Native Americanness and the Super Soldier
The Military’s Love-Hate Relationship with Native America, continues still today
This week, Bilal-al-Sudani, an ISIS leader in Somalia, was the target of a successful complex counterterrorism operation. While we should all celebrate what was a decisive victory for the U.S., I was apprehensive about what code name had been selected for the ISIS leader and the operation, which involved extensive training in similar mountainous terrain in preparation, much like that for the operation to kill Osama bin Laden.1 The White House and media were silent on the name, unlike the revelation when Osama bin Laden was killed, when it was revealed that he had been given the code name, “Geronimo,” a notable Chirachahua Apache war leader.
Reflecting on the hope that the U.S. did not repeat the same mistake, I stepped back to take this long view of the relationship between the military and Native America.
The “U.S. Super Soldier” has always been Native American
Discussions of the emerging super soldier with new technological skills and powers that enhance endurance, resistance and psychological vulnerability grow louder both domestically and internationally. Here in the U.S., reflection on what is the American identity when it comes to envisioning this super warrior leads us to Native America.
Native America’s collective view of what is a super soldier could be described by citing to examples of leaders and war heros from Native Nations across America. The view of the Super Soldier by non-Indians of America interestingly is also described with versions of Native Americanness. Over time, America has admired, attacked and appropriated Native American warrior culture and embraced it as what is real America, often all of these things at once. Despite, the hatred and genocidal policies of the United States against Native Americans, that identity was simultaneously taken and molded into the American warrior ideal with what I will describe as Native American super powers.
Of the more than 500 Native Nations in the United States, each has a separate history and relationship with the U.S. government, but almost all have suffered war, genocide, displacement and land theft from violated treaties. So there are many perspectives and opinions in Indian Country on the appropriation of the Native American warrior in fantasy, real life military adaptations and individual experiences as enlisted members of the military, and all must be respected.
There has been obvious appropriation of American Indianness by dominant white society through fantasy comic book characters, that can be offensive to indigenous people, while other Native Americans may embrace it. In real life military operations, the naming protocols in the use of Native American Nations and their names has been a practice of the U.S. Army for decades. Most Native Nations participate in this process. Appropriated Native American names for sports mascot names have also had mixed support from Indian Country, and have largely been eliminated from most highly visible institutions in the last few years. But this should not distract from the true heroism and “super soldier” skills and “old ways” of notable Native American leaders and Nations over our histories. They should be respected and carefully observed in American thinking around what is a super soldier, through the lens of Native American culture to better inform the U.S identity, which, afterall, has notably always been Native American.
The Super Soldier Appropriated from Native Americanness
Did you know that Capt. America was actually an Indian from 16022 helping protect the Roanoke Colony? We know this only because of Neil Gaiman’s backstory of eight Marvel super heros, entitled “1602” written in 2004. (There are many Marvel super heros based on Native Americanness.3 as well as DC Comics.4.) I say this a bit tongue-in-cheek, but the point is that the epitome of the American super soldier, Captain America, is actually seen as Native American in his origins. His name is Rojhaz and he is depicted with blond hair but unmistakably “Indian” with a stoic expression and arms folded over a bare torso.5
Much is made of the fact he is depicted as a blond which is explained in the story as the result of Welsh colonizers engaging with his tribe. (This is actually part of the origin story of my tribe, the Lumbee, which explains blue eyes among many of the Lumbee citizens. When the colony began to fail, ancestors of the Lumbee helped the Roanoke Colonists and allowed the survivors to join the Croatoan Tribe, whose descendants are some of the Lumbee Tribe of North Carolina. In fact, the Lumbee Tribe was once called the Croatoan Tribe as recently as the 20th Century. This is a good example of going so far as to appropriate the origin story to go with the character — without attribution.) It is only revealed in the last of the series that Rojhaz is actually Steven Rogers, Capt. America.
