NOVEMBER 7, 2024 – A little boy peers through the sea of people, vibrant shades of red and yellow flooding his view as he carefully makes his way toward the heart of the powwow. The earth feels alive beneath his feet as the ground pulses rhythmically from the vibrations of the drums and grass dancers stomping their feet in the distance. He continues to press forward, excited to get a closer look at the sacred spectacle before him.
“I remember wanting to be a part of it,” Air Force Staff Sgt. Wayne Lufkins, a flight instructor for the U.S. Air Force Honor Guard, said, sharing his childhood experiences with powwows. “The regalia, outfits, the colors, feathers, the drums. I remember the imagery being so beautiful and a lot to take in.”
As a young Native American boy growing up just outside of the largest U.S. reservation, Navajo Nation Reservation in Gallup, New Mexico, his rich heritage shaped his identity by instilling a passion for music and a deeper purpose for honoring the resilience of his ancestors.
Lufkins spent a small part of his childhood as a grass dancer. Grass dancing is a well-known Dakota Sioux traditional warrior dance with participants wearing grass in their belts to look like scalps.
“My biggest draw to being a dancer was the music,” he said. “Whenever I would hear the drumbeat, I could feel it shaking the ground. It was like the music was alive and dancing around me.”
Just as his love of music shaped a large part of his identity as a young boy, the influences of his family history played a significant role in further expanding his character and values as a young man.
“The military has been intertwined with my heritage long before I was ever a thought,” Lufkins recalled.
The heritage he speaks of is Navajo from his mother’s side and Dakota Sioux from his father’s side. Dakota Sioux people are known for being warriors and semi-nomadic. Navajo people are referred to as hunter-gatherers and were banned from speaking their native tongue by the U.S. government from the late 1800’s until the 1990’s.
This connection to military service is rooted in his family history. Lufkins’ grandfather served as a code talker during World War II, a role that played a crucial part in safeguarding communications during the war. Navajo Code talkers transmitted secret coded messages over the radio and telephone and participated in every major Marine Corps operation in the Pacific theater, giving the U.S. a large advantage.
Lufkins’ grandfather, George “Willie” Boyd Sr. served as a code talker in the Marine Corps and was awarded the Congressional Silver Medal in 2021. He served during the Invasion of Okinawa and was honorably discharged July 26, 1946.
“My grandfather did not disclose to us that he was a code talker until he was 72 years old. He planned to take the secret to the grave as he was sworn to secrecy,” he said of his grandfather, who passed away Dec. 5, 2017.
This legacy of courage and resilience has played a large role in Lufkins’ understanding of his own identity.
Lufkins describes his childhood growing up adjacent to the Navajo Nation Reservation as “privileged.”
“I remember some people on the reservation didn’t have power and the resources were scarce,” he recalled.
He grew up in a house just a few miles away from Navajo Nation Reservation with his mother, a retired nurse who worked there. He remembered his grandmother visiting often and most of his trips to the reservation were centered around visiting his grandmother who still lived there.
“She was always grumpy,” he reminisced with a smile. “She was usually in the kitchen making mutton stew or frybread.”
Those two dishes were fond staples of his childhood.
When an Army recruiter came to his high school, Lufkins immediately felt drawn to the military mission. In addition to honoring his grandfather’s legacy, the idea of job security and the opportunity for travel piqued his interest.
“My grandfather was a major reason I joined the military,” he said.
On July 5, 2015, Lufkin shipped off to Air Force Basic Military Training.
“I was only 17, I felt like I should have waited,” he recalled, referencing the culture shock he experienced during basic training.
Lufkins grew up in a community space where everyone looked like him and understood the cultural context of his environment. The contrast of being the only Native American in his dorm and flight was jolting. Native Americans only make up 0.9% of the Air Force and Space Force population according to the active duty fact sheet current as of Sept. 30, 2024.
“I felt so out of place,” he remembers. There are currently [fewer than] 3,000 Native Americans serving active duty in the Air Force and Space Force.
He recalled feeling excited when he came across Airman 1st Class Isaiah “Dovaah” Herder, an Air Force honor guardsman who has Hopi and Navajo heritage.
“I remember telling a Native joke and I heard a chuckle from the back of the room,” Herder said in reference to his first time coming across Lufkins. “That made me feel like I had a community. It felt like a little piece of home.”
After arriving at his first unit and realizing just how little the Native American community is represented in the military, Lufkins began to feel a larger sense of pride in his heritage. This reverence was deepened when he shared that his grandfather was a code talker, and he was offered the opportunity to tell more of his grandfather’s story.
“I realized the gravity of the role my grandfather played in WWII and his story deserved to be told,” he stated.
He now hosts annual presentations for Native American Heritage month where he talks about the Navajo Code Talkers and their influence.
Lufkins still has a strong affinity for music as he did in his childhood and hopes to finish his military career and then pivot to owning and operating a live music theater. Embracing the rhythm of both his past and future, he has learned to harmonize his passion for music with the pride of serving his country.
“I am proud to wear this uniform. I am proud of where I come from. And I am proud to be who I am,” he said.
By Air Force Airman Shanel Toussaint