Medicine Bags & Dog Tags
American Indians Veterans from Colonial Times to the Second Iraq War
Al Carroll
Published by University of Nebraska Press, 2008
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, perputuated 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 strenghts 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.
Al Carroll is Mescalero Apache (unenrolled), Mexican, and Irish. He is an adjunct professor of history
at St. Philip's College in San Antonio, Texas, and his articles have appeared in several contributed volumes.
(The text above comes from the inside flaps of the book)
Reviews
Alton (Al) Carroll teaches history at the Northern Virginia Community College
and seems to have a flexible attitude. The content of his lessons is not European oriented,
nor are his YouTube videos. This appears to be appreciated by many of his students.
Dr. Carroll can also be a bit disorganized at times, his students sometimes complain about this.
(RatemyProfessors.com).
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