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Indigenous peoples as far north as Wyoming and Idaho may have begun to care for horses by the first half of the 17th Century, according to a new study by researchers from 15 countries and multiple Native American groups.A team of international researchers has dug into archaeological records, DNA evidence and Indigenous oral traditions to paint what might be the most exhaustive history of early horses in North America to date. The group's findings show that these beasts of burden may have spread throughout the American West much faster and earlier than many European accounts have suggested...To tell the stories...

In the Northeast woodlands the most feared and hated nation was the Iroquois — especially the Mohawk and Seneca. The Algonquian speaking nations and Iroquoian speaking Huron were particular enemies of the Iroquois. In the 1640s, the Iroquois unleashed a virtual genocide on the other Nations of the region, one that was not quickly forgotten. The Ojibwa defeated a number of the Iroquois incursions and ran the Sioux out of their forested homeland onto the plains. The Ojibwa (Chippewa and associated bands) occupied more land than any other tribe ever has from Manitoba to Indiana and took over smaller tribes...

Jurors considering the political money laundering case against former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay on Tuesday delved deep into the evidence, but asked so many legal questions that the judge warned them that they were getting off track... DeLay had with him a copy of Empire of the Summer Moon, a recent nonfiction book about the Comanche people and their famed chief, Quanah Parker, and a TouchPoint Bible that allows readers to find Scripture relevant to their lives. "No demons, nor angels nor DAs can keep you separated from the love of Jesus Christ," DeLay said, playing off of...

Comanche’s last war chief, Quanah Parker It’s not every day you can lean on the dining room table that once belonged to the Comanche’s last war chief, Quanah Parker, and wonder if your feet are going to crash through the floorboards. The table that once hosted Teddy Roosevelt and Geronimo is now surrounded by a house that’s collapsing due to lack of funds and lack of will power.

I'm a history buff, especially when it comes to Texas. A pal of mine told me I should read this so I bought it a couple of years ago I guess, just got around to reading it this past fall. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

The 16-year-old girl’s once-beautiful face was grotesque. She had been disfigured beyond all recognition in the 18 months she had been held captive by the Comanche Indians. Now, she was being offered back to the Texan authorities by Indian chiefs as part of a peace negotiation. To gasps of horror from the watching crowds, the Indians presented her at the Council House in the ranching town of San Antonio in 1840, the year Queen Victoria married Prince Albert. ‘Her head, arms and face were full of bruises and sores,’ wrote one witness, Mary Maverick. ‘And her nose was actually burnt...

Johnny Depp has been made an honorary member of a tribe in New Mexico, where he is playing a Native American in the film adaptation of "The Lone Ranger." Comanche Nation tribal member LaDonna Harris said Tuesday that the tribal chairman presented Depp with a proclamation at her Albuquerque home on May 16. She says the Comanche adoption tradition means she now considers Depp her son.

The language of the Comanche people, a lifeline of its culture, is fading fast. Its muted vowels and sapient cadence once echoed throughout the fenceless grasslands of the South Plains, but today it can muster barely a whisper... With a recent $215,000 two-year grant from the Administration for Native Americans, they'll shoulder the task on modern technology and a new generation of Comanche students eager to learn their ancestral tongue. "Its important for any language to have its say, to be documented," Williams said. "It's interesting for Comanche because it rose to dominance on the South Plains so quickly, then...

He became a legend in the Army, as well as in his native Comanche tribe in Oklahoma. Charles Chibitty, 84, the last of the Comanche “code talkers,” died July 20 this year in Tulsa, Okla. He also reportedly was the last hereditary chief of the Comanche, having descended from the great leader, Chief Ten Bears. “Code talkers” is the term used to describe Soldiers from various Indian tribes who communicated on radios, telephones and telegraph during World Wars I and II. They spoke in their own languages and dialects, many of which were not written down and all of which...

The current Stryker brigade combat team lacks the joint C4ISR, firepower, protection, mobility and organic logistical support to be a full-dimensional war fighting organization and its operational utility will continue to be limited to peace support or paramilitary police operations. A glance at the Stryker brigade in Northern Iraq provides ample evidence for this statement. The Army's senior leadership wisely decided to keep the Stryker brigade remote from the scene of the action in Central Iraq where the lethal quality of close combat might inflict serious casualties on it. Frankly, in peace support operations, the block III LAV with its...

