A Face of Freedom ~ Air Force TSgt Robert P Jubie

A Face of Freedom

TSgt Robert P Jubie

Air Force

Photo by Gerry J. Gilmore

Meet Air Force Technical Sergeant Robert P. Jubie. Jubie, 35, from Arlington, Washington, has served in both Iraq and Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, his work as a carpenter helped Afghans improve their lives through the construction of government buildings, homes, schools and roads during his PRT (Provisional Reconstruction Team) duty in the Laghman province, June to December 2006.

PRT duty is still dangerous, and Jubie lost two of his friends to a suicide vehicle bomber in Kabul on September 8, 2006. He said that loosing them drove him to continue the mission. He always wears a bracelet with their names on it.

Jubie talks about the battered country of Afghanistan that desperately wants to emerge from a centuries old cycle of poverty and violence. He calls the tribal folk that inhabit Afghanistan's out lands in the Hindu Kush Mountains good-hearted, kind and mostly ignorant of the modern world. "They're a great and beautiful people," Jubie said.

Because of the illiteracy rates, education is a precious and valued commodity in Afghanistan. He said they are especially appreciative of the PRT projects that build new schools for their children. Education will give them increased opportunities and access to a higher standard of living.

"That is why the Taliban fight us to this day," Jubie points out, noting that the terrorists want the Afghans to live in perpetual ignorance and poverty. Because, Afghans who are educated, forward-looking and focused on improving their lives would automatically reject the Taliban's dark, medieval philosophy.

Education represents "the voice of democracy and freedom," Jubie said, as well as a path to a better life. These are opportunities that the Afghans long for, and "we're providing that."

TSgt Jubie is now assigned to the 'Why We Serve' program and will be speaking across the country.

Thank you, TSgt Jubie!!!!