Desert Thunder, an all-Cherokee drum group (above) played at the first American Indian powwow in a combat zone, held at the Al Taqaddum Air Base near Falluja, Iraq, in 2004. A drum and drumsticks (below) from the event now reside in the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian. Metal, wood, hide, twine, nylon cord, adhesive tape, plastic and nails; drum: 18" x 24" x 24", drumsticks (length) 19", 19" and 24". Gift of Sergeant Debra Kay Mooney and 120th Engineer Combat-heavy Battalion. NMAI 26/5148


conduct ceremonies,” she says. “The cer- emony also helps the spirit come to rest to avoid harming the surviving family.”


CARE THROUGH COMMUNITY


Acknowledgment of service from one’s community can also help servicemen and women heal. Most Native tribes and First Nations host powwows and other gatherings during which veterans are honored.


Finding that sense of community dur- ing military service can be difficult for Native servicemen and servicewomen, es- pecially since soldiers from the same tribe are rarely found together in the same unit. Debra Kay Mooney (Choctaw) recognized this need after she joined the Oklahoma Army National Guard in the 1990s and was deployed to Iraq in 2004 and 2008 in a com- bat-heavy engineer battalion and then with the 45th Infantry in detainee operations. In 2004, she was chatting about powwows


with her Native tentmates at the Al Taqaddum Air Base near Falluja, Iraq. Word spread to her commanding officer who agreed to let her orga-


28 AMERICAN INDIAN FALL 2020


she and a combat battalion later do- nated to the collection of the National Museum of the American Indian. In 2008, she sustained head and back injuries from a fall from a


truck, which led to extended treat- ment at both military and tribal medical facilities. However, “by the grace of God, I got to come home.


I’m blessed,” she says. “The most important thing coming home is the right support system.” Today, her brothers and their wives as well as the powwow community provide that coaching and support.


FINDING BALANCE Master Sergeant Johancharles “Chuck”


nize the first powwow held in a combat zone. In just six weeks, Mooney and her fellow soldiers were able to round up the appropriate regalia from family and friends in the United States, organize and rehearse dances and even fashion steel tomahawks from Humvee armor plating and a steel drum from an oil drum, all of which


Boers (Lipan Apache) photographed that historic 2004 powwow in Iraq. Boers grew up in California, where part of his tribe had been relocated from Texas in 1950. Even as a youth, he says, “I knew I wanted to be in the military,” so he entered the U.S. Army right after he graduated from high school in 1983. He undertook


PHOTOS BY JOHANCHARLES “CHUCK” BOERS (ABOVE) AND NMAI STAFF (DRUM)


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