Chief Warrior Bauman
By: Tommy Hexter
Tags: Veterans, Agriculture, News

Dwaine Bauman on Wednesday morning, 6/24/2020 with his military uniforms in the dirt road behind him. All photos in this article are my own.

European settlers invaded North America and destroyed and replaced an indigenous way of life. Most of us left here in Iowa are descendants of those Europeans continuing to follow on the path of that destruction. We may never claim to know the suffering or the spiritual beliefs of the indigenous people that came before us, but we may always strive to learn from them and care for the land as they did. Looking around, people of all races in tune with nature can see that what was once considered sacred land has been covered in profit-maximizing businesses that exploit people and the environment. We must begin to reconsider the effect of such practices on the physical and mental health of our land and citizens. People who do not accept the mold of our capitalist, divisive bi-partisan society are forced to the fringes, and can be so radicalized by the experience that they may take irrational actions. Dwaine Bauman is a friend of the regenerative farming community and a friend of the Earth, and today he has been painted by some as a madman who burned down his house for no reason. While he may have done something irrational, his whole action was driven by a deep, and true to his soul, desire to make the world a better place. May that not be in vain.

Dwaine burned down the house and farm that he rented in protest of Western models of land management and corrupt political oath-takers on Wednesday 6/24/2020 in the heartland of Poweshiek County, Iowa. I saw him at 7am on that morning, before Dwaine had any thoughts of lighting any fires, and he asked me in trust to tell his story. So here I am. Before I begin, I must explicitly state what Dwaine’s father Roger Bauman and I have discussed frequently over the last two days: although Dwaine was 100% correct about the problems of the world and wanting to fight for a great cause to fix it, the implementation of his passion was counter-productive and damaging to many people, the environment, and the cause which he stood for. Many of the beliefs Dwaine has about land stewardship and freedom from oppression are correct and virtuous, but the methods he used Wednesday to advocate for those beliefs was inappropriate. That being said, his life is not defined by the events of that one day, and therefore it is with all the honor of the world that I will share Chief Bauman’s story.

Dwaine Bauman is an honorably discharged veteran of the United States Air Force who served his country with pride and with honor during the First Gulf War. He told me about his time in the Air Force, and now, as a white man, he shared with me how he strives humbly to carry the same courageous spirit of the warriors of Native American tribes. He feels that the government that he served for most of his life, in traumatic conditions, has abandoned him, all the people of the world, and the land of Iowa that he loves. On Wednesday, he threw his medals and military uniforms out in the middle of the street and burned down his rented home, truck, barn, and nearly himself. He was taking a stand against all the governments of the world who have taken oaths to protect the life, liberty, and happiness of their citizens, but in reality value power, profit, and weapons over all of those things. Dwaine’s words on a sign out front of his property: “Governments of World: as a vet, do not think I don’t know what war to fight for.” Dwaine knows the entire world needs to change and he sees a better world out there in the future… and he realizes the only way it will happen is if people wake up and start changing it by governing themselves. Yes, that means you and I need to quit depending on others to make our decisions for us, and we need to start actually living and caring for the land and each other through our day-to-day choices.

Dwaine set up a whole slew of signs and symbols on the front of his property to tell his story.

I met Dwaine through organic gardening at Grinnell Heritage Farm last summer. Aside from Andy Dunham, Dwaine is one of the most skilled farmers I have ever had the pleasure to meet, and bar no one, Dwaine has the hardest work ethic in the entire world. Since he came back from the Gulf War, he has spent so many hours in physical harmony with nature and the land that he feels, and rightfully so, that his spirit is linked in with the soil. He is growing enough food on his small acreage to feed a small army, and doing it all organically with cheap, at-home materials. When he heard about a new hog confinement being proposed on the land he and his family have lived on for decades, he was inspired to raise a battle cry and stand in solidarity with the land and the people who took care of it before Europeans came and destroyed their way of life.

Dwaine grew up going to South Tama High School, near the Meskwaki Settlement, where he learned a lot about indigenous lifestyle and land ethics from his close friends there, who are members of the tribe descended from Chief Poweshiek. Poweshiek was a member of the Bear Clan of the Meskwaki Tribe who was known for both his warlike nature and his kindness. When Dwaine came back from Iraq he realized how diametrically opposed the U.S. government and agricultural systems were to his own beliefs. He simultaneously began to grow deeper and deeper into learning about indigenous land ethics. He was an officer of a KC-10 Unit in the Gulf War, and earlier this week he began referring to himself as Chief Warrior Bauman of Poweshiek Nation, fighting against all the “yellow-bellied oath takers” of the world who have let their land and people suffer. Although he has no Meskwaki blood and is not represented by the tribe, he desired more than anything to rid himself of Western culture to the point of getting rid of all his possessions.

