Retired Lakota soldier honored at U.S. Army Women's Museum

By: Bobbie Whitehead

FORT LEE, Va. - As a soldier in Iraq, Theresa Blue Bird found the spiritual and mental strength she needed to survive the harsh conditions there. Then, assisting in running a U.S. Army Departure Air Control group in Iraq, Blue Bird helped many of her Army brothers and sisters on their final journey to the United States.

As the soldiers left, Blue Bird burned sage and prayed for them, she said. ''Some of the men and women were mentally falling apart, just being there in Iraq,'' Blue Bird said. ''After I started burning sage and praying, I truly felt I had so much spiritual and mental strength hardly nothing bothered me.''

A retired jumpmaster and staff sergeant with the Army's 82nd Airborne Division, the 42-year-old was honored recently in an exhibit in the U.S. Army Women's Museum at Fort Lee during American Indian Heritage Month. Blue Bird's exhibit remained open until Dec. 15 and will likely become part of a permanent exhibit at the museum once it expands, said Francoise Bonnell, museum education curator.

Still in Iraq, though unable to state her location, Blue Bird retired from the Army three years ago after 20 years of service and works for a contractor now.

As a soldier, Blue Bird fought in the Iraq war, participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom at Al Taquddum, Iraq, with the Task Force All American.

To honor Blue Bird for her service in the war, members of her Oglala Sioux Tribe from the Pine Ridge Reservation presented her with a warrior blanket in 2004 - an honor typically given to male members of the tribe.

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