Tsistsistas & Hinonoei
Cheyenne & Arapaho Tribal Tribune
PAGE 7
Homecoming queen yesterday, U.S. Marine today Rosemary Stephens, Editor-in-Chief
Brianna Bighorse is a name I will not forget. Not because of the name itself, but because of the young woman who possesses the name. At 19-years-old, Bighorse is a 2018 graduate of Northwest Classen High school in Oklahoma City, where she was the football homecoming queen just one year ago. But that seems like a long time ago for the now U.S. Marine. Bighorse recently completed her 13 week boot camp at the Marine Corps Recruiting Depot, Parris Island, S.C., where she not only earned the Honor Graduate award for Platoon 4036 Oscar Company, 4th Recruit Training Battalion, but she also received the Molly Marine award, was top 10 percent in her class and her platoon’s highest shooter. Not knowing what to expect, I arrived at her mother’s home in Oklahoma City and as I was setting up for the interview in bounced this energetic, smiling, confident young woman. I can only compare her presence to being stuck in a hot, stale space until someone opens a window and a blast of fresh clean air hits you … it was that kind of feeling. Not knowing her prior to this meeting, I could immediately sense this young lady had never felt fear, or if she had, she had conquered that feeling and was no longer plagued by such an inconvenience as fear. Settling in, my first question to this long hair, beautiful girl was her reasoning behind joining, what some people call, one of the most challenging military branch of service there is. “I thought about going to college, but school really wasn’t my thing but I had always had thoughts of being in the military when I was younger … just didn’t really take it serious,” Bighorse said. But when it came closer to graduation she said she felt she needed to make a decision and chose the U.S. Marine Corps. “I am the first member of my family to join the military … and why the Marines? I get asked that a lot. I wanted a challenge because I am a really competitive person and I needed a challenge and there are very few Native women in the Marines,” Bighorse said.
She said she immediately met a drill instructor that called out, ‘whose Big Horse?’ “I yelled out, ‘I am,’ and this instructor looked at me and said, ‘I have been in the Marines for 20 years now and you’re only the second Native American woman I’ve ran across,’ so I am hoping to change that … even just a little,” Bighorse said. Her decision made, she signed the papers in March 2018, with a scheduled date to leave in October 2018. But as is the case in life, plans changed. “I signed in March and had to wait until after I graduated, so I was supposed to leave in October, but then my recruiter thought I was ready, though I wasn’t sure if I was ready physically, but I just decided to go ahead and go and I shipped out June 25 for South Carolina.” Her mother, Rose Bighorse, thought she was crazy and didn’t think she would go through with it, but then at the last minute at the end she decided she was going, “but I knew she could do it, but I still thought she was crazy.” And Bighorse’s journey to a world she never knew existed began. First time on an airplane, she said she was really nervous at first, but then it wasn’t so bad. Arriving in Charleston, S.C. her and other recruits were loaded on a bus, told to put their heads down and away they went. “We had to put our head’s down so we couldn’t see where we were going. We get there and there was this drill sergeant screaming at us to get off the bus, everything was chaotic. We got to make one phone call to our parents, but we had to read a script and then just hang up and the whole time they are yelling at you and there were girls crying,” Bighorse said, and admittedly said she thought to herself several times, ‘Who does this? Who signs up to come do this … why did I do this?’ But she followed up by saying she didn’t understand at the time that everything they do has a purpose behind it and later on she said she viewed it as a pretty smart strategy. “The hardest part for me was I was so tired, getting up at 4 a.m. everyday being on your feet all day, in the heat up until 8 p.m. at night and then still not getting to go to bed beBighorse / pg. 9
cause we had to get ready for the next day and then back up at 4 a.m. and start again,” she said, laughing about it now as it all seemed like a dream. Soon she would find herself experiencing the gas chamber, rifle range, repel tower and the swim crawl … all events designed to mold and build her into a U.S. Marine. “I didn’t like the repel tower, because I almost fell off of it, but the thing I liked the best was the gas chamber,” Bighorse said explaining the process of entering a room filled with gas chemicals, wearing a gas mask and having to remove the mask at different times without freaking out. Which for some in her platoon was impossible. “You just have to stay calm and it becomes mind over matter. The thing with boot camp, I came to believe,
Brianna Bighorse spends time with her mother, Rose Bighorse in Oklahoma City while on leave. Brianna reported to Camp Pendleton in San Diego, Calif. on Oct. 8. (Photo / Rosemary Stephens)
Cheyenne Arapaho Tribes host 100 Year NAC Commemoration (CONCHO, OK) The Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes host the Native American Church State of Oklahoma 100 Year Commemoration Oct. 9-10. On day one the commemoration began with an invocation, raising of the colors by the Cheyenne Arapaho American Legion Post 401 and a flag song. Next, the Oklahoma Secretary of State and Native American Affairs, Chris Benge presented the state proclamation, by Oklahoma Gov. Mary Fallin, proclaiming Oct. 10, 2018 as “Native American Church Day.” After the proclamation was read, Cheyenne and Arapaho Gov. Reggie Wassana welcomed the attendees to Concho saying he was happy the Tribes could support the Native American Church and the 100 Year Commemoration celebration. Brunch was served and the program continued
Pvt. First Class Brianna Bighorse, U.S. Marine Corps
Gov. Reggie Wassana welcomes guests to the 100th Year Native American Church Commemoration held at the Concho Community Center in Concho, Okla. (Photos / Christopher Roman Nose)
with recognition Tribes and Tribal leaders, followed by presentations by the Apache Native American Church, Native American Church Cheyenne Chapter 1, Comanche Native American Church 1918 Chapter, Kiowa Native American Church, Otoe Native American Church and the Ponca Native American Church. Followed by a timeline presentation by Linda Benally, Indigenous Peyote Conservation Initiative and Commemoration Committee.
