By Mari-Alice Jasper, Fort Campbell CourierJune 19, 2015
FORT CAMPBELL, Ky. -- A cadence of rocks banging against flint accompanied by the scraping of a blade along the bark of red elm branches echoes throughout a pavilion down by Lake Taal as Soldiers work tirelessly to make their own bows, arrows and arrowheads.
Across the street, in a grassy field, Soldiers are trying their hand at a traditional Native American weapon -- the atlatl and dart -- and inside Wohali Pavilion Soldiers can be found learning how to tie their own nets and cordage from raw materials.
All of these demonstrations were overseen by professional instructors who visited Fort Campbell this week for the Practical Application of Traditional Technologies Workshop.
About 20 Soldiers were selected to participate in the workshop. These Soldiers were given the opportunity to interact with professional demonstrators during four sessions spanning over two days.
The workshop came about as part of an agreement between Fort Campbell and the State Historic Preservation Office of Kentucky that was made as mitigation for the destruction of nine historically significant archaeological sites on base.
In order to balance the loss of these sites, Fort Campbell is responsible for maintaining a website, filming a documentary and holding this workshop in order to educate the public on the history of the Native Americans who inhabited this area.
Ron Grayson, Fort Campbell's Cultural Resources Program manager, said this is the first time anything like this workshop has been done at Fort Campbell, but the state has found them to be successful at other installations.
"This was something that was a suggestion from the State Historic Preservation Office of Kentucky," he said. "They have done something similar at other Army installations where they brought traditional technologies in for Soldiers with the idea that they could learn something practical that would help them in their military duties."
The destruction of these sites is an adverse effect of a new range being built on 245 acres of land located in the North Impact Area. Grayson said usually archaeologists would visit the identified sites and evaluate them to determine their historical significance, but given the possibility that unexploded munitions could be present they were unable to safely complete the procedure. So far, about 1,700 archaeological sites have been identified on base, but only 25 have been deemed historically significant.
"One of the reasons the state thought this would be a viable solution is because a lot of times looking at a video, website or reading a book doesn't impart any kind of appreciation," he said. "But actually going out and being hands-on and understanding these things helps people understand better. Not only the archaeology, but also traditional cultures that are still in existence."
The workshop was divided into four sessions: flintknapping, bow and arrow, atlatl and dart, and plant selection and cordage. Frank Otero, a Shawnee by ancestry and a member of the Piqua Shawnee tribe, has been teaching people how to make traditional bows and arrows for more than 25 years. The Shawnee tribe is native to Western Kentucky. Otero said the Soldiers from Fort Campbell he has instructed have been attentive and passionate about their work.
"With just a few simple instructions they get the job done," he said.
By the end of the workshop each Soldier is expected to bring home an atlatl and dart, a bow and arrow, an arrowhead and a small net they crafted themselves.
Staff Sgt. Alexander Kranda, said he was impressed with the skills the Soldiers were learning because of the potential impact it could have on their survivability while deployed. A Soldier in HHC 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division, Kranda said this type of training would be paramount for any type of survival situation a Soldier may encounter.
"The first thing that struck me about this program is that it is a lot of the things that we think we are going to be learning in certain schools that we already have in the military, like Ranger school," he said. "But they don't actually teach that stuff anymore … how to start a fire, how to build a bow, how to do all of these procedures."
Kranda said this type of training produces not only short-term and long-term benefits, but also creates a confidence level among the trained Soldiers.
"The long-term benefits are the training value and just being able to apply these skills in a combat environment," he said. "God forbid we didn't have the resources that we are so used to at this point and it also gives us a certain level of confidence that if technology fails we can still complete our mission."
Kranda said he planned to join in on some of the sessions held later on in the day at Wohali Pavilion.
"This has been great and I hope that we can do something like this again in the future," he said. "We really need to do more of this training for our Soldiers."