Before Capt. America, there were at least four major characters appropriating Indianness that will be highlighted here. Philip Deloria in his book Playing Indian,6 describes how such characters seek to have their cake and eat it too, by despising the Indian in America while at the same time wishing to appropriate Indianness as both savage and noble. This is particularly evident during the Indian policy period in American from 1940-1960 called the Indian Termination Era, meant to be the destruction and final end of all Indian culture and governments and subliminally the genocide of Native people. During this period four comic book white heros who played Indians were very popular: White Indian (1949–1952), Tomahawk (1947–1972), Indians (1950–1953), and Straight Arrow (1950–1956). Even Batman in the story “Batman—Indian Chief!” (1954) appropriates Indianness. As Barbour writes, “All of these stories depict the white hero performing an imagined Indianness, many times as a route to achieving heroic masculinity and superior physical strength.”
As Barbour writes, this desire to appropriate the Native American persists even to this century, in 2021 when the video game, Assassin’s Creed III, appropriates the same kind of hero. The game advertisement reads that he is “a Native American assassin” who “join[s] the Continental Army in a war for our freedom” to “hunt down the British redcoats. ”This character is depicted with a tomahawk, bow and arrows and a rifle. As Barbour concludes about the character that he embodies the basic ingredients of a culturally powerful ideal that has been persistent throughout American culture: the image of the Indian as a means to an end, a vehicle for heroic masculinity and national identity.7
The depiction of women as super hero characters, some now specifically linked to tribal identities, is a growing trend. Fortunately, these women are not wearing a Plains headdress in the more recent depictions. Superheros can be inspiring to young children and young adults but only if they do not come with culturally in appropriate and stereotyped baggage.
U.S. Military Indigenous Weapon Names
Not only has Native Americanness been appropriated in the fantasy heros that typify American identity, but in real world military operations. Military equipment has been named for heroic Native Americans and Native American Nations. The U.S. Army had a protocol specifically for the process of adopting Native American names for new equipment. This protocol originated with the split of the Army and Air Force in 1947 when Army General Hamilton Howze sought to form an identity for the U.S. Army. According to one account “Howze said since the choppers were fast and agile, they would attack enemy flanks and fade away, similar to the way the tribes on the Great Plains fought during the aforementioned American Indian Wars.”8 Army Regulation 70-28 was created in 1969 to codify this practice. While this codification has been withdrawn, this practice continues and is codified in acquisition regulations.
The U.S. Army reported that on February 5, 2008. The Chief and citizens of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe joined the inauguration in Alabama9 of the new helicopter, the UH-72A Lakota.10 On June 10, 2012, Lakota elders ritually blessed two new South Dakota Army National Guard UH-72A Lakotas at a traditional ceremony on the Standing Rock Reservation in North Dakota.11 Helicopters named for Native American Nations include the Kiowa OH-58D, Apache Attack Helicopter AH-64D/E,12 Cheyenne Attack Helicopter AH-56,13 Comanche Helicopter RAH-66.14 Lakota UH-72A Light Utility Helicopter (LUH),15 all U.S. Army helicopters.16
The now rescinded, Army Regulation 70-28, required that “Indian terms and names of American Indian tribes and chiefs,” would be selected for new military aircraft in cooperation with the Bureau of Indian Affairs (U.S. Dept. of Interior). Then the process of approval by the Native Nation might take 12-18 months, including time to prepare a ceremony for the launching of the craft. “The criteria for making these selections included name choices that (1) Appeal to the imagination without sacrificing dignity; (2) Suggest an aggressive spirit and confidence in the item’s capabilities; (3) Reflect the item’s characteristics, including mobility, agility, flexibility, firepower, and endurance; (4) Be based on tactical application, not source or method of manufacture; (5) Be associated with the preceding qualities and criteria if a person’s name is proposed.”17 This practice continues today, although this directive has been rescinded.
Military Code names and operation names and the problem of never apologizing
Up until about 25 years ago, military operation names were purportedly selected randomly.18 As of 1998, there is also a protocol and report issued by the Joint Chiefs of Staff, that describes the protocol for selecting and using code words for nicknames and operations.19
The U.S. Army triggered a backlash from Indian Country when it became public that the operation to capture or kill Osama bin Laden was named “Geronimo”.20 When the audio message to the President said, “Geronimo is dead,” there was no covering up the direct connection to the Chirachahua hero, Geronomo.21 The duplicity and transparency of the adoration and hatred for the Native American warrior accidentally let the mask slip from the face of the U.S. military.
