Medicine Bags and Dog Tags: American Indian Veterans from Colonial Times to the Second Iraq War

by Al Carroll

As far back as colonial times, Native individuals and communities have fought alongside European and American soldiers against common enemies. Medicine Bags and Dog Tags is the story of these Native men and women whose military service has defended ancient homelands, perpetuated longstanding warrior traditions, and promoted tribal survival and sovereignty. Drawing on a rich array of archival records and oral traditions, Al Carroll offers the most complete account of Native veterans to date and is the first to take an international approach, drawing comparisons with Native veteran traditions in Canada and Mexico. He debunks the “natural warrior” stereotype as well as the popular assumption that Natives join the military as a refuge against extreme poverty and as a form of assimilation. The reasons for enlistment, he argues, though varied and complex, are invariably connected to the relative strengths of tribal warrior traditions within communities. Carroll provides a fascinating look at how the culture and training of the American military influenced the makeup and tactics of the American Indian Movement in the 1960s and 1970s and how, in turn, Natives have influenced U.S. military tactics, symbolism, and basic training.

296 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 2008

About the author

Al Carroll is Assistant Professor of History at Northern Virginia Community College, teaching American, American Indian, and Latin American History. He also taught at Arizona State University, San Antonio College, St. Phillip's College, and Hasanuddin University in Indonesia as a Fulbright Scholar.
His other books are Medicine Bags and Dog Tags: American Indian Veteran Traditions from Colonial Times to the Second Iraq War and Survivors: Family Histories of Colonialism, Genocide, and War. His next books will be Ira Hayes: The Meaning of His Life in Native Memory and White Stereotypes, an alternate history work Confederate Tyranny, and A People's History of Texas. He is a longtime activist and researcher for NewAgeFraud.org.

Reviews

[Iraqwarvet · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book after coming back from Iraq. Knew quite a few American Indian vets. This really helped me understand why they joined. I thought they were crazy. This country ahs treated them like spit, or something that rhymes with spit. And yet they join. Now I know they join for their own reasons and fight for their own reasons. I had no idea just how big and powerful being vets was as a tradition of theirs. If you want to understand Native vets, this is the book.

[Michelle Boyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful overview of American Indian participation in wars, and how these images have been twisted by white America to fit a narrative that just is not correct. Very informative. The most moving chapter is the one dedicated to Lori Piestewa.

[John Martine · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book for giving me an understanding of a topic I knew nothing about. I thought I don't know enough, so why not use others words, see what the reviews have to say:

"Al Carroll has written a cogent, readable, scholarly, and comprehensive study of Native American veterans from a Native perspective." Gretchen Healy, Tribal College Journal

"An interesting and provocative book, Medicine Bags and Dog Tags succeeds in providing an Indian perspective on military service and its effects on cultural renewal and perseverance." Thomas A. Britten, Great Plains Quarterly.

"[This book] should be in the hands of not only Native but non-Indians veterans and service groups, in order to better understand why we serve, fight, and die in the service of the United States, and how best to honor Native soldiers and veterans." Debra Utacia Krol (Salinan/Essalen), Native Peoples magazine.