"Never mind the Marines.
I've got to work the medicine."
In November 2005, about a year after enlisting and shortly before he was to be deployed to Iraq, Ronnie Tallman says he discovered — quite unexpectedly — a gift as a special type of medicine man known as a "hand trembler."
Such status is rare and deeply revered by the Navajo (Dine') tribe. Tallman says by tradition, his status as a healer rendered him unable to kill or harm, or even think negative thoughts, thereby making him unfit to continue with his commitment to the military.
Tallman decided not to return to his base in Twentynine Palms, Calif., and was deemed on "unauthorized absence" until he filed his application to be a conscientious objector, based on religious beliefs, in January 2006.
Months before his spiritual experience, during bootcamp, Tallman recalled how he felt when he heard chants that ended with new Marines shouting the word, "kill." He remembered being scolded as a boy for saying he would kill an animal, and wondered whether he could continue on with the Marines.
"It was emotionally tearing me apart because I didn't know whether to follow my heart or fill this commitment," he said in a phone interview from the California military base.
In his application to leave the military, Tallman wrote: "I had a very powerful experience where my left hand started to shake, and at the same time, an amazing feeling of calmness came over me ... My heart slowed down, and my breathing, and I felt peaceful.
"My hand kept trembling and I started to notice the energy in the people around me and I started to know things about them that I could never have known, things about their lives and what made them sick or in pain," he wrote.
Since his spiritual experience, Tallman has been sanctified as a hand trembler in a ceremony conducted by his uncle and grandfather. He then became a certified medicine man with the Dine Hataalii Association, a group of medicine men.
Tallman's mother, Nora, said she's proud of her son for standing up for his beliefs and looks forward to him joining other hand tremblers on the reservation.
"Our medicine men, some of them are getting too old, and some have gone," she said. "And we do need medicine men to help people. ... It's a good thing that he got this gift."
Such status is rare and deeply revered by the Navajo (Dine') tribe. Tallman says by tradition, his status as a healer rendered him unable to kill or harm, or even think negative thoughts, thereby making him unfit to continue with his commitment to the military.
Tallman decided not to return to his base in Twentynine Palms, Calif., and was deemed on "unauthorized absence" until he filed his application to be a conscientious objector, based on religious beliefs, in January 2006.
Months before his spiritual experience, during bootcamp, Tallman recalled how he felt when he heard chants that ended with new Marines shouting the word, "kill." He remembered being scolded as a boy for saying he would kill an animal, and wondered whether he could continue on with the Marines.
"It was emotionally tearing me apart because I didn't know whether to follow my heart or fill this commitment," he said in a phone interview from the California military base.
In his application to leave the military, Tallman wrote: "I had a very powerful experience where my left hand started to shake, and at the same time, an amazing feeling of calmness came over me ... My heart slowed down, and my breathing, and I felt peaceful.
"My hand kept trembling and I started to notice the energy in the people around me and I started to know things about them that I could never have known, things about their lives and what made them sick or in pain," he wrote.
Since his spiritual experience, Tallman has been sanctified as a hand trembler in a ceremony conducted by his uncle and grandfather. He then became a certified medicine man with the Dine Hataalii Association, a group of medicine men.
Tallman's mother, Nora, said she's proud of her son for standing up for his beliefs and looks forward to him joining other hand tremblers on the reservation.
"Our medicine men, some of them are getting too old, and some have gone," she said. "And we do need medicine men to help people. ... It's a good thing that he got this gift."
"Never mind the Marines.
I've got to work the medicine."
mr damon, 23:33
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