29-Oct-07 2:00 PM CST

So You’ve Never Staffed A Weekend?

At the July 2007 Warrior weekend, we had a staff of 44 initiated Warrior brothers.
Included on the 44-man roster were seven men from my Tuesday night I-group: Steve
Abramowitz, Abel Dimas, Andrew (Mac) Hopkins, Lewis Jones, Steve Miklos, Bill
Nelson, and yours truly. The youngest man on the July staff was in his early 20’s, the
oldest man was 75 years young. The July staff were wild men who knew how to work
and play, and they also evolved into very wise men.

We started about four weeks prior to the July weekend, and chose to give up our
weekend with family, beginning on Thursday night, and arriving at the Land of my
Grandfathers by early Friday morning. Some men had to take off work and take a day of
personal vacation, in order to be time-accountable on Friday morning. I (we) chose to be
on time, because life has its consequences for being late, or not showing up, especially on
a staff of initiated men. Where have I heard that before?

In July our staff container was tight, and each man chose to pay a fee of $100 to
staff the weekend; the men of service also chose to give up their time and money to serve
and support the July staff and our new brothers. We all made a covenant to support the
work of the initiates; when asked we played roles in the life of an initiate, the good, the
bad, and the ugly.

So, each man on the July staff gave-away a piece of his life; what did we receive
in return? Well, this weekend was a very special place in time that can never be repeated.
We were led by point leader Gene “Gifted Eagle” Perry, a leader who is willing to share
his wisdom, his vulnerability and his love for this work. We heard teaching pieces from
Evan “Defeated Buffalo” Daily, who traveled from Jackson Hole, Wyoming, to give
away his time and energy. Evan stated his personal passion: how this work is vital to save
civilization as we now know it. As a staff we learned leadership skills from Greg “Bold
Lion” Gondron, Robert “White Buffalo” Killeen and Ken “Ancient Hawk” Rogers.

The vast majority of staff men are not therapists or medical doctors (except for the
medical men who will remain anonymous), although many staff men have taken
advantage of leader trainings led by Gene Perry, and John and Rhonda Gaughan, and
Robert Andrews, and we have learned leadership skills and life improvement skills that
have aided us in allowing initiates to do their work and get what they came for. Staff men
have a collage of real lives: white men, black men, married men, single men, gay men,
straight men, Catholics and Jews, executives and clerks and cooks. In many ways we are
street smart; we have lived our mistakes and walked through our pain, with the support
and love of our Warrior brothers. My intention is to live my life fully, and by the grace of
God have fun and a blast doing it, until I pass over and become an ancestor. For now, I
am complete in being an ancestor-in-training by staffing Warrior weekends and taking an
active part in our community. In doing so, I have the opportunity each weekend on a
small circular carpet in the staff kitchen to touch both my shadows and my gold.

Initiated men of the Texas community: if you have not staffed a weekend, I judge
the train is pulling out and you’re not on it. Sign up men you love and be there to witness
a miracle when your father, your brother, your son, your partner, your friend suddenly
sees the light at the end of the tunnel. Be a witness to a miracle when your father takes a
look at how to live the rest of his life; to really, finally, learn how to grow up. For me, it
was an honor, a joy-filled time in my life, to see my two sons and my two sons-in-law
step onto the carpet and do their work. My family has become a band of brothers; we
have carried each other into and out of deep, deep pain and we continue to support each
other. And the real gift is that I am modeling unconditional love for the next generation
of children in our family of origin. Also, I must report that Annie, my 11-year-old
granddaughter, shared with me recently, “Papa, you’re doing pretty good at saying, ‘I
love you’; however, you need work on doing your make-ups.”

The staffs from the June and July 2007 weekends are the dearest friends I have
known in my 68 years on this planet; they are dedicated, hard-working New Warriors,
truly the bedrock of this planet and of my life. By staffing a Warrior weekend, I am
witness to other staff men doing their work. One has never lived until one has witnessed
and been part of staff clearings, real life in action, men speaking their truths. On another
staffing weekend in June 2007, Martin “Crazy Hawk” Lassoff set the reigning world’s
record for processing an entire staff doing one continuous clearing in the smallest allotted
space. I love these men and they love me, they have seen both my gold and my shadows,
and the staff still accepts me for who I am, a wounded healer of men.

By attending leadership trainings I have been taught how to allow initiates to do
their work, and not the work we think they should be doing. Staff men have learned to
leave our egos at the door and allow initiates to do their work and get what they came for.
My want and my wish is for more men in our community to step up and become part of
something truly special. The New Warrior Texas community has been a big part of my
continuing growth journey. Therefore, I encourage you to step up, sign up, show up.
What do men do? Work, work, work; play, play, play.

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Source: Tom “Papa Bear” Halloran