SAM RASHID
Sam Rashid was privileged to be born into one of the founding families of the country of Pakistan and educated in American schools in Pakistan and England.
In 1971, the newly elected Socialist government of Prime Minister Z A Bhutto confiscated and nationalized most of the family's privately held industries and many of the Fancy, Meghani and Rashid families escaped the country under threat of death or imprisonment.
Having been forced to flee Pakistan, the family landed in London for a year where he completed Grade 6 at the American School in London and then emigrated to Canada at age 9 with his family.
Sam completed his high school education at Sentinel Secondary in West Vancouver and also concurrently started pilot training at age 16 at the Abbotsford Flight School, then located in Abbotsford, BC, Canada. By age 19, Sam was licensed as a Commercial Multi-Engine Instrument Rated Pilot with mountain training and survival certifications.
Biographical Background
After graduation from High School in 1979 at age 17, Sam applied to the Canadian Air Force and selected the toughest path to take which also was his dream career, to be a CAF Fighter Pilot. The Fighter Pilot Training Program only accepted 1% of its annual applicants and after going through a battery of tests and security backgrounds all the way back to the American School in London (where they verified attendance of a 9 year old), Sam was awarded his dream ticket and accepted for Fighter Training for the CAF with a BOOT Camp reporting date of October 1981.
in 1980, at age 18, while waiting for his Air Force-Boot Camp reporting date of October, 1981, Sam joined DOMAN Industries, Inc, then one of the largest and publicly traded lumber producing companies in Canada. Officially, he was placed as a member of the Cargo Operations Team for DOMAN's United States operations working under the auspices and tutelage of the General Manager of US Cargo Operations, Dick Gill, who was personally responsible for over 300 million board feet of lumber shipments annually to the United States.
In August of 1981, during the first real recession experienced by the United States and consequently Canada, Sam received a Notice of Deferment, informing him that there were not enough trainer jets available to provide the necessary level of flight training required to be able to get through Fighter School in a reasonable period of time. Sam was given the option of being a "deskbound" Recruiting Officer for a minimum of three years in the Air Force or defer his entry permanently. Sam took the permanent deferment option.
©2025 Sam Rashid This information is for personal use only and cannot be copied or disseminated without the express written consent of the author-writer