Distinctly Montana Magazine

D I S T I N C T L Y M O N T A N A S P R I N G | 2 0 1 4 1 2 Gal A war zone not a place you might readily sociate with home. Sergeant First Class Mitchelene BigMan, however, was at ease as soon as she touched Iraqi ground during her first deployment in 2003. All around were reminders of her Crow Reservation upbringing: sheep and wells, tall dry grasses, houses not that different from her own. "It helped me identify with the place," she recalled, "...even on the Rez you have to be careful." "I was probably the only one excited to be in Iraq –– my senses came into play." Her sense of tribal heritage, cultivated in the quiet, packed earth of southcentral Montana, went with her 7,000 mile trek, just as other Native Americans fought for the U.S. as early as the Civil War had done before her. In addition, she brought awareness of the stereotypes that awaited her. BigMan strove to find a balance between staying open to the new and listening to the ways of her past. Surrounded by advanced military technology, now quite familiar to her, she instinctually looked to the sky and land for answers, as well. Using the North Star and the moon as a navigational device, she assisted others to safety, methods she once considered "ancestral folklore." While BigMan saw home, Julia Kelly brought a piece of home with her to the front. The scent of burning sweet grass and diesel exhaust permeated the morning air. A line of combat patrol vehicles filed toward Com- mand Sergeant Major Kelly, as she swept the Iraqi air with Montana sweet grass and imparted sacred Crow prayers. Prayer in the Crow Nation is an essential prerequisite to any adven- ture: be it a new day, hunting, or warfare. One does not pray for one- self, says Dr. Walter Fleming, Chair of the Department of Native American Studies at Montana State University; individuals must pray for each other. It is a way for those away to connect to loved ones at home doing the same. Kelly had planned on blessing her own crew before departing for talks with local leadership, but when word of the ceremony got out, a growing number of other soldiers waited patiently to take part. It was her way of following the Red Road, as it is known in her spiritual tradition, or the right path, one which brought her the courage and peace she hoped to impart to others. Kelly vowed to protect the soldiers just as she would her own children. Ironically, both of these women joined the military early in life as a way to leave home — to escape domestic violence. For Kelly, not all childhood memories are painful. Many days were spent learning the ways of her people: smoking fish with different woods, dressing out deer after hunting, the tedious but spiritually ful- filling task of beading, and putting up the teepee –– all while listening to wisdom from the elders. throuGh the eyes of.. native american women warriors By Maria Munro-Schuster Mitchelene BigMan JAMES KELLy

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