King: Life is bare bones on the Lakota reservation

CNN ^ | 8-14-2009 | John KIng

[normanpubbie]

CHERRY CREEK, South Dakota (CNN) -- The tiny one-room house rests on a hill; no electricity and no running water. A creaky metal cot and a rusting wood-burning stove is all the comfort Herbert Hale says he needs. (SNIP) He is 54 years old, a veteran of two Army combat tours in Vietnam...

[normanpubbie]

The reason I posted this article is the statement that this man was 54 years old with two combat tours in Vietnam. Seemed awfully young, so I did some figuring.

Giving this man the benefit of the doubt, say his birthday is next month. That would mean he was born in September 1954.

The last American troops were out of Vietnam in March 1973. Assume that he was the last American to leave, that his first tour was the standard length and that the second tour was a six-month extension. I would consider that two tours.

John Kerry and Al Gore both spent five months on their combat tours in Vietnam. But for the 2 million American men and women who served honorably in that conflict, a tour was 364 days and a wakeup.

So if Mr. Hale spent 18 months in country and left in March of 1973, he would have to have arrived in August or September of 1971. In September 1971 he turned 17. Adding another 4 months for boot camp/basic training and advanced training, he would have to be 16 1/2 when he entered the service. He must have lied about his age.

Sure he did.

You had to be 18 to register with the Selective Service (for the draft). And for volunteers, recruiters insisted on seeing proof of birth that you were at least 18.

I strongly support anyone who has served in this country's military, and especially those who saw combat service. But I have no use for people who would falsely claim military service or combat experience.

[goodnesswins]

Add RESERVATIONS to the list of FAILED GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS....like Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, the Post Office, and on and on and on....

[70th Division]

Nice math dude!

You don’t expect a reporter to actually do their home work in this day and age, do you? It is easy to write a story from your desk. LOL I went in at 21 in 1968. I am 62. You are right on. He is about 8 years too young.

[lady lawyer]

It is amazing that these places have existed for as long as they have, but the people who live there have not started any enterprises of their own.

[mainestategop]

I had a video about government controls on reservations. Unfortunately Youtube removed it. (hmmm I wonder why?) More proof that government fails always.

[lady lawyer]

Strike that. Some tribes have casinos.

[Melchior]

The people should move to North Dakota and the Fort Bechtold Indian Reservation where the tribes are sitting on top of the Bakken float and a fortune in oil.

[SirJohnBarleycorn]

“Herbert Hale shrugs when asked if Washington has a responsibility to help his struggling community.”

The country is drowning in debt, and CNN is still pimping us out for more welfare clients.

[geologist]

another excerpt from the article of reference ...
__________________________________________________________
“”It is bad,” he says of the area's economic plight, walking a visitor through the gravel streets where many residents, idle because of the lack of jobs, are sitting out front or shout out a greeting from inside their small homes.

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To spend a day crossing the reservation is to see a place stunningly beautiful and seemingly forgotten all at once, small, poor communities tucked into the hollows of western South Dakota's Cheyenne River Reservation. The poverty is all the more striking because of the richness of the setting: green and golden rolling hills, roaming horses and cattle, and tall corn and golden sunflowers sprouting from the fertile soil.

“Ziebach County is the No. 1 county statistically with child poverty,” he said. “Now that alone is generational, with the trauma of poverty and the broken family.”

Breaking that cycle is Bryce In The Woods’ obsession. He highlights a bright spot: A building in the community converted to a makeshift classroom and library where residents can get tutoring help and then take the GED -— the high school equivalency exam.

“It is so difficult,” he says of the challenge facing younger reservation residents. “Some of our young people join the services, the armed services, some of them go to college or apply to college,” Bryce In The Woods told us. “The majority, if they are staying here, end up moving to Rapid City or some of the bigger cities to try to find employment.”

In Eagle Butte, the largest community on the reservation, a bustling construction site is a new source of pride.

A medical center is under construction, thanks to funding from the Obama administration's stimulus plan, and Bryce In The Woods says about 65 construction-related jobs so far have gone to tribal members.

“At this point I am very appreciative of what we have received,” Joseph Brings Plenty, the elected tribal chairman, says when we ask if the stimulus funding is enough. “But as far as expectation, I can say no. There would be a lot more need to be fulfilled by the U.S. government for our tribe before I can say yes ...”
_________________________________________________________

IT is an outrage how the Department of Indian affairs steals most of the money in bureaucracy, etc. The Indians receive a pittance ... at best.

It is a national shame! ... that they continue year after year, to steal (legally and illegally) the funds meant for the reservations.
Veterans are poorly appreciated by our government. Ask some of them. It is the old ... what have you done for me lately attitude of the government. The worst of it is the money is there for them ,,, it is simply appropriated to themselves and their friends in unethical ways. MOO

[Alberta's Child]

For some reason I feel a need to post a link to some off-color humor about Indians . . .

David Chappelle on Native Americans

Warning: LANGUAGE

One of the funniest stand-up comedy bits you'll ever see . . .

You know who I feel real bad for? It's Indians. Everybody feels bad for Indians; they get dogged openly -- because everyone thinks they're dead.

These motherf#%&ers are not all dead, all right? With my own eyes I've seen a gathering of fifteen hundred Native Americans. They were all gathered in one place . . . the place is called Wal-Mart in New Mexico.

ROFL.

[goldfinch]

You had to be 18 to register for the draft, but you could enlist younger with your parent's permission, which he probably did. I would not doubt his story without some proof. Native Americans have pulled their weight in the United States Military for many years. They enlist in greater numbers than would be average for the population.

That said, it is impossible to write an honest article about life on a reservation without addressing the problems of alcoholism and drug addiction...especially the meth problem. This ‘journalist’ is too PC to do that..

[normanpubbie]

From the article, it seems that the Lakota tribe could be doing a lot more to help its members.

It's telling that the people King quoted in the article think that most of the solution to their problems is for someone to give them more money. That apparently is CNN's position, too.

Here in Oklahoma, tribal attitudes are much different. Amost all of the nearly three dozen tribes in the state do operate casinos (which produce a lot of tax revenue to the state), but most also operate traditional for-profit businesses. For example, Cherokee Nation Industries makes hardware for our military. Several tribes also have aggressive homebuilding programs and even furnish local communities with fire and emergency services.

[happydogx2]

I saw the headline and did the calculation too before I saw your post.

I’m 60 1/2, did a tour and a half in Vietnam (69-70) and had just turned 19 when I got there in April of 69.

Math doesn’t add up for this guy.

[William Tell]

SirJohnBarleycorn said: "The country is drowning in debt, and CNN is still pimping us out for more welfare clients. "

What was it called? "The soft bigotry of low expectations"?

If somebody had offered me beer money after I got out of the service, I might be living like this guy too.

[TangoLimaSierra]

You don’t expect a reporter to actually do their home work in this day and age, do you? It is easy to write a story from your desk. LOL I went in at 21 in 1968. I am 62. You are right on. He is about 8 years too young.

Could be simply lied to the reporter. He looks pretty rough.

[normanpubbie]

It isn't just that this man is telling tall times about his wartime experience. It's also that the reporter didn't do his job, which includes checking out what he is told.

King is 45 years old and has the title of Chief Network Correspondent for CNN. No doubt this fable will be on King's State of the Union program when it airs.