BAIO- Beale American Indian Organization

When I returned home from Iraq in 2004 I attended a Pow Wow at Yuba College in Linda, CA. I had waited so long it seemed to attend a Pow Wow, being in Iraq and all. Actually there was a Pow Wow near where I was stationed but, I found out about it after it had already taken place. It turns out I was working during it anyways. While at the gathering in Linda, I saw several people I knew from previous gatherings and from church (Mary Roach). During the gathering there was a young woman who was being honored because she was being deployed soon to Iraq with the Air Force. In interst I went to talk to her about her future deployment and to wish her the best. It turns out that she belonged to a Native American Organization at Beale Air Force Base named BAIO. The organization had a drum named Yona Sdi Gi Da (I may get this wrong but if memory serves me right, the name is sort of slang for "Little bit of Bear" or "Little Bitty Bear") that belongs to the Honeycutt family. Le Honeycutt, BAIO's Elder, approached me and asked if I would like to join BAIO and be a part of the Drum. I immediately said yes.

I have always loved the sound of the drum and singers at Pow Wows.While serving a portion of an LDS mission in Philadelphia, MS (close to the MS Band of Choctaw Indians), I had a companion (Christopher Slack) who is Dine'. We instantly hit it off and had a mutual love of native things. He had sung with a drum group and taught me some of the songs he remembered. I loved it and ate it up. He even invited me to come out to NV (his home) and be a part of the drum group he grew up with. I was excited but never believed it would happen. Yet I still craved to drum and sing. Chris definitely helped me in making this become a reality.

Yona met almost every week at the Honeycutt's home in Lake Wildwood, CA to drum, sing and visit. When Le and Seth (Le's daughter) felt we were ready we went to Pow Wow's and drummed and sang. Actually my first time in public with the group was at the Annual Beale AFB, Native American appreciation month celebration. Yona had performed many times before I had come to the group, I am just telling the story from my point. Anikai and my daughters even came to practices sometimes and sang. They even came to a couple of Pow Wows. Those were the most fun. I even made the girls shawls for them to dance with at gatherings. We had lots of fun. I learned so much and gained great friends.

Sadly, our small but tight group started to break up. Mellisa and Jacob moved. Mellisa got married and Jacob was sent to Japan. Around late 2006, early 2007 the Honeycutt's and P.D. (Puppy Dog), moved to Oklahoma. Shortly after that Pat retired from the Air Force and moved back north east closer to home. Tawodi (Nick) came to practices when he could but always showed at the gatherings to help drum and sing. Tawodi also pursued his dream of becoming a lawyer while attending practices and gathering with Yona. That left Christine and myself to try to patch BAIO back together and get a group together that would be interested in drumming. Chris did most of the recruiting on base. A good number of people showed up to the meetings but, as always schedules conflicted and it was hard to get everyone together at the same time. In November of 2007 I moved off base and stopped attending BAIO meetings due to the little time I had already. Christine still works at Beale and lives in Wheatland and is the heart of BAIO. They are earning money in fundraisers on base and have plussed up their treasury of $5.00 that we horded for so long. Pat has become the expert drum maker and has connected more than ever to his culture. One of his recent drum he made, he gave to his brothers drum group. Their drum recently won a big contest at a gathering. I recently reconnected with Jacob on the Internet. He is still overseas and doing good. Tawodi has finished his schooling to become a lawyer. He is currently waiting to pass the Bar exam. Most of us still keep in touch through email every Friday, and the occasional telephone call.

I have been promoted to E-7 and given the position of Platoon SGT. Between family, job and the Guard, I keep very busy. I still drum and sing at home, although in odd places (the shower, bathroom, ect.).I will never forget the things I learned, friends I made or the fun I had, being a part of BAIO and Yona.

Native Ancestry

One year, when I was real young I remember getting a bow and suction cup arrow with a Sioux style feather headdress for my birthday. I also remember one of the older neighbor kids getting stuck in the eye with one of the suction cups. It's funny the things we remember.

When I was in high school I remember having a certain lack of motivation and purpose most of the time. I don't remember what year it was but my Dad talked with me one day and he asked me if I knew that we had Native American ancestry in our family. I was surprised but excited. Dad gave me an old book that he had when he was a young man. It was a book of Native American arts and crafts book by Ben C. Hunt. I occupied most of my free time and too much of the time I was supposed to be doing homework, with this book and other activities with my friends, Travis, Clint, Micah, Dave, Loren, Jason and Byron. We learned all we could with the resources we had at hand and from others about Native Americans and their culture. Our talents and knowledge grew overtime but, that is another story. Since then I have always had a big interest in any native culture.

I have not done much research to find exactly where the Native ancestral line lies on my Dad's side of the family. Good thing is, I have started working on my families genealogy. Slowly but surely. Other family members have done much more work on our family tree than I have. The word from Grandma Tiger (Medlar/Perry) is that our Native ancestry came from the Cherokee Nation.

My interest in native cultures continues still today.