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Desert Thunder, an all-Cherokee drum group. Al Taqaddum Air Base, Iraq, 2004. During the Iraq War, the 120th Engineer Combat Battalion of Okmulgee, Oklahoma, hosted a powwow at Al Taqaddum Air Base near Fallujah, Iraq, on Sept. 17 and 18, 2004, to offset pangs of homesickness. “The beat of the drum is a part of the heartbeat of a Native American,” said Sergeant Debra Mooney (Choctaw), who planned the event. Photo by Chuck Boers