The shout of “Geronimo” as parachuters jump from their plane was said to have originated from a group of soldiers who had watched the old 1939 movie, “Geronimo” the night before their jump.22 They shouted this as a form of mustering courage as they jumped. But this was out of at least some admiration for Geronimo’s legendary status as a brave warrior.
The offensiveness of naming bin Laden and the operation “Geronimo” was met with immediate condemnation from Indian Country to the direct descendants. Chairman of the Ft. Sill Apache Tribe, Jeff Houser wrote to Pres. Obama on May 5, 2011:
“Geronimo was a renowned Chiricahua Apache leader who personally fought to defend his people, territory and way of life. Unlike the coward Osama bin Laden, Geronimo faced his enemy in numerous battles and engagements. He is perhaps one of the greatest symbols of Native American resistance in the history of the United States.
What this action has done is forever link the name and memory of Geronimo to one of the most despicable enemies this Country has ever had. This fact is even more appalling when examined in light of the United States House of Representatives February 2009 Resolution that honored Geronimo for “his extraordinary bravery, and his commitment to the defense of his homeland, his people, and Apache ways of life.” Now a little over two years later your Administration has further immortalized his existence by linking him to the most hated person in recent American history.”23
Chairman Houser went on to ask Pres. Obama to offer a formal apology.
That apology was never forthcoming.
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee held a hearing on how the name “Geronimo” was selected for the operation to kill the most hated man in America within days of his killing.24 Testimony from notable leaders in Indian Country documented the ill will that was caused by using this name.
No apology was forthcoming.
The federal management of Indian Affairs was established in the U.S. Department of War and it was not until 1849 that Indian Affairs was moved to the U.S. Dept. of Interior. But it was not until 1887, that the United States Army was no longer in a declaraed war against the Apache Nations. Conflicts with the APache people and other Native Nations continued, recently as 1975. Maybe it is time for the U.S. to officially declare an end to its war against Native America and stop identifying Native American heros with its enemies.
Footnotes
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/press-briefings/2023/01/26/background-press-call-by-senior-administration-officials-on-a-successful-counterterrorism-operation-in-somalia/
1602 is a backstory series about Marvel’s super heros.
https://www.sideshow.com/blog/marvel-native-indigenous-first-nations-heroes
https://www.sideshow.com/blog/indigenous-native-dc-super-heroes
Chad Barbour, “When Captain America Was an Indian: Heroic Masculinity, National Identity, and Appropriation,” 48 Journal of Popular Culture 269-284 (2015) at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpcu.12256 .
Deloria, Philip J. Playing Indian. New Haven: Yale UP, 1998. Print.
Chad Barbour, “When Captain America Was an Indian: Heroic Masculinity, National Identity, and Appropriation,” 48 Journal of Popular Culture 269-284 (2015) at https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jpcu.12256 .
Rosebud Sioux tribal council president Rodney Bordeaux, stated, "It is a great honor to have our name out there now where people can see it," said Bordeaux. "It is an honor to have the tradition of our warriors and veterans going on. We exist today because of our treaty with the federal government." (Not every Rosebud Sioux citizen feels the same way, but this is a statement from the leadership.)
U.S. Army News, (Feb. 20, 2008).
Katie Lange, “Why Army Helicopters have Native American Names,” https://www.army.mil/article/240476/why_army_helicopters_have_native_american_names .
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Manual, CJSSM 3150.29A, 23 April 1998 at https://irp.fas.org/doddir/dod/cjcsm3150_29a.pdf .
https://www.businessinsider.com/this-is-why-soldiers-yell-geronimo-when-jumping-out-of-airplanes-2017-8
Has the US government ever apologized to any tribe for anything?!? Great article. I wish this kind of information got more attention in the media and news outlets. Americans owe indigenous peoples a great debt of gratitude for the contributions they have made to this country and a great apology for the countless wrongs perpetrated against them.