[1][2] Rashid Ahmed was born in British India and joined the Royal Indian Navy (RIN) in 1938 where he participated in the World War II in Burma' theatre.

[3]: 6–8 After the World War II, he was sent to attend the Britannia Royal Naval College in 1945–47, where he specialized in technical courses, and returned to India.

[4] After the partition of India, he was sent to the United Kingdom to attend the Joint Service Defence College in 1949–51, and returned to take command assignment at the Navy NHQ in Karachi, at that time.

[8] In 1971, he visited China to hold talks in procuring defence equipments for the Navy, along with Lieutenant-General Gul Hassan Khan.

[11][12][13] After his retirement, he worked for the National Shipping Corporation and the Pakistan State Oil as its managing-director in 1980s, and subsequently lived a quiet life in Islamabad, passing away in 2005.