Instead, Tina Snell's son offered himself as a present.
Tucker flew into Missoula this week from his home station in Baumholder, Germany. When he returns after the holiday, he will prepare for a second duty assignment in Iraq, where the all-wheel-vehicle mechanic has already survived mortar attacks and gunfire with the Army's 1st Armored Division, 2nd Brigade.
He remembers last New Year's Eve in Iraq, when he was playing cards with fellow soldiers.
"You go from having fun, then everything starts going off, you shut off the lights, and you just sit there and hope. It's all you can do. For me, my motto has always been never run for cover because I've seen what a mortar can do."
Tucker is one of nearly 4,500 Natives on active duty in the U.S. military. Of that number, two dozen have died in the war in Iraq.
While some like Tucker will return for a second tour, Marine Lance Cpl. Gharret Tall Whiteman, a combat engineer operator, is preparing for his first deployment to Iraq in January.
The Christmas holiday is giving Tucker and Tall Whiteman a chance to spend time with family. Tall Whiteman, 20, arrived in Missoula on Monday for a 10-day leave from the Marine Air Corps Station in Yuma, Ariz.
The war doesn't frighten these two young Assiniboines from Montana's Fort Belknap and Fort Peck reservations, respectively.
It's their mothers who are worried.
As Tucker recounted stories of enemy fire, Snell sat at her kitchen table, both hands cupped under her chin, staring blankly and listening.
"He tells me not to worry or I'll get sick," said the woman who suffers from fibromyalgia, a disease associated with intense muscle pain and chronic fatigue.
Her nephew has been in Iraq and she knows he's suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome.
Tucker says he's fine.
Tall Whiteman's mother remembers his words when he told her he would go to Iraq.
"I'll make you proud. I'll make you proud," he said.
"That's not what I'm worried about," replied Valerie Forrest. "I just want you to be safe."
Vietnam veterans Al Yardley and Tom Camel - both former medics with the 173rd Airborne Brigade - know what it's like to be caught in a no-man's land when arriving and departing battle areas.
They arrived at Missoula International Airport to greet the soldier and Marine, to let them know they have a support network with the Warrior Society. But being Native doesn't automatically qualify one as a warrior.
Today, nearly every military member is called a warrior, raising the question, "What makes a warrior?"
Retired Air Force Lt. Col. Mara Cohen, an advisory board member for the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs' Minority Veterans Affairs Department, said it means more than wearing a uniform and following orders well; the warrior ethos is tied to an inward sense of responsibility.
"Being a warrior is not an ethnic piece," she said. "It's a state of mind. It's who you are. It's what you do. And how you choose to do it."
Tucker feels everyone should serve their country, or not complain about it. After five years in the Army, he plans to leave when his enlistment ends.
"I don't want to be one of those people you read about in the news one night," he said. "It's not that I'm scared. It's just that I really don't care to go out in some way that, you know - I don't like to be that surprised in life. I don't like the next thing I see to be a big flash of light."
Tucker has seen war.
Tall Whiteman is preparing for it.
He's fresh. When the self-assured man stepped into the airport lobby, he was greeted by more than a dozen friends and family. He shook hands, hugged aunties and ruffled the hair of little ones.
"A lot of people look up to you as a positive person," he said. "I have little cousins who say, 'You're awesome. You're all this and that. You're in the Marine Corps.' It's real cool to be a positive role model."
His fraternal twin brother, Clayton Tall Whiteman, plans to "kick it" with the Marine during the next week. They'll get some relatives together and play War Hammer, a war-style board game to which the twins have acquired more than 1,500 pieces since they were freshmen at Big Sky High School.
The real war zone seems a faraway place. But to look at the Marine is to look at Iraq.
"I'll miss him," said Clayton. "I don't want him going over there, but he chose to. It's his choice."
He paused: "I know he'll come back."
Reach reporter Jodi Rave at 523-5299 or jodi.rave@missoulian.com
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