Service members share heartfelt memories of Capt. Humayun Khan

[pnwmom]

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/08/02/captain-khan-s-brigade-commander-in-iraq-the-khan-family-is-our-family.html

She did tell her boys how Capt. Humayun Khan had been the very soul of kindness and decency. How he had made her feel safe. How he had always said leaders lead from the front. How he understood that you have to know what it means to be at the bottom before you can rightly be at the top.

Her first encounter with that philosophy in action had been when her unit, the 201st Forward Support Battalion, was preparing to deploy to Iraq back in 2004. A sergeant had ordered her to dig a foxhole after she had been on guard duty all night. She was already exhausted, but she had set to digging when Khan happened past.

“What are you doing?” Khan asked by her recollection “You just did guard duty. Go sit down.”

“Sir?” a stunned Brenes-Ramirez asked.

“Go sit down,” Khan said. “That’s an order.”

The 19-year-old private found herself sitting and watching an officer work the shovel. The sergeant returned.
“What are you doing, sir?” the sergeant asked Khan.

“I’m helping,” Khan replied.