White Hawk soars, becomes Air Force warrior

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Ruby Zarzyczny
  • 380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFPN) --  During the month of November we take time to recognize the contributions made by Native Americans to our nation's defense. Less than one percent of Airmen claim to be of Native American ancestry. 

Senior Airman Shiloh White Hawk, who is deployed here from the 1st Logistics Readiness Squadron, Langley Air Force Base, Va., is a full blooded Native American. His father is Sioux Indian from Montana, and his mother is Jicarilla Apache Indian from northern New Mexico. He spent most of his childhood growing up on the Jicarilla Reservation, spending his time outdoors hunting, camping, hiking and fishing. 

In 2003, he left the reservation to become an Air Force warrior. Now, he is a fuels distribution technician assigned to the 380th Expeditionary Logistics Readiness Squadron, petroleum, oils and lubricates. He can refuel any aircraft on the ramp to include tankers, the U-2 Dragon Lady, Global Hawk, E-3 Sentry and transient aircraft. 

"Senior Airman White Hawk is hard working and straight shooting," said Senior Master Sgt. Marc Lamontagne, 380th ELRS fuels superintendent. "He gives sound feedback and will tell you if something isn't right. I trust him to make sound judgments."

"He is a man of few words," he said. "but when he speaks his words count."

Before Airman White Hawk joined the Air Force, his only glimpses of society off the reservations were when he would stay with his father, in Cheyenne, Wyo., where his father attended a university, during Airman White Hawk's high school years. While he stayed with his dad, he would travel around the country to attend Native American cultural events. 

Airman White Hawk turned down a scholarship to the Southern California School of Culinary Arts to join the Air Force. He joined because he thought the Air Force had more to offer and that basic training was much easier than others made it out to be. 

"I thought it was fairly easy," said Airman White Hawk. "You get everything issued to you. You get clothes, food and a roof over your head." 

"Being stationed at Langley (Air Force Base, VA) was more difficult because it was the furthest I had ever been away from my home, and I didn't get to go back home to visit my family for quite a long time," he said. "My family is very important to me. We are a tight knit family, and there I didn't have any family at all." 

His family has grown since he joined the Air Force, and he now has a 7-year-old stepson, a 2-year-old daughter, and a 3-month-old son who was born during this deployment. 

"My fiance is Aztec Indian," said Airman White Hawk. "While I'm deployed, she is traveling with her parents around the country, Canada and Mexico with the kids, going to universities teaching people about the Aztec culture through lecture, dance, and drumming as part of the Tloke Nahuake 'Together and united' Aztec Dancers." 

"My little girl already dances with her mom," he said. 

His experience in the Air Force has changed his life. 

"I think I'm a lot better off in my life now than if I would have stayed home," said Airman White Hawk. "On the reservation there weren't a lot of choices available to me. I'm in the Air Force for life." 

Years from now after he retires, SrA White Hawk would like to return to the reservation. 

"I've always wanted to be on the tribal council to help our people back home," said Airman White Hawk. "The experiences the Air Force has given me, working together with others as a team, as well as the communication and the leadership skills I have learned becoming an NCO, are all skills I can use when I become part of the council to make positive change within the reservation community." 

His family supports him decision to join the Air Force, and Senior Airman White Hawk would recommend it to other members of his reservation. 

"When I lived on the reservation, I wanted change," said Airman White Hawk. "I needed something to wake me up. The Air Force gave me tools of responsibility and maturity."

Many people are curious about Senior Airman White Hawk, and he gets asked a lot of questions about his culture and heritage and tries to dispel the stereotypes he has encountered along his journey through the Air Force. 

"My dad told me how people can be toward natives off the reservation, and he taught me how to handle it," said Airman White Hawk. "In the Air Force, people have been curious about me, and some of them still think we live like we did in the past, but overall it has been a positive experience for me. I enjoy preserving my culture and talking about pow-wows, dance circles, grass circles because it is about the circle of life." 

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