Justin, a young Osage warrior, honors his father's service in the United States Marines during Desert Storm with this special costume complete with USMC insignia and colors. This includes the USMC Anchor and Globe on the front chest piece, back, cuffs of his sleeves and his head band. The costume was one of the nicest and most elaborate at the event.Justin is only sixteen and still in high-school, but he plans on graduating and joining the Marines like his father before him and many of the warriors who were present at the Pow Wow.
Justin was an enthusiastic dancer and said he had just started participating in the events. There were many great activities and the drum circle was very talented with both the drums and the chanting. Video and slide shows will follow.
Here we see some implements of war that might look right at home in the Castle Armory.
The duel nature of man. Every warrior needs a peace pipe.Slide shows with additional pictures of dancers and activities can be found here and here.
For members of the various native tribes that want to honor a warrior tradition, service in the military is about the only outlet these days. I've been doing a bit of reading lately about the only combat formation left in the U. S. Army Reserve: the 100th Battalion, 442nd Infantry. Yeah, the unit that is the lineal descendant of the Nisei units from WW2, the 442nd is still, hands down, the most highly decorated regiment in the Army. And the unit motto is still "Go For Broke!" They are on their second tour in the Iraqi theater as I write this.
At present, the battalion's headquarters company, one rifle company and the heavy-weapons company are home-stationed in Hawaii. The other two rifle companies are home-stationed in American Samoa. And those two companies get to pick and choose who they let enlist, because that's one route to achieving recognition as a warrior within the community, which is still important there. (And speaking as an old infantryman, the idea of an entire company of Samoans is more than a little intimidating.)
It's probably not quite as stringent a social stricture as Chaka Zulu's law that no Zulu warrior might marry who had not already proven himself in battle ( which law seems to have been a significant factor in causing the battle at Rorke's Drift,) but it does seem to make a difference to people.
http://www.tioh.hqda.pentagon.mil/MP/306MilitaryPoliceBattalion.htm