>>Manuel: I actually left my army cap at home, but I still had this one in the truck, so -- Old Glory’s good.

>>Kelly: We're wild, like, we're the last wild people of the world.

There are so few of us, when you go into the military, you're less than 1% of the population.

When it comes to any race, by per capita, we serve the most.

We have 300+ veterans, that have served from our community alone.

Native Americans, they've been here thousands of years, defending our homeland, defending our people.

It's always been within us.

When we leave home, to go into our service, we carry with us, these songs of our people, >>Anderson Sr: I come from a long stream of warriors.

I remember last warriors that I talked to.

They are former Code Talkers.

I said, “Grandpa, how can I get into the Marines?” And he said, “Well, you can sign up, go sign up.” Running is a part of our culture you get up in the morning, you run to the east before the sun gets up.

Go meet the day, go greet the day.

Give your thoughts and prayers in the morning.

>>Dawes: So every morning, I always started out, even when I was in Afghanistan, Iraq, I went outside my tent, prayed in the morning, offered, my Tádídíín [corn pollen] I took my little Tádídíín pouch with me everywhere.

I had it on my vest, tied up on the side And, you know, I just want to feel home.

Just want to remember our traditions and remember, our people back home.

>>Begay: When we leave home, to go into our service, we carry with us, these songs of of our people, of your family.

When you're away, your family, you know, they offer their prayers, they offer these songs for you.

So no matter what you carry them with you.

[Navajo Peyote song] >>Billiman: My history goes all the way back to my dad's grandfather.

His name was, Navajo Charlie.

When he was about 14, around 14-13 years old.

He went on the Long Walk to Fort Sumner and the reason why he went was to look after his family.

His mom, his grandma, and his elderly.

When he went to Fort Sumner, he was there for four years.

So, when they released the Navajos, when he came back, he was he was a young man.

He was about 18.

And that's when he -- got hired on as a scout.

>>Kelly: Grandpa was a Marine, but that was like in the 1920s-1930s.

Even that was like one of my motivators to not join the military, because my grandpa was in for like five-six years and he was still a private.

You look at it like that, it's like, man, we weren’t even [expletive] human to them.

Like, that's how the military looked at us.

>>Atole: We come from a warrior society.

You know, we're Apache even like in today's military, they still use some of t he Apache war tactics, cover and concealment different types of things, like ambush raids and things like that.

A lot of it is still taught in the military.

Those are things that were taken from Native American -- like I said, war society.

>>Neher: When my dad talked to me he said, “that's the Apache way.

That's the warrior mindset you need to have.” And even more so, when I got deployed to Afghanistan.

My dad, he -- I know he worried.

He's a father but he also -- knew that his daughter was going to be okay because he taught her those traditional teachings.

>>Manuel: A lot of our Elders, like our Medicine Men, back in my younger days, we had a lot of them.

When I was going to the military, they prayed for me and gave me the blessing that, things would be positive for me.

>>Lynch: Everything that I knew about the Marine Corps was something that I loved as a kid.

You know, you play guns, you play war.

I did all of that.

All of that.

You know, and then playing in the in the wash area, the ditches.

>>Estevan Jr: I grew up here at Acoma.

I was the first one in my family to go into college.

And while I was in college, I had gotten drafted in ‘66.

My dad came and told me that I had gotten a notice from the Draft Board.

That I was going in, and he already -- got me -- my bag of clothes to go.

So therefore, I left that same afternoon.

They shipped us over.

There was 32,000 soldiers on that ship.

>>Cata: The captain came on the one emcee speaker, He says, “Men, we just got orders.

and we’re going to Southeast Asia, Vietnam.” And I said, “What?” [Both Laugh] We got there the next afternoon, there was a lot of people on small boats with their families trying to say, “Americans, Americans, help us, help us!” But we couldn’t help them.

And you know that that stuck with me.

Because you’re seeing those people that are just like me, brown.

>>Anderson Jr: I'm a grandson of the Code Talkers.

I just kept it to myself.

But the Drill Instructor, was the one that, told the whole platoon.

He said, “Hey, guess what?

We have a celebrity here in our platoon.

So I looked around myself, I says, “Every time I hear about a celebrity, I always think it's a white guy.

They said, “Private Anderson, come up here to the front.” “Yes, sir!” “If any of you here in this platoon ever go to Vietnam, I know the Chief is going here.

They always call me, "Chief".

>>Estevan Jr: Hey, Chief.

