MARTIN BLACKBURN SR.

FATHER / TRIBAL ADVOCATE / VETERAN


Martin Blackburn Sr.’s Arapaho name is Warrior Scout. He was raised on the Wind River Reservation, and in the Pacific Northwest within a Catholic framework. He recalls asking his parents, “Shouldn’t we just be Arapaho?” His uncle, a peyote man, offered him guidance: “As long as love is there, respect it. But never forget your foundation—your roots of who you are.”

Martin joined the Marines, and carried his Arapaho identity—sometimes quietly, sometimes defiantly—to far flung places like Somalia, where he saw the chaos and desperation following the Black Hawk Down crisis. It reminded him of his people’s own historical suffering. “We were headed to the cliffs on a raid, and up there were the Somali people. When I looked at them, I saw us—my people. And here I was, coming at them like the enemy.”

When he got out of the Marine Corps he felt free but disoriented. He struggled without structure, with nightmares, adrenaline, and guilt. He buried himself in hard labor, but at night he sought the rush, drinking with other veterans. “My spirit was still in war.” It took more than a decade for Martin to seek help—through the VA, and through ceremony. He was cedared upon his return, but the real transformation began when he entered the sweat lodge and began releasing what war had left behind. Nowadays he does his best to live a good life in honor of those whose prayers kept him alive– “I'm here because of their prayers, and that’s what I tell them.”