The following is part of an article on the National Pow Wow in Washington, from the Washington Post.
They call the drum "Desert Thunder."
A group of Native American soldiers and Marines stationed at an air base near Fallujah in western Iraq in 2004 fashioned the drum, stretching the tarp from a cot across the top of a 55-gallon barrel. They wanted to hold a powwow in the middle of the war zone, and a drum is an intrinsic part of the ceremony.
"We were missing our powwow," said Staff Sgt. Debra Mooney of the Oklahoma-based 120th Engineer Battalion of the Army National Guard, recalling the ceremony outside Fallujah. "In our hearts and minds, we were right at home."
It was an unforgettable night: "Usually, the faces of the soldiers are serious, focused and look older than they are," Mooney said. But that night, "they looked like young men and women again."
The makeshift drum was at center stage at Verizon Center yesterday, where the third National Powwow is continuing this weekend. On opening day, veterans of the Iraq and Vietnam wars, some in military uniform, marched to the beat of drums as part of a tribute to the "fallen warriors" and to the troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/08/10/AR20070810021...
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