Moses Brave Heart grew up on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, where he said it was difficult to find positive role models. Now he wants to be that role model and hopes that a religious accommodation to growing his hair long in the tradition of his heritage as an Oglala Sioux will help him spread that message.

“The mindset is that in order to be successful and have a better life, you have to get away from the reservation,” Brave Heart, a South Dakota National Guard specialist, told Task & Purpose. “You have to move out of your house. That’s what a lot of people do. So where are all the models? It’s as simple as seeing a young native driving a nice car. I want to give this hope to the youngest. Like, ‘If he could do it, I could do it too.’

After high school, Brave Heart knew he wanted to begin a career in law enforcement and saw the military as a path to that career. But wanting to stay close to home, he decided that joining the National Guard would be the best route.

“You can get the benefits and so on, and still volunteer for the deployments,” he said. “But my goal was to be a good role model by coming back and showing other Native Americans that I could have a good life. This is why I insisted on this accommodation.

Brave Heart began pushing for an accommodation in October 2022 and it was approved in May 2023. It has been a year since growing it.

In the context of housing, extended to a handful of Indigenous soldiers and Air Force Airmen, Brave Heart is subject to the military’s female grooming standards for hair length and style. He may also wear traditional Sioux head decorations for army portraits, including an eagle feather.

The Sioux add feathers for important life events. Brave Heart wears one, which he received when he graduated from high school.

“I get some weird looks, and I expected that because it’s not normal to see a man in uniform with long hair. I see this as an opportunity to tell them about our culture,” Brave Heart said. “We view it as an extension of our spirit, that’s what I always tell them. The only time we would cut it is if we lost a loved one. Ending this relationship would be part of the grieving process. And what we do with it is either burn it or bury it.

Brave Heart said the Army’s grooming standards were improved when his mother’s brother died a few months ago, while his hair was still short – too short, he said, to even be cut when of a ceremony for the death of his uncle.

When he joined the Army National Guard, in 2020, Brave Heart said, he gave little thought to the hair requirements.

“I knew I wanted to work in law enforcement and the military, and at the time I thought I could only do it with short hair and that’s how it had to be ” he said.

He spent four years in the North Dakota National Guard before transferring to the South Dakota Guard’s 235th Military Police Company in April.

He began looking into a religious waiver after hearing about Connor Crawn, an Air Force Security Forces Airman. who received religious accommodation for his Mohawk Nation heritage.

“I contacted him,” Brave Heart said. “You know, if the Air Force could do it, why not?”

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He also credits another North Dakota guard, Captain Nathan Johnson, for helping him push the home team forward.

“What really pushed me was that I wanted to wear the uniform and also express my culture, and long hair is important in all Native American tribes,” Brave Heart said in a statement. “So being in the military and being told, ‘Be all that you can be,’ well, that’s a part of me, and Captain Johnson was really enthusiastic and supportive in helping me get that .”

When news of his accommodation spread on social networksHe said, there was a predictable amount of negative comments, mostly from soldiers from past eras. But a voice surprised him.

“I had an uncle who was in the Marines,” Brave Heart said. “He was one of the people who kind of pushed me back on it. He told me, you know, “you should stay disciplined!” And he was one of my role models growing up.

But he has no regrets.

“I turn all of this into noise because I am strong in my beliefs and my culture,” Brave Heart said.

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