Courtesy Photo | (Top row, left to right): Soldiers, Spc. Benjamin Bighead, a Heart Butte, Mont.,...... read more read more
By 1st Lt. Michael Creden
CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, Iraq - The state of Montana has a population of just fewer than one million. Of that number, according to the U.S. Census Bureau in 2009, 6.4 percent identify themselves as Native Americans.
Almost 10 percent of the soldiers in Alpha Company, 1st Combined Arms Battalion, 163rd Infantry Regiment, 224th Sustainment Brigade, 103rd Sustainment Command (Expeditionary), are Native Americans, better representing the demographics of Montana. Eleven of the 131 soldiers are “Natives,” the preferred name as opposed to “Indians.”
For the Native American soldiers of A Company, serving in the U.S. Army serves many purposes, and most of them are quite personal.
“There is pride and honor being in the Army noting the warrior history of my past,” said Sgt. Myers Brien, truck commander with A Company, 1st CAB, 163rd Inf. Regt., and a Crow Nation native from Crow Agency, Montana.
“Veterans in Native American tribes have high levels of respect in their tribes,” said Spc. Benjamin Bighead, a mechanic with A Company, 1st CAB, 163rd Inf. Regt., and a Heart Butte, Mont., and Northern Cheyenne native.
“Serving helps you to get jobs on the reservation.”
Some of the best and high-paying jobs on the reservation are working for the tribal government or for the Bureau of Indian Affairs. By federal law, having served in the military gives preferential points for a government job.
Brothers, Spc. Germaine Jackson and Spc. Gerald Jackson, Mine Resistant Ambush Protected vehicle crew members with A Company, 1st CAB, 163rd Inf. Regt., and Hungpapa Sioux natives from Poplar, Mont., said serving in the Army is helpful in recruiting other family members and others on the reservation.
“It doesn’t matter if the person is troubled or on the right path; they will join on the inspiration you show them,” Germaine said.
Veterans have additional special honors bestowed upon them during pow-wows and Sundance’s.
“Having the right to raise the flag and be in the Honor Guard is a respected honor in our society,” said Sgt. Shawn Moore, an MRAP mechanic with A Company, 1st CAB, 163rd Inf. Regt., and a Roundup, Mont., and Chippewa native.
Germaine is especially proud of being able to serve in A Company, 1st CAB, 163rd Inf. Regt. During World War II, Bravo Company, 1st CAB, 163rd Inf. Regt., was a pure native company from Poplar, Mont., as popularized in the book From Poplar to Papua, written by Martin Kidston in 2004.
“It was always my dream to join as an 11B [infantryman],” said Pfc. Bruce Dogtakinggun, an MRAP gunner with A Company, 1st CAB, 163rd Inf. Regt., and a Browning, Mont., and Blackfeet tribe native, said about serving in the Army. “I love my job and I love to get down and dirty. I look forward to going active [duty] after this deployment.”
What helps all of them make it through the deployment is seeing each other and showing the sense of spirit unique to their culture. Most of all, they will come home combat veterans and viewed by their native peers with a high level of respect that will continue for the rest of their lives.
| Date Taken: | 01.31.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 02.13.2011 17:10 |
| Story ID: | 65367 |
| Location: | CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE ADDER, IQ |
| Web Views: | 272 |
| Downloads: | 1 |
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