Meg Jones

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Among the many care packages recently sent to soldiers serving at an American military base in Kuwait was a box filled with unusual cargo.

Not the beef jerky, candy, magazines or toiletries that come in the usual care packages. The one addressed to Pfc. Loretta Menchaca carried leather moccasins, leggings, a beautiful white dress, a colorful shawl and a beaded yoke to wear around her neck.

The Menominee tribal member from Keshena normally wears green camouflage U.S. Army uniforms while serving at Camp Buehring in Kuwait. But in late November, she dressed in the regalia mailed by her mother to dance at a Native American powwow at the base.

Menchaca was among eight Native American service members serving at Camp Buehring who either danced or played a drum donated by the Oklahoma City University's Native American Society at the powwow held to honor Native American History Month.

"When I dance it's an outlet for me to get away from the stresses I have in my life," Menchaca, 21, said in a Skype interview from Kuwait. "It makes my spirit happy."

Menchaca began dancing before she could walk. In fact, she thinks her first powwow was while she was still in her mother's womb. The 2016 Keshena High School graduate has fond memories of dancing at powwows in her hometown's Woodland Bowl, a scenic spot on the outskirts of the Menominee County community.

The last powwow she danced in Keshena was the veterans powwow in May, which will probably be the first powwow she'll have a chance to participate in when she returns home from her Middle East deployment.

While Menchaca competes in all three Native American dance styles — traditional, fancy dance and jingle dress — her favorite is fancy dance, also known as shawl dance for the colorful shawl female dancers use as they twirl.

"I like the fast-paced tempo and how flashy you get to be," said Menchaca, who has been a princess at Menominee powwows on three occasions.

Native American culture reveres its veterans and at powwows, the grand entry at the beginning is frequently led by veterans. And when an eagle feather falls from a dancer's outfit, it is considered a fallen warrior and four male veterans usually stand around the feather for each compass point and "protect" it.

Menchaca grew up seeing the reverence for veterans and once she completed basic training in the Army Reserves, she was allowed to participate as a military member.

"It gives me a lot of pride. When I was little I would see the vets and I told my mom one day I would be out there," said Menchaca, a member of Appleton-based 395th Ordnance Co. "I could see how proud people were of them and I wanted to be part of that joy."

Menchaca works part time as a security officer at Menominee Casino Resort in Keshena and is a member of the volunteer fire department. She is a culinary specialist in the Army Reserves but her job at Camp Buehring, a staging post in northwestern Kuwait for troops and material coming in and out of Iraq, is helping track convoys and paperwork for flight passengers.

Menchaca, who is on her first overseas deployment, chose to be a culinary specialist in the military because she loves to cook — she's known for her chili and Maple pecan cake.

"I miss my family a lot but I know I'm making them proud. That's what motivates me," said Menchaca. "I like being over here and experiencing a new country."

Menchaca has five dance outfits and asked her mother Joyce to send the white outfit because that's her favorite. She told her mother to leave her feathers at home but to send everything else. Among the items was a yoke with beadwork that took her mother and a friend a year to complete.

The package arrived a few days before the Nov. 27 powwow.

Joyce Menchaca also started dancing at a young age. When her daughter and son Ian, 26, were little, she wanted to instill in them her love for Native American dancing. They danced before they could walk. When they got older and began to learn the meaning of the dances, Joyce Menchaca started making their outfits.

"She really loves it. She takes pride in her heritage," Joyce Menchaca said in a phone interview.

She was thrilled to hear of her daughter dancing at a powwow in Kuwait.

"She had talked to me before and said it was Native American Heritage Month, they were doing something special and she wanted her dress," said Joyce Menchaca. "I said 'Oh, that's cool.' "

While soldiers from other states and tribes pounded a drum and sang, Menchaca danced a fancy dance and then the group of soldiers who attended the powwow — she estimates around 150 — were taught a couple of Native American dances. Those included a two-step, which is typically a couples' dance, and an intertribal dance where members of different tribes are invited to dance together.

Native American military members at Camp Buehring are considering scheduling another powwow in the spring.

"If that happens, I might have my mom send me a different colored dress," said Menchaca.