Neto's Tucson: Cholla student fell in love with military, rose to the top

Yvonne Clay, the counselor, selected Yebra to attend a college fair at the University of Arizona. He was a good student and attending college was a goal for Yebra, who grew up on Tucson's west side. But what and where, he didn't know.

At the college fair, Yebra saw numerous recruiters from colleges and universities across the country. But one stood out: the representative of the Military Academy at West Point.

Yebra knew immediately where he wanted to attend college and what he wanted to do.

"It was a desire to serve," said Yebra.

And serve he has.

This year, after 21 years in the Army, Lt. Col. David Yebra, a 1990 graduate of West Point, was named the 2011 United States Army Cadet Command Professor of Military Science of the Year, the most distinguished professor of military science in the country.

Not bad for the son of a Mexican immigrant, who grew up in Menlo Park and attended public schools.

"If Miss Clay had not pulled me out of class and taken me to the UA, I may not have joined the military," said Yebra, 43, during a phone conversation from his university office, where he serves as head of the military science department.

Across the country there are 273 professors of military science in eight brigades. Each brigade nominated its top educator.

Yebra's honor is among several he has received: a Bronze Star Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Meritorious Service Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, and the United States Army Parachutist Badge.

At Sam Houston State, Yebra teaches future military officers leadership and planning skills, as well as physical training. Yebra understands he is doing what his counselor and other Cholla teachers did for him.

It wasn't just his counselor and teachers, however, who supported him. Yebra credits his club soccer coach, Ibrahim Abousaud, for instilling in him and his teammates cohesion and discipline.

"As a team we were all geared toward success," said Yebra, who played for the Tucson Aztecs when they won the Under 16 state championship. "Many of the players went on to be successful professionals."

Of course, at the root of his achievements are the values instilled in him by his father, José Yebra, and his Tucson-born mother, Christina Rivera Yebra, who passed away in 1988 while her son was a West Point cadet. Yebra's older brother, Tony Yebra, served in the U.S. Air Force and is a Tucson police officer.

Yebra's father came to the United States in the late 1950s as a bracero worker to harvest crops. He eventually became a mariachi player in California and moved to Tucson in the 1960s. Today he performs with Mariachi Estrellas de La Fuente at the well-known restaurant on North Oracle Road.

"He was a good student, and he had good teachers and friends," said José Yebra. "We taught him the values of respect and encouraged him to study."

Yebra took his lessons to West Point and beyond. After graduating as a Second Lieutenant with a degree in civil engineering management, Yebra served in Oklahoma, New York, Kansas and Texas, and abroad in Bosnia, Germany, Hungary and Croatia.

He also is a graduate of the United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and he earned his master's degree in counseling and leader development from Long Island University.

Yebra completed three tours of duty in Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom with the 4th Infantry Division. He was deployed as an operation planner, battalion executive officer and fire support coordinator. In 1998, he returned to West Point to serve as a company tactical officer and operations officer.

He married his childhood sweetheart, Sylvia Hoyos, and they have three children.

"I came out of the barrio and did well because I worked and studied hard," he said.

Ever humble, Yebra said his achievements are not extraordinary.

But they are exemplary.

Ernesto Portillo Jr. is editor of La Estrella de Tucsón. Contact him at netopjr@azstarnet.com or 520-573-4187.