>>Manuel: They used to call me, "Chief."

And, you know, I used to call them Rainbow Bread.

You know, [Laughs] because they're white.

>>Anderson Jr: He said, “The Chief is going to Vietnam.

I know that.

So, any of you that are going to Vietnam from this platoon, I want you to protect him.

I want you to take care of him.

He's a very important man.

He comes from a very important Nation, the Navajos."

>>Charlee: When I was growing up, the idea, the message to me was, you go out, you leave the reservation and you don't come back.

But nowadays, it's been a cultural resurgence to where it's cool to be Native American again and to have that Native pride and to go out and you still travel and you had them skills.

But also, don't forget where you come from.

>>Neher: When you grow up on the Rez, you see all of the cycles that occur.

I wanted something more.

I wanted to see what the world was about.

They did a Warrior Ceremony before I actually left for Boot Camp.

To understand the weight of what I was getting into that I carry my people and my culture with me along the way.

>>Dawes: I was a brand new private and I was scared and we ended up, killing two KIAs, in Afghanistan That was, that was life-changing for me.

We had to stay there and secure the area.

Laying there, at nighttime looking at stars and wondering and thinking about my family back home on Navajo Land.

The environment is exactly the same as the reservation, here, the Cedar trees.

They butcher sheep.

And what brought me back home was that when we would continue our mission the next day, the cedar trees were catching fire from all the mortar rounds, the RPGs and that's where you can smell a lot of that cedar.

And I felt like I was -- like I was back home.

That fear that I was having, it just kind of just went away and I was back to normal, you know, I felt like, like a little rez kid, back to my normal self, back to my roots.

So I ended up going to the nearest tree and taking a lot of the cedars -- crushed them up and put them in a little bag.

And I put it in my ammo pouch.

So every time I went on a mission, I ended up burning cedar, you know, and praising myself and blessing myself and praying even for my family back home.

>>Billiman: I remember my nalí man he did that, protection prayer and that Blessing Way Ceremony and he took me out to the Four Sacred Mountains, and he put it in a bundle and he gave it to me, he said, “Wherever you go, carry this with you.” >>Attakai: There’s things we have to do before we go through these stages of life, of our service, our military service.

The Navajo way, the traditional way, and then, of course, the military, combine and join.

[Navajo song] >> Billiman: I carry that Tádídíín in that medicine bundle with me everywhere I went.

So we go to Iraq, and we're, we were in Iraq.

And in the beginning, they didn't know what it was.

They would see it.

And finally one guy asked me, “What is that?” I told him that I have all that on me, you know, and they believed in it, man.

Like, seriously, a lot of those guys, they wanted to ride with me on convoys.

They wanted to go with me on patrols.

And then when we would leave, they were like, “Hey, you got your, you got your medicine bundle?” I said, “Yeah.” They said, “All right, we're good man.” And seriously they would exhale.

I don't know what happened, but that medicine bundle I couldn't find it.

I went outside to my Humvee.

I looked in there, backtrack, come back, and finally one guy asked me, “What are you looking for?” And I told him, and he freaked out.

He's like, “What!

?” So he started looking for it.

And then, I think I had like almost the whole platoon looking for it.

Like, everyone was looking for it.

It was it was crazy, man.

They believed it.

They seriously believed it, man.

And of course, that next day is when I got blown up.

>> Nattakai: Native women, are the strongest on this world.

They don't take crap from nobody because a woman makes the warriors.

>> Charley: You know, Navajo women like, we can handle anything just as much as the next man next to us.

Navajo women are tough.

You know, I come from a long line of bold, strong, women.

>>Neher: Women as warriors, that's who we are, as moms.

We keep everybody together.

We keep everybody in line.

We instill those teachings, so they have a good life and a future.

>>Waseta: As a woman, and especially, a Native American woman, and having to have a balance in your cultural setting, we have a lot of responsibility on our shoulders.

Serving not only in the military but also serving at home.

>>Neher: When I was in Afghanistan, I was the only female in my squad.

I miss them guys.

We went through some tough times, you know, war bonds you.

And you understand that within the military, the -- the brotherhood of that.

But I understood differently from a woman's perspective.

And I think everything within my culture that was taught to me helped me embrace that role.

>>Begay: They are our warriors as well.

All veterans.

They all deserve that respect.

They all put their lives out there.

To protect this land and to protect the people.

>> Tortilita: A lot of people ask, “What did you miss from being in Vietnam?” My mother.

