 Immediately after the German invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 Qoshqarbaev attempted to join the Red Army but was initially rejected because he was only sixteen years old at the time.He reapplied shortly before his eighteenth birthday in August 1942 and was sent for training in the city of Kokshetau, which he completed in 1943.He was then sent for officer training at the Tambov All-Commander Infantry School, which he graduated from with honors before being sent to the Eastern Front as a junior lieutenant in October 1944.