<p>WASHINGTON — The Comanche (search) is out. Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (search) and nuclear-tipped bunker busters (search) are in.</p> <p>The weapons are just three of the armaments affected by the Pentagon's plan to transform the military from one designed to fight Soviet armies in Europe to one that can target terrorists worldwide.</p>

  Aviation unveils life without Comanche By Sgt. 1st Class Marcia Triggs Editor's note: This is the twelfth article in a weekly series on the 17 Army focus areas. This one focuses on "Army Aviation." WASHINGTON (Army News Service March 30, 2004) – The Army’s aviation fleet is undergoing a total overhaul, and the main priority is increasing survivability to protect the aircraft and the Soldiers it carries. In the near future, helicopters in Iraq, Afghanistan and Kuwait will be equipped with Ballistic Protection Blankets, Missile Approach Detectors, Countermeasure Sets and Radar and Laser Detecting Sets, a Pentagon official...

The Army shoots down its helicopter. IT'S AN AXIOM IN WASHINGTON that government programs never die, and they don't fade away either. Instead, they invent new rationales to perpetuate their existence ad infinitum. So it was rather stunning when, last Monday, the Army announced the cancellation of its prized $39 billion Comanche armed reconnaissance helicopter program. Credit the dramatic about-face to the Army's new chief of staff, Gen. Peter J. Schoomaker. The former head of the U.S. Special Operations Command was brought out of retirement last August by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld to shake up an Army many observers think...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. military has put off accepting new Black Hawk and MH-60S helicopters built by Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. until it fixes a "systemic manufacturing problem" on its production line, a U.S. Navy report said. The report is dated Feb. 24, one day after the Pentagon announced it was scrapping the $39 billion Comanche helicopter built by Sikorsky, a unit of United Technologies Corp., and Boeing Co. The report from the Navy program office comes amid a fierce competition between Sikorsky and Lockheed Martin Corp. to build a new presidential helicopter. Stripped bolts, leaking gearboxes, bolts insufficiently tightened...

<p>EARLIER this week, the U.S. Army scored a victory for our national security and the American taxpayer: It killed the Comanche attack-helicopter program, a $40 billion legacy of the Cold War.</p> <p>It was a tough decision. Over two decades, billions have been spent developing the Comanche. Had it gone into production, it would have been the finest attack helicopter in the world. And the Army had a deep emotional investment in the system.</p>

<p>The Pentagon announced yesterday that it is canceling the Army's program to build a new helicopter after spending about $7 billion in development costs.</p> <p>The cancellation of the Comanche helicopter is the second major Army weapons system killed by the Bush administration. The Crusader mobile artillery gun was halted in 2002 after $2 billion was spent on it.</p>

<p>WASHINGTON — The Army has decided to cancel its Comanche helicopter program, a multi-billion project to build a new-generation chopper for armed reconnaissance missions, officials said Monday.</p> <p>The contractors for Comanche are Boeing Co. and Sikorsky Aircraft Corp.</p> <p>With about $8 billion already invested in the program, and the production line not yet started, the cancellation is one of the largest in the history of the Army. It follows the Pentagon's decision in 2002 to cancel the Crusader artillery program — against the wishes of Army leaders.</p>

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Defense Department is scrapping the $38 billion RAH-66 Comanche helicopter program being developed by Boeing Co. and United Technologies Corp., government sources said on Monday. The Pentagon plans to announce the decision on the armed reconnaissance and light attack helicopter, which has been in development for about two decades, at a news conference at 4:30 p.m., the sources said. The Pentagon has already spent about $8 billion on the project and had planned to spend $30 billion more. The cancellation, which could mean jobs cuts at Boeing and United Tech's Sikorsky Aircraft unit, follows the scrapping...

U.S. Army aviation is in for a shake up because of the success of UAVs (Unmanned Aerial Vehicles) and the expense of the new Comanche and the older OH-58 Kiowa helicopters the Comanche is to replace. Because new UAVs can be developed and fielded so quickly (mainly because you don’t have to worry about crew safety, since a UAV doesn't have a crew, unless you count the computer, which is not a recognized life form), the army is looking towards using more UAVs for scouting missions. The trend in UAV design is to have them work as wingmen for manned...

If Army leaders want to save the embattled Comanche helicopter program, they must learn from the mistakes they made during the recent Crusader controversy, Army officials in the Pentagon said. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld canceled the Crusader howitzer program on short notice, surprising Army leaders who thought he supported the program. Now published reports suggest the Army’s RAH-66 Comanche reconnaissance helicopter program may be next on the chopping block. Army leaders cannot assume that just because the requirement for a major weapons program seems obvious to them, it will seem equally obvious to their civilian bosses in the office of...