My mother -- was the one person that was missing from my life.

Grandpa said, "life isn't life without a mother."

And how true.

>>Estevan Jr: At one time, we got hit by mortar, and I didn't know that, that shrapnel had hit my helmet, and it went through my helmet.

My buddy, Angie, He said, “Hey, Chief, you're bleeding.” "Bleeding?"

I said, “I thought I was sweating.” So I took my helmet off, it tore some of my scalp off.

>>Lewis: I had a -- my assistant gunner was a machine gunner.

He got hit right below his helmet, and he -- lost his life.

In my arms.

I'll never forget that.

>>Anderson Jr: I want to ask the Navajo people and all the people throughout the country that if you recognize any of these individuals, which I haven't seen after Vietnam, I would like to see them again if they're still alive.

These are Navajos and different tribes.

If any of my warriors that you see on this picture is around, still living, still alive, let's get together, man.

I'll give you a hot cup of coffee.

Yeah.

>>Begay: Listening to the stories of these men and women, from years past and what they've encountered, gives us a look into the world that we do live in, you know, the past that definitely informs our future and how we can also serve in a different fashion.

>>Charlee: In 2021, a group called the Indigenous Nations Equality Team was created in the Air Force.

And what they do is they remove conscious and unconscious barriers for indigenous people.

And what that means is if you're an indigenous male, you can grow your hair out long.

And for me, as a Navajo man, I can grow my hair out And what that means to me is you can have the power with you.

Power from your ancestors, your spirituality, your experience, and having that close to you at all times, whether your home station or your downrange, that that just makes me even more resilient than I already am.

>> Yazzie: When I see Native Americans now in the military, it just makes you proud that they're serving not only for their tribe, not only for themselves, but for their state.

>>Yazzie: One of the things that I've realized in my military service is that I'm doing this not just for myself, but I'm doing it as a representative of who we are as a people.

>>Neher: As I went through and I served, you know, you kind of hear all this talk of, your signing up for white man's war.

You know, that's not necessarily what I think indigenous people think.

If you were raised traditionally and culturally, you know, you’re fighting for your people too.

>>Dawes: Five and a half years in the Army and it was one of the greatest experiences.

I don't regret it one bit.

>>Manuel: One thing that I have that nobody can ever take away from me, I'm a Native American Veteran.

>>Attakai: It's not given to you, but it's something that is w hole.

To fight for freedom.

For you want good for everything.

Not just for yourself.

>>Dawes: And I'm very proud to be a veteran for the United States and for my people back at home.

>>Charley: There's a lot to say thank you for, for their sacrifice.

>>Lewis: I'm glad I'm here and represent the tribe and my fellow veterans.

>>Billiman: I think it all goes back to k'é [family] Take care of each other.

That whole kind of like, clan system.

You know, we take care of our own.

We watch over our own, you know, that respect and then going into an army unit its the same thing.

You know, it's like a family.

>>Neher: My dad used to tell me this story, Be that bear that goes to the other side of the mountain, go up to the top and see what's on the other side.

Listen to the hum, the drum beats, it reminds you of home.

Just like our clans, they say learn your clans.

So learn your songs and you'll never be far from home.

>>Anderon Jr: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

>>Tortilita: Anything else?

>>Begay: No, that was great.

Thank you, thank you.

>>Paytiamo: They consider me a Golden Shellback, because I went across the Pacific twice.

>>Lewis: If you want to see what a Silver Star represents, you can Google it.

>>Estevan Jr: They call them Jolly Green Giants, the Marines.

>>Lynch: We're the biggest in our head.

In our heads.

So, yeah.

>>Begay: We'll get Morgan Freeman to voice over this thing.

[Laughs] >>Kelly: Everybody's like, man, you're crazy.

Like, eating MREs is crazy.

>>Atole: I like the greasy food, the fry bread.

>>Dawes: We find our way back to our camp and I was like, “I told you, I knew where I was going.” You just gotta listen to the little Indian kid.

[Laughs] [Jemez Pueblo Flag Song] >>Begay: Hello, my name is Ryan Begay.

I'm from the Navajo Nation.

Family’s from Pinon.

I grew up in Flagstaff and I’m an Air Force veteran.

Here we're at the New Mexico Veterans Memorial.

It's a real special place.

Got to do some of the interviews here.

Spent some time here with our veterans.

Of the documentary, it was really -- It was a great day to spend here.

