“I imagined him standingup there taking the oath to defend the Constitution, as all recruits do, and Ithought about how ironic it was that he wasn’t a citizen and didn’t have anyprotection under the Constitution,” Loew says.
It was an image that hasalways remained with her, and was, in part, inspiration for the 2007 WPTdocumentary Way of the Warrior.
Native Americans haveserved in the U.S.military in greater numbers proportionate to other ethnic groups and are amongthe most highly decorated. Using veterans’ stories from both world wars, Korea and Vietnam, Way of the Warrior explores the complexities surrounding NativeAmerican military service, and also, according to Loew, examines the meaning of“ogichidaaone who protects and follows the way of the warrior.”
According to thedocumentary, among the patterns that emerge during periods of war is “IndianScout Syndrome,” Loew says. “From very early on, Native soldiers were put outin front because the American military believed that they were somehow innatelybetter at warfare.”
The stereotypical andeven “superhuman” qualities attached to Native soldiers had severeconsequences, as they were placed in dangerous situations more often. In Vietnam,“Native American soldiers were three times more likely to see moderate to heavycombat” than other soldiers, Loew says. Facing greater danger and being exposedto greater trauma meant higher instances of PTSD, she adds.
CommunityReintegration
Loew and her colleague,historian Tom Holm, author of StrongHearts, Wounded Souls: Native American Veterans of the Vietnam War, foundthat Native American veterans who returned to communities that still practicedpurification and healing rituals were much less likely to exhibit strongsymptoms of PTSD.
“Virtually everycommunity I spent time in had purification rituals for returning veterans,”Loew says. “The Hopi wash the hair of their returning veterans in yucca leavesand give them new names. They would spend a period of 24 to 48 hours with clanmembers and they would tell their war stories. The Ojibwe, my own, have lodgeceremonies. The Plains tribes have sweat lodge ceremonies. These ceremonies area part of reintegrating veterans into their communities.”
As men and women returnfrom Iraq and Afghanistan, Loew says that the concept ofreintegration is something that mainstream America could learn from Nativecommunities.
“They’ve come backwounded emotionally and psychologically and we as a community have anobligation to them as individuals, but we also have an obligation to protectourselves and there are protocols in place in Indian country for that. We don’thave protocols in place in the larger community,” she says. “We’re ready tohand them papers and say here’s your G.I. loan and here’s where you get housingassistance, and here’s the directions to the nearest V.A. hospitalbut that isnot enough.”
Jesse Torres, statewidespokesman for the Wisconsin Indian Veterans Association (WIVA) and longtimeveterans’ rights advocate, served two tours in Vietnam in the Navy. A member ofthe Oneida Nation of Wisconsin, Torres began advocating for veterans withinmonths of his return from duty in 1967. He formerly served as the tribalservices coordinator for the Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs, hasvolunteered with Wisconsin Veterans Stand Down for 20 years and was awarded aneagle featherthe highest honor awarded in Native American culturesfor hisactivism on behalf of veterans.
Torres distinguishesNative American ceremonies and eagle feather presentations performed among histribe and other tribes as more personal than honorary ceremonies held at stateor national levels. It was a realization that took time, he says.
“When I go before peoplethat have a different way of looking at life, life seems more precious,” hesays. “Going back to a couple hundred years ago, we had ceremoniespurificationceremonies, ceremonies that help people adjust after war. We knew that war wasnot right. We knew that when you went into war you were a different person whenyou came out. Now, after all these years the military has started to look atthat that way, that maybe we should be helping these men and women becomecivilians again after being in these situations of death and destruction.
“We just look at it differently,”he continues. “We don’t honor the war; we honor the warrior.”
Indian Summer Festival runs Sept. 10-12on the Summerfest grounds. This year’s theme, “Honoring Our Warriors,”recognizes veterans, active military personnel and first responders.
