Lisa Whiteface, a member of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, said she chuckled after being assigned to the 7th Regiment of the U.S. Army.

The unit is associated with the 7th Cavalry, which was defeated by Lakota and other Indian warriors in the famous Battle of Little Big Horn. "The reality of it is there: the history, the past, but I don't dwell on it. I'm here to serve in the United States Army," Whiteface tells The Rapid City Journal.

Whiteface, 29, joined the Army National Guard when she was 20. She now attends Black Hills State University and plans to go to law school.

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Soldier mindful of ancestry (The Rapid City Journal 8/1)