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TRAVIS AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. - Though he departed a lucrative career in the tech industry to join the Air Force, there’s a common thread that ties it all together for Airman 1st Class Pratik Bhatt.
Bhatt, 60th Aerospace Medicine Squadron optometry technician and a native of Mumbai, India, likes to help others, a skill he’s able to cultivate by helping people with their vision.
“I want to help the country and this is one of the ways I can help,” said Bhatt. “This country allowed me to come here, gave me opportunities and so I thought, ‘If I can do something for the Air Force, (I should).’ ”
Bhatt has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance and a master’s in computing. He came to America to work in the tech industry after stints as a cricket player and working in the financial sector in India.
While in Bakersfield, California, he met his wife, Hiral Bhatt, who was ready to join the Air Force herself as an officer.
After almost 10 years of working for various companies as a programmer and managing data, he said it posed challenges for him and his wife, now a captain working in the Intensive Care Unit for the 60th Inpatient Squadron.
“We thought if we both work in the Air Force, it might be helpful to move from one place to another place,” said Bhatt.
So that’s what Bhatt did. He arrived at Travis in September 2015 from Basic Military Training. In his daily duties with the 60th AMDS, he helps patients with vision issues, ordering glasses and performing screenings for vision, depth perception and colorblindness.
“Even if he wasn’t coming into this position to be around his wife, in a mil-to-mil relationship, I think that a lot of (his attitude) is him just having this inner drive to do the best job that he can,” said Capt. Rachel Kaneta, 60th AMDS staff optometrist.
Kaneta said Bhatt is “always very giving.”
“One thing is he makes Indian food to share with people,” said Kaneta. “That’s not something he has to do for our clinic. He gives back to the clinic, in a way … he shares who he is.”
Who Bhatt is has many facets. In India, he was a cricket player working toward a spot on the national team before changing his focus toward his studies, he said. He also speaks multiple languages, including Hindi, Urdu, Gujarati and English.
He said throughout his life and his career that he’s been told “no” from many sources about his career choices – as an aspiring cricket player, working in the financial industry, working as a programmer – that he’s learned to just keep going.
“The ’no’ is always first,’ he said. “People can’t say anything to me. Eventually, it turns out to be good. What people think about me is not that important for me.”
His long-term vision includes becoming an officer. Kaneta said he asks senior leaders questions and shows interest in new opportunities to advance and learn.
Bhatt said many members of his family are in the medical field, so his long journey to joining the Air Force and becoming an optometry technician was “definitely a different kind of experience.”
“I never expected that I would be in the optometry field,” said Bhatt. “My dad’s dream was he wanted me to be a doctor one day and I refused, always. I was never going into the medical field.”
Kaneta said in a small clinic that welcomes patients who are active-duty members, dependents, retirees and more, having someone such as Bhatt who goes the extra mile is invaluable.
“(His) constant curiosity and wish to learn is what sets him apart,” she said. “I think that’s pretty special. … He’s always kind to everyone in the clinic and always smiling.”
Ultimately, for Bhatt, it comes back to helping people.
“This job gives me more satisfaction that – I consider this my country – I help my country in whatever way I can possibly help out,” he said. |