Society offers haven for veterans, families
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According to the United States Department of Defense, more Native Americans per capita have fought for their country than any other ethnic group. That also means there's a high percentage of veterans among Indians.
In tribal tradition, warriors returning from conflict were ceremoniously welcomed home and supported by the tribe, but communities aren’t always so closely knit today. That’s why the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council sanctioned the Veteran Warrior Society in 1992, VWS Commander Dan Jackson explained.
“One of the functions of the Warrior Society is to watch out for the old ways, and the old ways were to watch out for the warriors when they came back,” he said.
The Society’s mission is to provide sober and safe fellowship for all veterans and their families, and to help the community as much as possible, Jackson explained. The group’s biggest event of the year, the Veteran Warrior Society Powwow, is coming up Saturday at Kicking Horse Job Corps, but the VWS stays busy throughout the year. The Society sets up camp at each area powwow and provides food for tribal elders and veterans, and the VWS Honor Guard travels to funerals for service members throughout the Northwest and parts of Canada. The Society also performs all the typical duties of a group like the American Legion or Veterans of Foreign Wars — helping veterans deal with bureaucracy to ensure they get their deserved benefits and providing transportation through a local veterans’ van service. Mostly, though, the Veteran Warrior Society is just about helping veterans feel at home again.
“If you want to just come and sit down and talk, there’s a place for that,” Jackson said.
A chief rule of the society is that no alcohol is allowed at the group’s events — a marked difference from some other veterans’ groups, Jackson noted. He emphasized that the VWS is a family group that anyone can join.
“You don’t even have to be a veteran; just want to help,” Jackson said of the requirements of membership in the Society.
Nor do you have to be a tribal member.
“Our theory is, the bullets weren’t looking for colors or race, so why should we when we’re back home?” Jackson explained.
For VWS secretary Mary Rogers, who’s never served in the military, the Society is a way for her to bond with dad Bill Rogers, a veteran.
“It gives me a chance to spend more time with him … (and) to show my support,” Mary said.
The 80-member Society is always looking for more people to join its family and more ways to help the community — for more information, contact Dan Jackson at 544-0098, Janell Underwood at 544-3205 or Mary Rogers at 249-4864.
Grand entry for the 18th annual Veteran Warrior Society Powwow is scheduled for 1 p.m. Saturday at the Kicking Horse Job Corps gym. A free lunch of stew, biscuits, salad and cake will be prepared by KHJC students, and new VWS hat pins will be presented to all veterans who attend the powwow, Jackson noted.
At 4:30 p.m., the VWS Honor Guard will remember one of their own, Rawhide Sorrell, who passed away earlier this year. And at 7 p.m., a short ceremony will honor all veterans present.
“Every year we call all the veterans out and honor them — and that’s for everyone, not just tribal (members),” Jackson said.
“They all put their lives out there for us.”