And there's just such -- there's such a wonderful group of folks, supporting the film to come out here and lend their space to the film too.

There was a lot of moments where, you know, the veterans really, took the time to open up a little bit more about their service in certain ways.

you know, some shared with us the -- why they went, their personal stories, about why they enlisted.

And then also their journey back home, was very indirect -- ways of getting back home.

People had to take their time to adjust -- back to civilian life, but also back to Native life, to their, tribal communities.

So that was, very special to hear those stories, I was searching to do something about the Navajo Code Talkers, and, there were just, you know, come to find out, there's a lot on the Code Talkers, you know?

And me being a veteran myself, you know, it was just kind of apparent that, that story, you know, those stories, those experiences, weren't told.

But what I found out along this journey was, you know, a lot of people, a lot of, veterans were influenced by and motivated by the by the Code Talkers.

So I kind of went down that route.

And since it was mainly based here in New Mexico, I want to expand it out to other tribes.

To get that cultural, perspective of, you know, the various perspectives, from our veterans.

And it is it's very different, you know, while, you know, of course, the Navajo veterans are really motivated by Code Talkers.

You know, a lot of Marines and, you know, Army going, Navajos go into those branches.

You know, the Jicarilla and the, have their own reasons.

You know, they have the culturally.

You know, they speak about it to themselves.

And, same with the with the pueblos, you know, Acoma Pueblo.

The gentleman who spoke with us there, are of an older generation, a lot of the Vietnam veterans and, you know, they had a different experience, you know.

But they still maintain their cultural ties, throughout.

So that was, that was just really special to see the different, different ways we all connect back home.

The documentary is about -- how our culture informs our service.

You know, like, like many of us, we go into the, the veterans, we go into the service.

Outside of the the the folks that were drafted.

You know, we chose to do this.

Myself was, you know, I wasn't ready for college.

I don't know what I want to do, but, you know, I knew where I wanted to be after the military.

I knew I wanted to do engineering, aerospace.

So that's the path I took.

And that's the choices I made when enlisting.

Honor Song is, about how culture informs our service.

How we carry it with us, whether we're stateside or we get deployed overseas.

It's very much, an understanding of of how we remain connected.

You know, while we're away, how we, continue to protect ourselves and and think of others while we're -- doing our jobs in the service.

Like, the whole documentary itself is -- just an education piece of, you know, that we are still here.

We serve.

We serve -- because we love the people.

We love this land.

And we care about it, you know?

This fighting spirit that kind of remains within us.

you don't understand it until you're there and you realize that this is the path that was always supposed to go down.

You know, and, so those were really great things to explore and understand more.

A lot of these veterans that we spoke to, you know, their -- their understanding of it exceeds my own because I was just I was learning about it for the first time.

But these, you know, some of these guys, you know, they sit with it.

They sit with it and they think about it.

And that's part of how we grew up, you know, like, we would we would sit and think about how your actions, you know, are affected you.

Are going to affect you, how they affect other people.

I look back on mine too, after after this documentary.

And I think, you know, I was supposed to be there.

I was supposed to do this film.

I was supposed to have an understanding that, you know, you know, we care for the people because that's who -- that's why we do it, really, and the title, Honor Song, comes from, people providing a song to our service members, or just someone, from our community.

I'm not very musically inclined.

I'm not, you know, not so much of a singer, but, you know, I do filmmaking and doing this film, is my Honor Song to our service members and our community members.

You know, who have that spirit of community and and heart.

But I also -- what's very underlying within the film are the songs within it.

these songs that I've taken, I've used, you know, some of them are from the veterans themselves.

You know, they, you know, they were able to lend their voices to it.

And so you'll hear that when you watch it again.

You can hear these songs.

I really try to mesh both of them together, the traditional and the and the contemporary military, you know, try to give an understanding of how they connect We had to speak about that aspect of the female veterans, taking on that, that service position.

And you hear them talk about it and it's not so looked upon positively, in some communities.

But we had to speak about it.

You know, they're not out there -- on a majority ready to go into battle.

You know, they're, they're looking specifically at what they can do that keeps them, in what they know, you know, taking care of one another, taking care of -- their fellow service members, and then going home and doing the same thing.

Watching out for the community, you know, and that's and that's really what it, what it comes down to and why, a lot of the women tend to serve, too.

They're like, we come from strong women.

We come from a community, women that take care of their communities and their families.

And it's no different when we go into the service, you know, we take care of them.

We treat them like our families.