Chief Warrior Bauman saw a Letter to the Editor I wrote to several papers around the state called “Hog-Stinking Iowa” and he called me on Monday 6/22 to tell me he wanted me to tell the story of Chief Warrior Bauman and Poweshiek Nation. I visited with Dwaine for the first time in nearly a year Wednesday morning 6/24 around 7am. He had his whole property lined with hay bales and huge painted signs protesting the government and new hog confinements. When I got there, he invited me on to his land — I would be the last person he willingly invited on before he burned it to the ground. He wanted me to write about his passion, tell his story, and connect him with indigenous tribes around the country to start a movement where those who rightfully deserve this land begin to reclaim it. It is important to clarify that when I talked to him, he expressed no forethought about burning down his house later in the day: in fact, he was beginning to plan peaceful gatherings on his farm 2 weeks in advance. He wanted me to help him plan a 4th of July party to celebrate reclaiming land from industrial hands and invite any friends who were willing to help in the battle against industrial agriculture. He said it would be the first 4th of July with any freedom worth celebrating.

The last photograph taken of the house Dwaine rented before it was set on fire. Taken around 7:45am on 6/24/2020.

Ultimately, Dwaine really just wanted live a life with liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Having two hog confinements within one mile already and a third on the way in the next month is an infringement on that pure desire. I have seldom met anyone bursting at the seams with such a deep-seeded passion to live in a better world, one where divisive, capitalist governments and media are realized for what they are — a fragile house of cards or a sinking ship — where people can finally take some ownership and live in harmony with one another and the land. Indigenous culture did this for thousands of years before Western Culture began to destroy and dismantle their land and their lifestyles. Dwaine hadn’t slept for three days, and he told me he wouldn’t rest until all the people all over the world woke up, demanded reform, took their power back from all the nations, and started living from the grassroots again. Dwaine had gotten so far in touch with his spirit that he saw and felt how our freedoms as human beings were being stripped away by giving our daily livelihoods over to corporations, television, and government.

Now, that unfulfilled passion and longing for a better world certainly created a lot of tension in Dwaine. You may call that mental illness. I do not know for sure of any diagnosis Dwaine has. So, I will call it being awake to the true movements of your soul in a world where everything around us is being destroyed by corrupt politics and people that are too comfortable with the status quo. Either way, the feelings bubbling up inside Dwaine led him to feel completely isolated and paranoid about everyone around him. His passion for a better world meant he couldn’t trust anyone who was complicit or comfortable with the poison being sprayed on the land all around him, not even his own father Roger or son Dalton — although they are one of the strongest families I have ever known and he told me he loved Roger and his son Dalton more than anyone. The final time he left his property was with me around 8:15am on 6/24 to go pick up a Casey’s breakfast bacon pizza for his son Dalton’s 21st birthday. As they shared the pizza before the day unfolded, Dwaine and Dalton shared a special conversation together. Roger and Dalton understand Dwaine’s pain and longing for a better world, although they and everyone else involved do not agree with Dwaine’s way of expressing that. Dwaine had a hard time trusting anybody on Wednesday. And that means he certainly couldn’t trust anyone with a badge, a suppressed weapon, or a county-marked vehicle.

So when the cops came, as they were asked to do, around 2pm responding to a call about a threat Dwaine had made to a man who approached his homestead, the situation immediately escalated. Before I go any further, I would like to say that I am very grateful for the work of Sheriff Tom Kriegel and Crisis Negotiator Brad Cubit. They were admirable in the way they handled an incredibly difficult and literally explosive situation, using the training and the resources that were available to them. They, and all the other police involved, were both extremely compassionate to the family and everyone involved. That being said, I do believe that more can be done in situations involving mental health issues, to improve policing in our nation.

Some police cars stationed on the ridge a quarter-mile South of Dwaine’s position during the early-afternoon incident. Photo taken around 3:30pm.

Dwaine was dealing with mental instability and already paranoid about any person trying to approach his land. He called me at 2:15pm and left 15 text messages saying “SOS, Warrior Bauman in trouble. Come to the farm now.” The police officers blocked off all 4 roads approaching Dwaine’s property with 20+ police cars, state troopers, body armor, tactical gear, and suppressed rifles. Later, they would bring out the Jasper County tank. Unable to get through, I sat there with them watching Dwaine from afar. The police officers are trained and legally obligated to create a perimeter around the property and not allow anyone in. Since he was already paranoid about anyone entering his property, all of these police officers pulling up to create a barricade led Dwaine to become so steeped in his warrior spirit that he stripped bare-naked out in his yard, covered his body in war paint, and started shaking his a** at the police officers. I couldn’t make this stuff up if I wanted. The cops were up on the hill and Dwaine and his free spirit was dancing for them as they laughed. Knowing that I may have been able to potentially de-escalate the situation by talking to Dwaine, I begged the police to let me go down there to talk to Dwaine and get him to hand over his weapons and get some more professional help. Someone without a badge needed to share the compassion and pain that Dwaine was feeling at that moment. I would have stripped naked myself and gone and joined him. Of course, they could not let me enter the perimeter for my own safety. The sheriff bravely tried to go down there in his car and, since Dwaine does not like the police, he fired a round at the ground on his own property to defend his land. The sheriff retreated back to the main station.

