CORPS LORE: MARINE CAPTAIN AHMED KHALIL
Fighting Spirit That Prevails
United States Marine Corps 2nd Lt. Ahmed M. Khalil is fluent in five different Arabic dialects and has used these skills in the past to help US troops when he was a teenager in Baghdad.
Marine 2nd Lieutenant Ahmed M. Khalil has spent more than a decade working with American forces, both as a civilian contractor and as a Marine. To understand what has taken him from the banks of the Tigris River to the shores of Lake Ontario and beyond, one must know the hard work and skills of communication he has nurtured from a young age and his devotion to helping others. Khalil had a knack for comprehending languages early in life. He taught himself English with help of subtitles by the age of 12, thanks in part to a steady diet of American action films. By 2003, at the age of 15, he put those skills to use assisting the military coalition in Baghdad.
“I started helping the coalition as a translator around August 2003. It started with me hanging out at a [Forward Operating Base] inside a school in Baghdad. I started talking to Marines, and they noticed I spoke English well. From there, I kept assisting where needed.â€
- CAPT Ahmed Khalil
Being an interpreter meant helping the military navigate a language and cultural landscape far different from that of the soldiers and Marines. Khalil can speak and write in English, as well as the Arabic Dialects of Levantine, Gulf, Iraqi, Egyptian and Modern Standard Arabic. This diversity meant he could communicate between all who found themselves at the crossroads in the Middle East.
https://www.marines.com/explore-the-corps/blog/corps-lore/captain-ahmed-khalil.html
