Native Americans Archives

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I have had a drastic drop in subscribers recently. From 2-24-21 to 3-1-21 I have only had 7 new subscribers, when I averaged over 20 a day.

Am I doing something wrong? Are you not happy with something I am writing? Please let me know. The whole purpose of this site is to reach out to my fellow veterans and give them hope.

Please make comments in the comment area below.

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I am going to share some more excerpts from my upcoming book, Signs of Hope for the Military: In and Out of the Trenches of life. with you today. They are from different parts of my military career.

In Basic Training, back in my day, we still had draftees. we had two in my platoon. They were not happy campers. The rest of us who enlisted finally told them to shut up and serve.

One of the draftees wouldn’t stop. He was a Native American. He was a good sized drink of water. Looked kind of like a linebacker.

The drill sergeant finally had enough of his whining and told him to straighten up and serve his country proudly. The Native American told him where to go.

The drill sergeant then told him to come into his room at the end of the barracks. It was pretty quiet for a while, and then all hell broke loose from that room. You could hear crashing of things, grunts of pain; cursing, and screaming.

Then it got very quiet again. We all figured that our drill sergeant had been beaten up, because he was 5’9′ and couldn’t have weighed more than 150 pounds. The Native American was 6 foot tall and around 200 pounds.

The door slowly came open and out staggered our drill sergeant. He looked like he had hit by a truck, but he was still standing. We all rushed to look in his room and there was the Native American out cold on the floor.

We had nothing but respect for our drill sergeant after that. Even the native american respected him.

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While I was deployed to South Korea, they gave us a thing called R&R. (Rest and recuperation.)

It was a week of going to Tokyo, Japan. All paid with free room and board. My very first vacation.

A buddy and I got there and settled down. The next day we went touring the area. We saw Japanese flower gardens. Pagodas, and lots of shopping areas. We were awestruck. Nothing like this back in the states!

Later in the week, we decided to venture into a bar that could be considered a disco bar later on in the states. We sat down and had a couple of beers.

Then an announcer who spoke English came on and announced that there was a belly dancer coming out to dance for us.

He went on to say that they were having a contest. The contest was to see who could hold onto the belly dancer’s hips the longest while she shimmied.

The dancer came out. She was beautiful and a caucasian girl. She started dancing around the circle of tables. At each table she would stop and invite a soldier to try to hold on to her. There were many who tried, but none that could hold on very long.

Then she came to my table. I had way too much the drink by that time and accepted the challenge. I put my hands on her hips and she began to shimmy. I kept a hold of her until she had to stop to rest.

I had won the contest. Then the announcer said what the prize was. YOU GET FREE DRINKS FOR THE REST OF THE EVENING!

Just what I didn’t need!! I also looked at my hands and they were full of blisters. The pain was setting in. What did I do about it? Had several more beers. I do not recall the rest of the evening. My buddy must have gotten me back to our hotel.

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More excerpts coming in my next post.

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How are things going for you.

Was your basic training interesting, or a nightmare?

Did you have time off when you were deployed, or did you sleep in a trench?

Some good things and some very bad things right?

Fear not!

There are ver 11,580 fellow veterans here who have your back.

BUT! If you can not cope with our world today, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call 24/7.

There are highly qualified counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Never, ever, take on this world alone.

1-800-272-8255 Option # 1

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, give up!

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This story is very interesting so I decided to share it all.

Here’s why Army helicopters have Native American names.

Black Hawk. Apache. Comanche. Lakota. Notice anything?

The Army’s history of naming its helicopters after Native American tribes and figures stems from an Army regulation made decades ago. The regulation has since been rescinded, but the tradition has carried on over the years.

An Army press release posted Wednesday explained the backstory of the U.S. military’s “long history” with Native Americans — and specifically the American Indian Wars.

“But Native Americans also served as some of the fiercest fighters for the United States for more than 200 years,” the release said. “In fact, 32 Native Americans have earned the nation’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor.”

The tradition originated from Army Gen. Hamilton Howze, who was tasked with the job to “develop doctrine and the way forward when it came to employing Army aircraft” after the Air Force split from the Army in 1947, the Army release said.

The original names for two helicopters were “Hoverfly” and “Dragonfly” — which Howze didn’t like. He decided the next helicopter would be called the Sioux “in honor of the Native Americans who fought Army soldiers in the Sioux Wars and defeated the 7th Cavalry Regiment at the Battle of Little Bighorn.”

And from that decision, years later in 1969, Army Regulation 70-28 was born.

AR 70-28 required that Army aircraft had to be named after “Indian terms and names of American Indian tribes and chiefs.” It also directed that tanks would be named after American generals, infantry weapons “would receive names for famous early American pioneers,” and assault weapons would have “fearsome reptile and insect names,” according to the press release.

Though the regulation has since been rescinded, the tradition for Army helicopters was set.

A press release further explained the process behind deciding on a name for an Army helicopter, saying that before the service could use the name Lakota for the UH-72A Lakota, the Lakota tribe was consulted for permission.

The Bureau of Indian Affairs advised Stephen Hart, a Light Utility Helicopter maintenance manager, that the Army “had to contact and obtain approval from a majority of the council members making up the Sioux Nation,” of which the Lakotas are a part.

Within six months, the Army had received the permission they needed. The Army wanted that name specifically, the press release said, because the Lakotas “were known as a peaceful, non-aggressive people,” and the helicopter “is a non-arms-bearing helicopter that performs medical and casualty evacuations, provides disaster relief, aids in homeland defense, and also works to counter drugs and narcotics.”

In February 2008, Rosebud Sioux tribal leaders joined the Army for a ceremony at Redstone Arsenal, Ala., to celebrate the new helicopter.

Rodney Bordeaux, the Rosebud Sioux tribal council president, said at the ceremony that it was a “great honor to have our name out there now where people can see it.”

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Too many of our veterans are bitter and lost. They came home with PTSD, severe TBI, and war wounds. It is hard to reach them because they do not want to show weakness.

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That leads me into my daily rant.

How are you doing? Are the paths you are walking breaking down and causing landslides for you?

Rest at ease! There are over 11, 450 fellow veterans here who have you back. You are not alone,. There is no need for you to take on this world by yourself.

However, if the path doesn’t look repairable, GET HELP!

Here is a toll free number to call, 24/7.

There are highly qualified, counselors there to help you. They will not hang up until they know you are OK.

Never take on the dark side by yourself.

1-800-273-8255 Option # 1

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Remember:

You are never alone.

You are never forsaken.

You are never unloved.

And above all…never, ever, Give up!

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