Sgt. Ryan Kanatbekoff

Based at Fort Meade, Maryland, Kanatbekoff instructs service members of all branches along with civilians at multiple levels of language learning. He’s developed courses in Russian. He also speaks Turkish, Ukrainian, Uzbek, Azerbaijani, Bulgarian and his native Kazakh. He’s earned several brigade-level awards for his performance as both a linguist and an instructor.

Soldiers aren’t the only ones benefitting from his mentorship. The 35-year-old was named Fort Meade’s active-duty Volunteer of the Year for 2015, primarily for his work with Sarah’s House, a program offering food, emergency shelter and other resources to needy families near Fort Meade.

He frequently tutors children through the program, even offering babysitting services. He’s organized fundraising and food-donation drives at Meade and pitched the program to other soldiers who’ve expressed interest in serving the community.

“We always take my kids to volunteer, and they ask me questions, like, ‘Why are we doing this? We can go do this or that?’” Kanatbekoff, 35, said. “And we always tell them, listen, some people are less fortunate. And we’re fortunate enough … to help them, to get them pointed in the right direction.”

He hasn’t always been in that position. Born in Kazakhstan, Kanatbekoff arrived in New York City in 2002 without enough money for a bus ticket to Wisconsin, where he’d landed a job offer. An old friend he met by chance at Penn Station lent him money for the trip; Kanatbekoff would eventually start a family, marrying his wife five days before she shipped off for basic training.

She left uniform to raise their family. Inspired by her service, Kanatbekoff joined in 2013, finally finding success after trying multiple recruiting offices.

Once in uniform, he surprised his fellow soldiers, and himself, with his aptitude for languages he hadn’t used in years.

“Apparently, I hadn’t forgotten them,” he said. “Everybody was really surprised how many languages I knew. … I guess whatever you learn, when you’re a kid, the fundamentals never leave you.”

Kanatbekoff's community service also includes greeting veterans arriving at Baltimore-Washington International Airport as part of Honor Flights to war memorials.