by David Flint
The theme this year of the 4th Annual Rock Rattle and Drum Powwow and Spirit On The Mountain Music Festival, to be held at Gardner’s Field in Stephentown on August 7, 8 and 9, is “America – Fly Like an Eagle, Forever Free – Honoring our Veterans, Healing Our Warriors.” Besides being an important Native American festival, it is shaping up to be a significant event honoring and serving veterans of all sorts.
The New York State Division of Veterans Affairs will be represented by Executive Deputy Director William Kraus and will have a booth there to provide information and answer questions about State and federal services that are available for veterans. James McDonough, Director of the Division said that this festival is of particular interest to him because he feels that government at all levels has not been doing enough for Native American veterans. There is a sizeable population of such veterans in New York State and, according to McDonough, “We haven’t figured out yet how best to serve this population, and we are looking for opportunities to begin doing more for them.”
In an innovative approach to reach rural and underserved veterans with “high quality readjustment counseling,” the Veterans Administration recently put into operation a fleet of 50 mobile counseling centers.
One of these 39-foot vans operates out of the Springfield, MA, Vet Center. It will be parked at the Powwow all three days and will be available for veterans free of charge. This van travels all across the northeast carrying Vets Center counselors and outreach workers to provide services especially to veterans in rural areas. Services include psychological counseling for traumatic military related experiences and family counseling when needed for the veteran’s readjustment.
Rensselaer County Veterans Service Director Bob Reiter has pointed out that while such services may be available at VA hospitals and Vet Centers, many soldiers returning from war zones with psychological problems do not feel comfortable approaching these places. It may be that a travelling Vet Center of this sort would prove to be less intimidating.
Reiter, representing Rensselaer County, will have his own booth at the festival and will be available all three days to help veterans with their benefits. Reiter says he strives to be a one stop shop for veterans. He will do everything he can to make sure they are actually receiving the health care, compensation, tax breaks and other benefits they so well deserve.
Walk With The Warriors
The veterans organization Walk With the Warriors will also have a presence at the Powwow led by its Director, Jake Singer of the Navajo tribe. The organization was established in 1990 to bring attention to the needs of veterans who have served their country regardless of race, color or creed. They sponsor a Long Walk each year to promote awareness. Two of these walks crossed the entire country. In 1993 participants walked from Farmington, NM, to Washington, DC, in honor of the unveiling of the Vietnam Women’s Memorial on the National Mall. Singer said the group took on the role of security guard, protecting the memorial for five days prior to its unveiling. He conducted a pipe ceremony at the Memorial and has repeated it at each fifth anniversary since then.
Again in 2002 a group of walkers carried a Warrior’s Staff from the Pacific Ocean to Washington, DC, and then on to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Singer said the point was to promote awareness all along the way of the sacrifices of our veterans and to confirm the faith that the U.S. will always be protected by our Warriors.
Singer said his organization has two major goals right now, to have November 7 recognized internationally as Native American Veterans Day and to build a national American Indian Veterans Memorial in a central location such as the Oklahoma City area. But they also have as part of their ongoing mission the provision of outreach services to veterans. Singer said Native American veterans living on remote reservations find it difficult to take advantage of services offered by the Vets Centers and they and their families suffer for it. Walk With the Warriors attempts to fill in this gap by helping them file claims and pushing hard to get the assistance they need.
He thinks it is not always wise to rely on the Veterans Administration. “We can often do much better by helping ourselves,” he said. In this respect he is much interested and will serve as a consultant in advancing tentative plans that Fidel Moreno has of establishing at his White Eagle Sanctuary a veterans rehab and healing center. It would be open to all veterans but would feature Native American ceremonies and counseling. Singer, a Vietnam veteran who has suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, said that he himself had benefited immensely from the ministrations of Native American medicine people to reestablish his energy and re-center his physical and psychological personality.
Singer, a medicine man himself, will be conducting healing ceremonies and sweat ceremonies at the Powwow.
Homes For Our Troops
Another organization to be represented at the Powwow is Homes For Our Troops. In 2004, John Gonsalves, a construction supervisor from Raynham, MA, wondered what was being done to provide proper housing for soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan with severe injuries and disabilities. He sought to offer his services as a builder but found there was no organization set up to receive them. So he started Homes For Our Troops which raises donations of money, building materials and professional labor and then coordinates the process of building a new home or adapting an existing home for handicapped accessibility. There is no charge to the veteran and no mortgage on a new home. “It’s been a learning experience and so rewarding,” Gonsalves said. “The outpouring of generous citizens at times is overwhelming. The veterans I have met along the way have touched my heart and I am honored to have them as my friends. Homes For Our Troops is dedicated to building specially adapted homes for disabled veterans as long as there is a need.” In only a few years, Homes for Our Troops has become a highly rated, prominent, national non-profit organization constructing more than three dozen homes by the end of 2008. About 30 more homes were in process in 2009 across the country, including one in upstate New York and one in Connecticut. Another is in the planning stage for western Massachusetts. Sgt. Peter Rooney of Worthington, MA, about 30 miles west of Stephentown, lost his legs in April 2007 when a roadside bomb exploded near Ramadi, Iraq. HFOT will construct a specially adapted home for him and his wife Susanne. The American Institute of Philanthropy (AIP) has given the organization an “A” rating.
Danny Garcia Walks For Veterans
Finally, another of the Powwow guests of honor is Danny “the walking man” Garcia. Known as the global walker, he has walked over 25,000 miles around the world raising money to support projects for children’s rights and world peace. He will walk from the Bennington Battle Monument in Vermont to Gardner’s field on Saturday, August 8, and will be the special guest speaker at the main stage at 8 pm preceding Joanne Shenandoah. Garcia is walking to honor all Veterans and to raise funds in support of the White Eagle Sanctuary’s “Healing the Heart” Program, a program for facilitating healing, reconciliation and inner peace for families, spouses, children and veterans.