The following story was written and reported by Christina Rose, Native Sun News Correspondent. All content © Native Sun News.
Shawnee Rae Red Bear recently returned from Afghanistan where the local mode of transportation was by pack animals. COURTESY/Facebook, Giovanni Viera
Shawnee Rae Red Bear grew up in the Marine Corps
By Christina Rose
Native Sun News Correspondent
PINE RIDGE — Shawnee Rae Red Bear, 21, was recently honored at the 25th Annual Veteran's Day Wacipi for serving 4 years in the Marine Corps. Her next goal had been to attend New York University in the fall, but with the unexpected passing of her grandmother, Theresa Red Cloud, Red Bear is looking at life a little differently.
“My grandmother passed away and we had her funeral last week,” Red Bear said sadly. Red Bear strongly feels her grandmother’s death could have been prevented, so to honor her grandmother, she will be attending Kaplan University in California instead. There she will train to become a health care assistant and ultimately become a registered nurse. “I want to get into the field to care for people,” Red Bear said adding that she wants to “save a loved one the hurt I feel in losing my loved one.”
As the oldest grandchild, Red Bear called her grandmother her role model who had a major impact on her life. “I want to be there 24-7,” she said, “so you can always take that extra step to prevent complications.”
The decision feels like a calling to Red Bear. “I am very satisfied with my decision and I feel very passionate about it,” Red Bear said, noting that her grandmother died only three weeks after Red Bear returned from the Marines.
Red Bear was only 17 when she joined the Marines, which required that her reluctant mother sign a waiver. But Red Bear was determined to go. “I didn’t want to stay on the reservation, but I couldn’t pay for college so I joined the Marine Corp to secure funding. I was rebellious so that was tacked on with other issues on the reservation.”
Looking back at her high school career, Red Bear now knows she didn’t put enough of an effort into her high school academics. “I was kind of slacker, which showed me I wasn’t ready for the challenge.”
So Red Bear headed for Basic Training which she said broke her down mentally and physically for three months. “It’s just brutal. They teach you basic knowledge of being a Marine. They enroll you into their system, their codes of ethics, their leadership training for a month. It is very strict and they change every mistake you make,” she remembered. “They tap into a part of you that you didn’t know you had. Some girls couldn’t handle it.”
In 2011, Red Bear was shipped off to Afghanistan, which brought even more challenges to the young girl. There she spent her time as a Logistics Embarkation Specialist, which she called her “primary military occupation specialty position.”
At only 17 years old, she was in charge of personnel. “I enjoyed it and flourished, and in my last year in Afghanistan, I was in charge of the Female Engagement Team, which was a very small exclusive group. I was trained to live with infantry tactics, as well as deal with cultural awareness in Afghanistan. Two in my team were embedded within the infantry, and we did everything they did. They were out to secure and patrol and we were there to bridge the gap,” Red Bear said.
The Taliban took advantage of the fact that military men could not touch or speak to the women in Afghanistan, and used women to move drugs and weapons. “So we had to search the females. We also built relationships with women as much as we could; we’d go into their homes, which were often just mud huts with almost no electricity, no running water. We’d try to develop that community to bring revenue growth, education, teach classes on personal hygiene, teach them to brush their teeth, wash their hands, how to properly care for themselves.”
Some of the teams set up schools for girls and women, which had never been done in the male dominated culture. Because every community had different views, Red Bear said things went well if the men allowed them to help but if they didn’t, “We respected their culture. Sometimes it was up to the elders of the village.”
During her time in the rural areas of Southern Helmand Province of Afghanistan, Red Bear said, “It felt like biblical times. Goats, camels, donkeys were their vehicles of transportation. There was a lot of farmland but we were only about a five minute helicopter ride from a large base.”
While Red Bear said she never faced danger, danger was always a possibility. “We were at wartime with Afghanistan. There were explosive devices, and we encountered this lot, but no one got hurt when I was on patrol. But a lot of squads did.”
Through her experience there, Red Bear built relationships all over the world and US. “I wouldn’t trade that experience for anything. It was hard, and there were times I felt I couldn’t go on. There were times where we didn't eat and I didn’t shower for weeks on end. It was a struggle but I loved every minute of it, and I would do it again in a heartbeat,” she said.
Now that Red Bear is home she is grateful for things she never before appreciated. “Coming back made me grateful for a lot of simple pleasures. I am so grateful for flushing toilets, running water, and having the opportunity to take a shower everyday...and electricity! I never realized how hard it was to live without electricity!”
All of the challenges gave Red Bear the strength that comes from having a direction, knowing where one fits in, and having strong convictions. “It’s all about wanting to better yourself. I have a drive now. The Marine Corps changed me because I never had a purpose. I didn’t know where I belonged, I was rebellious. After belonging to such a big family in the Marines, I feel like I fit in and I have a hunger to better to myself. It matured me in more ways I can think of.”
Red Bear said, “I grew up with nothing. My mother was single with two children, and we moved to reservation when I was four. At age 9, I was sent to foster care for three years. I hardly saw my family and was in and out of group homes where I was beat up and my stuff was stolen. It was a survivor environment, and at age 12, I knew I never I wanted to go through that again.”
Having gone through so much, losing friends and family to drugs, death, and alcohol, Red Bear knew she wanted more in life. “In high school, we lived in a lived in a one room cabin and I worked three jobs. I did everything I could but mentally, I couldn’t deal with it. And when the opportunity came I took it, and that is another reason I joined the Marines.”
Red Bear smiled and said that now her mother has bragging rights. “She is so proud of me! And I have my benefits, I have myself, I have my will, I have my car, I have a great family, and I make her proud every single day. I want my grandmother to smile down on me and I know she is, and she is getting me through it.”
Looking over the impact the Marines has had on her, Red Bear states, “I grew up in the Marine Corps. In those four short years, it showed me the world and gave me every opportunity to better myself. If I take anything away from this, it’s that it doesn’t matter what you do in life; as long as you want to improve, you will be successful. No one has the right to judge how others make a living for themselves. It’s all about knowing yourself.”
(Contact Christina Rose at christinarose.sd@gmail.com)
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