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S MOKE S IGNALS
JULY 15, 2018
Veterans share stories to heal during sixth annual summit
By Dean Rhodes
Smoke Signals editor
During the second day of the sixth
annual “Veterans Summit: Gath-
ering of Warriors” held at Uyxat
Powwow Grounds on Thursday
and Friday, July 5-6, a “Managing
Trauma” panel discussion refl ected
the year’s theme – sharing stories
to heal.
Moderated by Veterans Affairs
Portland Healthcare System Clin-
ical Psychologist Dr. Sarah Suniga,
a panel featuring four veterans
shared stories of trauma experi-
enced while serving in the military.
Army veteran John Courtney
talked about being an infantry offi -
cer who served one tour of duty in a
combat zone. “Once in combat, but
once was enough,” he said.
Army veteran and Willamina
resident Roberta Davis discussed
being a victim of military sexual
assault and the long time it took
before she mustered the courage to
fi le a claim with the U.S. Depart-
ment of Veterans Affairs. Davis’
harrowing story was featured in
last year’s Smoke Signals coverage
of the Veterans Summit.
Air Force veteran Raylene Thom-
as (Warm Springs) also discussed
being a victim of sexual assault
while serving and the aid her
friends provided to help her deal
with the trauma.
Marine Corps veteran and Yaka-
ma Tribal member Victor Ganuelas
empathized with the stories and
discussed his work at Camp Chap-
arral, a week-long cultural immer-
sion experience held on restricted
grounds of the Yakama Indian
Nation to help veterans suffering
from post-traumatic stress disorder
and drug and alcohol abuse.
The panel’s consensus advice for
those who want to help suffering
veterans: Be available to listen
without judging or trying to make
it better.
The panel followed a 35-minute
presentation from Suniga, who
discussed trauma and PTSD.
Suniga said the military works
well in conditioning its members
Photos by Michelle Alaimo
Vietnam War-era Navy veteran Charlie Tailfeathers (Cree/Blackfeet) discusses
the POW/MIA ceremony during the Veterans Summit: Gathering of Warriors
VI held at Uyxat Powwow Grounds on Thursday July 5.
to have only one response to the
deeply engrained fi ght-or-fl ight re-
sponse in human beings, and that
response is fi ght.
“This set of responses is hard-
wired into your brain,” Suniga said.
“You do not need any dress rehears-
al to activate this part of your brain.
It’s one of the oldest parts of your
nervous system. Some say that your
brain is the ‘Do not die’ organ. …
“When it comes to PTSD, because
of trauma, the stress response
system turns it up to a real high
volume and it becomes disordered,
meaning that response ceases to
be helpful. … Our nervous system
makes these changes which create
these long-term impacts on your
neuro-chemistry.
“The military works hard to make
sure that your stress response
system chooses only one option …
fi ght. The military also drives home
that everything is about the person
to the left or the right of you. Take
care of your battle buddy. Never
accept defeat. The military does
everything it can to override this
engrained response and they do
an amazing job, for the most part.”
However, Suniga said, it is im-
portant for veterans to under-
stand that they should not blame
themselves for their automatic
fi ght response, or automatic fl ight
responses or if they freeze during a
crucial moment.
“Recovery lies within you and it
lies all around you,” Suniga said.
“Recovery is possible. … At its core,
PTSD means you’re having a reac-
tion to trauma, and that’s about as
human as human gets.”
The sixth annual Veterans Sum-
mit started at 1:30 p.m. Thursday,
July 5, with an invocation from
Tribal Council Secretary Jon A.
George.
Nick Sixkiller, a Navy veteran
from the Cherokee Tribe in Okla-
homa, once again served as master
of ceremonies.
The Grand Ronde Color Guard
of Steve Bobb Sr., Alton Butler,
Richard VanAtta, Raymond Petite
and Al Miller brought in the U.S.,
Army veteran Roberta Davis, second from right, speaks during a “Managing Trauma” panel during the Veterans
Summit: Gathering of Warriors VI held at Uyxat Powwow Grounds on Friday, July 6. Also on the panel were, from left,
Air Force veteran Raylene Thomas, Army veteran John Courtney and Marine Corps veteran Victor Ganuelas. The panel
was moderated by Veterans Aff airs Portland Healthcare System Clinical Psychologist Dr. Sarah Suniga, right.
Oregon, Grand Ronde and POW/
MIA fl ags and eagle staff.
Welcoming remarks were de-
livered by Mitch Sparks, acting
director of the Oregon Department
of Veterans’ Affairs; Terry Bentley
(Karuk), Veterans Affairs West-
ern Region Tribal Government
Relations specialist; and Michael
Fisher, director of the Portland Vet-
erans Affairs Healthcare System.
“We are a proud nation who
serves in our military at a high-
er rate than anybody else,” said
Sparks, who is descended from the
Oglala Lakota on the Pine Ridge In-
dian Reservation in South Dakota.
“It’s really an honor and a priv-
ilege to travel through Indian
Country trying to help veterans,”
Bentley said. “I want to thank the
Grand Ronde Tribe for hosting this
event now for six years. It really
speaks well of the leadership in
Grand Ronde and their commit-
ment to their veterans and com-
munity.”
Fisher said the reason he was
attending the Veterans Summit
was because of his commitment to
outreach and being a better partner
in helping veterans heal.
Vietnam War-era Navy veteran
Charlie Tailfeathers (Cree/Black-
feet) discussed the POW ceremony,
which in previous years was acted
out with Air Force veteran Linda
Woods, who did not attend this
year’s summit.
Courtney, who sat on the Friday
“Managing Trauma” panel as well,
read three poems and discussed
healing from trauma. “Fighting
pain is like doing a long-distance
run,” he said. “You can’t sprint
through it.”
Martin Earring (Cheyenne River
Sioux/Oglala Indian) and Zandra
Wilson (Dine) from the National
Museum of the American Indian, a
Smithsonian Institution museum,
discussed its oral history project
in which interviews with Native
American veterans are being re-
corded as an adjunct to the Library
of Congress’ Veterans History
Project.
Earring and Wilson were at the
Chachalu Museum & Cultural
Center on Friday, July 6, to record
interviews with any Native Amer-
ican veteran interested in sharing
their story.
Thursday’s events also included
a session called “Honoring the Sto-
ries” moderated by Tailfeathers,
as well as a cultural sharing event
held in the nearby Tribal plank-
house, achaf-hammi, which fea-
tured singing by the Grand Ronde
Canoe Family.
The summit reconvened at 9:46
a.m. Friday with Bobb, chairman
of the Tribe’s Veterans Special
Event Board, giving the invocation
followed by Suniga’s presentation
on trauma.
Other Friday events included Liz
Estabrooks, Women Veterans coor-
dinator with the state Department
of Veterans’ Affairs, returning for
her third Veterans Summit to dis-
cuss intentional inclusion of women
when discussing veterans’ issues,
HEAL continued
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