Native American Veterans | You Are Not Alone
Marcus: I went home and I told my mom that I wanted to join the Marine Corps, that I was going to become a Marine. Within the Native American cultures, I believe that or I actually see that not a lot of them give the initial support of being in the military.
Dan: I was treated differently because of the color of my skin, and once they found out that I was Native American, then the Native American stereotype jokes would come in. The racist jokes would come in and would just continue from then on.
Joe: One of the things about being Native American is that they call you chief. A lot of shit happened to you that tears at you. Leaves a scar on your soul.
Marcus: Being Native American, there was sort of this taboo mindset. There were a lot of things that wasn't being taught how to deal with internally about my experiences in the Marine Corps. Drinking was just an outlet for me that became too much of an outlet.
Shannon: I had issues that I needed to talk to someone about. I knew the intervention of mental health services was required really at a time when I couldn't manage it on my own.
Joe: To be able to talk with somebody, it helps you. I started going over to the vet center. I think I went there about 10 years after that. It had really helped because all of the guys sitting there were all veterans and they were all going through the same shit I was going through.
Marcus: I went to the resources that were there and available and said that I had an issue.
Shannon: It's like you have that tunnel vision and, depending on the support staff that you have around you, they're the ones that help you peel back those blinders to really see the whole picture.
Dan: You are not alone. There's another person who has almost gone through the same thing you've gone through and reach out.
