Photo By Sgt. David Hodge | Spc. Joaquin Jucaban, a human resource specialist assigned to Headquarters and...... read more read more
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By Sgt. David Hodge
1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FALCON, Iraq – When Spc. Joaquin Jucaban was a young boy, he looked up to his uncle, a member of the military. Growing up in Iloilo, Panay, in the Republic of the Philippines, Jucaban insists joining the Philippine national police was not a family tradition but a matter of pride.
Assigned to the 1st "Raider" Brigade's Personnel Section at Forward Operating Base Falcon in southern Baghdad, Jucaban now spends his work days assisting Soldiers with administrative needs and identification card issues.
"I served in the Philippines with intentions of serving my country because it was where I was born, and it is patriotic," explained Jucaban, a human resource specialist assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad. "People get to give a part of themselves back to their country."
To accommodate the Soldiers from the joint security stations, Jucaban set up work hours to fit the Soldiers' schedule, explained Jucaban, who operates the ID card machine from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. most days of the week.
Due to a slow-moving ID card printing system, Jucaban sets appointments every 30 minutes and processes an average of 15 cards per day.
Soldiers request new ID cards for many different reasons during a deployment, ranging from damage, promotion and expiration, stated Jucaban.
Jucaban serves more than 3,000 Soldiers and civilians from five different battalion-sized units and other detachments in southern Baghdad, said Sgt. Frank Crisafulli, human resources non-commissioned officer, HHD, 1st BCT, 4th Inf. Div.
"Spc. Jucaban is an outstanding Soldier, and he takes his job very seriously," said Crisafulli, a veteran of more than four years and two combat deployments to Iraq. "He has executed his job flawlessly since he arrived in the unit."
Crisafulli, who hails from Fredericksburg, Va., said Jucaban's professionalism and military bearing were among the first things he noticed about the Soldier when he arrived at the unit.
"I think my job is important because every Soldier needs an ID card," explained Jucaban, a veteran of more than two years in the U.S. Army and seven years in the Philippine national police. "It is an important piece of identification and is considered a sensitive item."
Jucaban, a former first lieutenant and platoon leader for the Philippine national police, said being an enlisted Soldier gives him another perspective, or overview, of how the Army works.
Since deploying to southern Baghdad's Rashid District in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Jucaban worked as a clerk in the brigade's official mail room and a liaison officer for the 1st "Raider" Brigade at Baghdad's International Airport, a hub for many U.S. Soldiers coming in and out of the Iraqi capitol.
Before traveling to the United States in 2006, Jucaban earned two degrees in the Philippines: a nursing degree from Saint Paul University in Iloilo, and a public safety degree from the Philippine National Police Academy, a three-year academy, which he said is modeled after the U.S. Military Academy.
After graduating from the National Police Academy in 2002, Jucaban served four years at his first assignment, the Philippine National Police Special Actions Force, which is considered to be an elite counter-terrorism/counter-insurgency unit.
Jucaban and his family relocated to England in search of better employment for his wife, who is also a registered nurse.
Soon after, Jucaban's wife sought another job as a nurse in the United States, and the couple and their children moved to Columbia, S.C.
"After arriving in the U.S., I started looking for work at just a regular job," said Jucaban, who has been married for five years and has two boys: ages 4 and 5. "I looked online for a job and applied for the Army."
Jucaban said he feels moving to the U.S. and becoming a Soldier is still quite surreal because both he and his family never dreamt of living in America.
"Even before I came, I believed in what America was fighting for," Jucaban stated. "The reason is freedom and democracy, and providing it to other people who cannot fight for it themselves."
Based on that concept, it was like a dream come true.
"Back in college," he said, "I wrote a recruiter in the U.S. to enlist in the Army. That was back in 1998."
Recently, Jucaban was selected to attend Officer Candidate School, a seven-month course at Fort Benning, Ga. He said he is excited about the opportunity to become a commissioned officer again and feels the training will be similar to the National Police Academy in the Philippines.
"The Philippine National Police Academy patterns many things, such as training and doctrine, after that of the U.S.," Jucaban explained. "I foresee the experience as challenging."
When away from work, Jucaban enjoys spending his time reading books, talking with family by phone and attending church. He said he plans to take his family back to the Philippines between OCS and his next assignment to visit their relatives and introduce his children to their native land.
"If I serve 20 years in the Army, maybe I will retire back home," he said. "In the Philippines, there is a tradition that residents who lived there return to die there as well."
Jucaban is tentatively scheduled to attend OCS in March.
| Date Taken: | 01.07.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 01.07.2009 02:48 |
| Story ID: | 28536 |
| Location: | BAGHDAD, IQ |
| Web Views: | 733 |
| Downloads: | 197 |
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