I was held hostage in a small room with 35 other men. This time, I thought they were going to kill us all. I did not think I would make it out alive,”
U.S. Air Force Capt. Ahmed Alghadhban
coalition forces invaded Iraq follow- ing intelligence that the country and its dictator, Saddam Hussein, were developing weapons of mass destruc- tion. This invasion marked the first day of the Iraq war.
“My alarm clock for the morning was bombs dropping on military bases outside Karbala,” he said. “My father said we needed to leave, but there was nowhere to go. Baghdad was under massive attack. We were stuck in Karbala.”
Weeks after the first day of the in- vasion, Baghdad, the capital city, was captured on April 9 and the terrorist regime led by Hussein fell.
This development ignited a sudden aggravation of an ongoing civil war between Sunni and Shi’ite Muslims causing an even bigger problem for Ahmed’s family.
“Karbala is known as the holy city of Shi’ite Muslims. My family migrated here about 200 years ago as Sunni,” he said. “So, we have always been out of place here as Sunnis, but we got along fine mostly. But after
the Saddam regime fell, so did the Iraq police force. No police, or Iraqi Army, no security forces; and that is when the cleansing of Sunnis began.”
Ahmed and his family were forced to leave their home; all their posses- sions and land were seized by the Iraqi government. Fortunately, the family had enough money to get his parents out of the country and move his brother to United Arab Emirates after graduating.
Ahmed, on the other hand, was only 16. He could not work and needed to finish school. From 2003- 2004 he stayed with whoever could take him in for only a couple months at a time.
“This continued until I was ac- cepted into a college of engineering in Baghdad. I moved there and got a job at the peak of the civil war.”
Ahmed moved to an area under control of Abu Musab Al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian terrorist group leader also known as the founder of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS).
“This was the only place I could live as Sunni,” he said. “I lived under al-Qaeda for four years because the rest of the area was controlled by Iranian militia where I would be killed because of my Sunni name.”
Over the years, Ahmed was ar- rested multiple times and kidnapped by the Iranian militia for his family name.
Despite the ongoing war in Iraq, Ahmed managed to graduate from college in 2008 and obtained a job as an electrical engineer at a power station in Baghdad.
In 2010, Ahmed saw an advertise- ment sponsored by the U.S. govern- ment about the Fulbright program. The U.S. Embassy was offering grants for qualified Iraqi students to study at the graduate level in the United States. Seven of the 1,200 applicants would be chosen.
“At the time, I had zero faith I would get selected,” he said. “I was living essentially in a refugee camp because I couldn’t afford anywhere else. I was sending most of my money to my parents in Syria. I worked 12- hour shifts and had to share my bed with another refugee while I was away. I did not think the odds were in my favor.”
Thunderbolt editorial staff
Publisher ....................................................Aerotech News and Review Editor ....................................................................................... KC Rawley Designer .................................................................................Tinna Sellie Advertising sales................................................................ 877-247-9288
Luke Air Force Base
Commander.............................................. Brig. Gen. Jason Reuschhoff Public affairs chief ...................................................Capt. Chris Herbert
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