At this point, Roger, Dalton, and I had already talked enough to the point where we had decided the police were not helping the situation. We figured the only way to calm Dwaine down was to have the police leave and try to send someone trusted out there the following morning to see if a conversation could de-escalate the situation. We reconvened one last time with the officers, who told us to call them if we needed any help, and then the whole group of police, family, and myself headed out around 4:30pm.

Around 6:00pm, Dwaine put his truck out in the middle of the road and set it on fire. I am not sure why he did it — I’m sure he will tell us one day — but I can imagine at that point he had gone into full warrior-mode and wasn’t going to stop until he had made as big a scene as possible. He wanted to draw attention to the cause he fights for and grows food for. A neighbor who saw the burning truck came and tried to talk to Dwaine, at which point he threatened them off his property and they called the law enforcement back out there. Dwaine texted me again at 6:15 and said, “Smoke in the air. Send help. Call the Meskwaki.” Of course, I couldn’t do that. I followed the smoke all the way from Grinnell and by the time I got there at about 6:45pm, the road was barricaded for all four directions a little less than a mile away from Dwaine’s house. I ran up to the nearest cops, who weren’t there earlier in the day, and who turned me away quickly. I told them I needed to speak with Sheriff Tom Kriegel. They called him and he requested that I come up to his base and speak to him there. They allowed me to come up to the front line of their barricade but go no further. There were at least 100 emergency workers on the scene, big militarized trucks, and many state troopers and other police officers. Not long after I got there, Dwaine also set his house, barn, and hay bales on fire. Given the nature of the situation and their training and oaths as police officers, there was nothing they could do other than watch a suffering man destroy his life in front of their eyes, just watching him commit a crime that, in a perfect world, would never have transpired. It was hard for all of us to watch.

Many police officers and the Sheriff on the front perimeter, roughly a quarter-mile east of Dwaine’s home. There was at least 100 other rescue workers behind these front lines.

The police sent me away from the front lines around 8:00. I stayed on the scene and did some interviews with news stations. I am grateful for what they covered, but they couldn’t tell the whole story, which is why I felt called to do this, and I am happy to talk to any news channel or anyone else about what I have written here.

This whole story boils down to this: Dwaine has a vision for a better world, and that is a vision that is incompatible with corporate-controlled agriculture and top-down government control. He strongly desires that people recognize the spirit and freedom inside of themselves and reclaim their destiny and their land from the powers that be. Instead of government, Dwaine knows we are made to participate in harmony with nature and with one another. When those police came in, honorably fulfilling their civic and professional duty, they were unequipped to deal with the situation at hand in a compatible fashion — a situation that is so deeply rooted in issues of sacred land, family, and the destruction of indigenous culture that no law and order can possibly address it appropriately. People like Dwaine are radical in their ideas and their approach to living, and rightfully so. I do not condone Dwaine’s actions of burning down someone else’s property or firing shotgun rounds near police officers, but I do condone the way that he has set this state ablaze today with his passion to create a better world.

As the smoke clears away and Dwaine sits for his first few days in custody, people all around the state of all different walks of life and opinions and political viewpoints pass their judgment on a man who burned his rented home down Wednesday. In our attempts to judge Dwaine for his action, we reduce him to a man that we see a mugshot of on a television screen and we put him in boxes of mental illness and insanity or intense love for the land. We try to write him off as some robotic human being with no real purpose, acting in some sort of vacuum. No, Dwaine did not exist in a bubble — his life is a part of our lives and the pain he experiences is a symptom of the same society we uphold everyday. How much do we experience that pain too? How much do we desire to replace this burdensome, oppressive capitalist lifestyle with a freedom unbounded? The truth is that Dwaine’s story is one full of infinite purpose and infinitely many complexities, as we all are, and that his actions are only to be judged in the Eyes of the World, which are beyond your eyes and my eyes. Dwaine doesn’t mind your judgment — for he knows what he has done — but for your own sake, step outside of your own identity and opinionated mindset for a minute and understand: we all have deep pain and suffering within us because of the world we live in, and we all dream of a better world. He may have made some regretful decisions and destroyed some things, but Chief Warrior Bauman of Poweshiek Nation is a man who laid down his livelihood and property in an outcry against the Western man’s invasion. The sacred garden that he spent months creating and that will be taken over by his son to feed hundreds of mouths this year speaks more than any action he took in one day. Chief Bauman will be heralded before the thrones of nature, and the vision he has for the future is one that we should all look for within ourselves.

Link for GoFundMe for his son Dalton and Dalton’s girlfriend Adrianna: https://www.gofundme.com/f/gcs4sj-please-help-us?utm_source=customer&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet&utm_medium=copy_link-tip.

Link to KCCI News Story: https://www.kcrg.com/2020/06/25/man-charged-with-arson-after-a-7-hour-standoff-in-poweshiek-county/?fbclid=IwAR3XJ7msG97eBXdnYEQ_CQXnJJokJr-55jHJalHbkFDZwHgN0NmodU_47RQ