Members for new Veterans Advisory Council take oath of office

Posted by Christopher S. Pineo | Apr 21, 2016 | News |

WINDOW ROCK

Navajo veterans now have a group of advocates going forward as the Navajo Nation transitions a 41-year-old department into a 21st Century administration.

Five men and four women read along with Navajo Nation President Russell Begaye before signing their oath of office on April 18 as members of the Navajo Nation Veterans Advisory Council to the newly-established Navajo Nation Veterans Administration under the Office of the President and Vice President.

The appointment installed members to the advisory council established under the Navajo Nation Veterans Act, when it passed the 23rd Navajo Nation Council on Feb. 13.

Begaye said the members have their work cut out for them.

“It’s not just about attending meetings,” he said. “It’s just not about going to conferences, going to training and orientations about this or that. It’s about rolling up your sleeves, and saying, ‘This is what we need.’ You guys are veterans, and you guys know what the needs are.”

Navajo Times | Donovan Quintero
Anderson Tullie holds his right hand up as he is sworn into the newly formed Navajo Nation Veterans Advisory Council Monday in Window Rock.

Begaye stressed the importance of two major issues facing the veteran community of the Navajo Nation – housing and healthcare. Multiple times during the meeting he said the advisory council should work to make the phrase “homeless veteran” no longer a relevant phrase on the Navajo Nation.

He made an analogy between writing the Navajo veterans into the law and sewing a thread into a blanket. He gestured as if he had a loom in front of him, and he were inserting a thread into it.

“You put a line in there, you put a thread in there, you put a yarn in there, and it has veterans in there,” he said.