U.S. Air Force Maj. Philip Ambard, who lived in Edmonds as a teenager, was one of nine people killed in a mass shooting in Afghanistan on Wednesday.
Ambard, 44, and the others were shot by a veteran Afghan military pilot at the Kabul airport. Those killed included eight U.S. troops and an American civilian contractor, according to the Department of Defense.
Ambard and the others were working as trainers and advisers for the Afghan air force.
The Afghan pilot reportedly was distressed over his personal finances when he opened fire on them.
An Afghan Defense Ministry spokesman said the gunman was an officer who had served as a pilot in the Afghan military for the past 20 years. The gunman — identified as Ahmad Gul, 48, of Tarakhail district in Kabul province — died in an exchange of fire that followed his attack.
The shooting was the deadliest attack by a member of the Afghan security forces, or an insurgent impersonating them, on coalition troops or Afghan soldiers or policemen. There have been seven such attacks so far this year.
Ambard had been stationed at Buckley Air Force base near Denver and was a foreign language professor at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, according to military sources.
A fluent speaker of French and Spanish, Ambard was sent by the academy to the University of Denver to study for a doctorate from 2007 to 2010.
He deployed to Afghanistan about four months ago and was expected to return to the academy after the 12-month tour.
“He was ready to do what he had to do (in Afghanistan) and he was excited upon returning to be able to get back into the classroom to do what he loved to do, and that’s develop these cadets,” Gen. Dana Born, dean of the faculty of the Air Force Academy, said in a story posted on the academy’s website.
“Phil came to our department in 2003 and made an immediate impact,” Born said. “He instantly became one of our top instructors.”
Ambard was a native of Venezuela and came to the United States at age 12, according to the Defense Department. He lived his teen years in Edmonds and then joined the military, according to the Colorado Springs Gazette.
The Edmonds School District has no records for Ambard, a spokeswoman said.
He served 14 years as an enlisted airman before earning his commission more than 10 years ago, according to military sources.
His wife of 23 years, Linda, also was a teacher and a marathon runner. She had three children by a previous relationship, and the couple eventually had a total of five, she said in a recent blog account of her running. Four of them have pursued military careers.
Linda Ambard said the family has lived in Germany, Haiti, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Their daughter, Emily Short, is in the Air Force.
“And this year, while my daughter and husband are deployed in Afghanistan, running has become my companion,” Linda Ambard wrote.
“He worked so many hours, but when he came home he was home,” she told the Gazette. “He was a dad, he was a husband, he was a friend.”
Ambard is survived by his wife and five children: son Alex, a student at the University of Denver; son Tim, a third-class cadet at the Air Force Academy; daughter Emily Short, a 2007 graduate of the Air Force Academy currently serving at Hurlburt Air Force Base in Florida; son Joshua Short, currently serving in the Army and stationed at Walter Reed Medical Center; and son Patrick Short, also a 2004 Air Force Academy graduate serving in the Navy at the Naval Medical Center in Portsmouth, Virginia.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Bill Sheets: 425-339-3439; sheets@heraldnet.com.
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