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BREACH ROBOT

Why We Built a Robot to Manufacture BREACH Ambidextrous Charging Handles 

By Lauren Hurd

When Aero Precision released its patented BREACH ambidextrous charging handle, it boasted a two-lever system for easy operation to benefit both left and right-handed shooters, a lever mechanism that transferred force of use away from the roll pins, and a load-bearing surface to compensate for the stress on traditional mil-spec levers. These factors remain accurate for BREACH, one of the most preferred choices for ambidextrous charging handles on the market.

We Built a Robot – Literally

While BREACH has not changed, the way we build it has.

The BREACH charging handle is comprised of several delicate components including a bar, two levers, roll pins, and springs that when assembled by hand can vary slightly from product to product.  While not an issue in the overall quality of the product, we knew we could do better.

After closely observing the assembly process, Aero identified an opportunity to create an autonomous method that would improve quality control, accuracy, and precision. The solution was simple for us, a company that likes to build things: we should build a robot.

The BREACH Robotic Cell is an autonomous cell specifically designed, customized, and built to assemble Aero Precision’s BREACH charging handles with a minimum margin for error. 

With the help of Globe Machine, a neighboring company in Tacoma, Washington, Aero’s engineers developed a blueprint for the Cell designed to create quality checkpoints for functionality, inspection points, and precision in the overall assembly. The concept, schematics, and inception of the Cell took approximately seven months to complete with an end goal of full assembly automation for the BREACH charging handle. 

The Most Precise Charging Handles

The Cell houses a bright yellow Fanuc LR Mate 200 ID 7L robot arm that moves each component of the charging handle through several different steps from start to finish including assembly, lubrication, a laser station, and checkpoints to ensure maximum quality and consistency. The Cell begins with 100 bars, left levers, and right levers, and utilizes precision machine trays allowing the robot to distribute items from an accurate location every time.  While greasing the hole from each lever, the robot feeds a spacer from the back of the machine to be locked in with slave pins. It then lubricates the spring hole and feeds a spring through a tube compressed by a vibratory bowl line at the bottom of the Cell.

The handle then moves through a quality control checkpoint that scans to ensure the springs, pins, and levers are flush and assembled correctly. The next step moves the handle to the laser portion of the Cell where it’s engraved with the BREACH Aero Precision logo and patent. Finally, it is put through one last quality control checkpoint before the finished handle is deposited onto a rotating table for packaging. 

The most unique feature of the Cell is how the program was written to navigate and work around clearances to get the spring to seat into the notch-cut of the spacer and how the laser checks that the press doesn’t short stroke. It is also programmed to stop production if a bar doesn’t pass one of the quality control checkpoints or if the requirements of the previous step are not met.

Why Does This Matter

Once the BREACH Cell was fully programmed and functional, we were able to achieve our goal of increasing throughput and progress from eight minutes to one minute per charging handle. This increased our production from approximately 6,200 charging handles per month to more than 20,000.

The BREACH Cell is only the first fully automated robot system implemented by Aero Precision that helps achieve our mission to demonstrate superior engineering, machining, and manufacturing with every product. We currently operate two other laser robots that were built to automate the laser engraving processes on our new SOLUS bolt actions and the Lahar line of suppressors.  We plan to implement other advanced cells in the future where we find opportunities to grow. Until then, we hope you enjoy this video we’re proud to have been able to put together that shows you why sometimes if you can, build the robot.

The Permission to Start Dreaming Foundation held its annual ‘Swing for a Soldier’ event at the Gold Mountain Golf Club on Monday, July 11th. The PTSD Foundation, a non-profit organization based out of the Pacific Northwest, seeks to help Veterans and First Responders gain access to long-term solutions when suffering from PTSD.  

The golf tournament known as Swing for a Soldier is just one of the special events the PTSD Foundation holds every year to help raise awareness and gain support. Other events include Race for a Soldier—a half marathon/5k, Pull for a Soldier—a trap shooting competition, and an annual prayer breakfast complete with guest speakers.  Each event is supported by the local community and put on by volunteers to support the cause.    

This year, Aero Precision LLC, the leading manufacturer of American-Made firearms, was the charity event’s title sponsor. Aero Precision has supported the PTSD Foundation and its mission for several years after discovering them and developing a relationship with its founder Leslie Mayne.  

“It felt like there was a strong, synergy and alignment with what we were trying to do for our law enforcement and for our veterans who rely obviously, very heavily on those things that they use to protect this country and our community, which is the firearms industry,” Mayne said.  

Regarding the relationship between Aero Precision and the PTSD Foundation, Mayne agreed, that the forming of a sponsorship appeared to be a natural step.  

“I felt like it was sort of a mutual affection. I’m an NRA member and a strong 2A advocate. I know the threats against it, and it’s important to me that we would align ourselves with other organizations that sort of feel the same way,” Mayne said  

The PTSD Foundation began as a personal project for Leslie Mayne in 2011 to bring hope and healing to Veterans and First Responders dealing with PTSD. What started as a small group of volunteers has grown into a successful non-profit built from the ground up with the help of its volunteers, partners, sponsors, and compassionate allies.  

Every golf cart was accounted for the morning of July 11th, and Valona Painting, another sponsor of the event and local business, provided Blue Smoke BBQ for the day’s festivities. During the opening ceremony, Ronald Regan’s voice echoed over the golf course in a recorded speech and skydivers coasted to the crowd below with one donning a large American flag.  

“It started as 130 people to, I mean, today we teed off 350 people, which is bananas. Honestly, it has just been [because of] relationships like what we have with Aero Precision,” said Packy Rieder, board member of the PTSD Foundation and Director of Swing for a Soldier.  

 The day was filled with joy, fun, and success with a record-breaking turnout of people.  

“Being a non-profit is super hard in a wealthy world where money is hard to come by, and so to continue going–you’re doing something right. And you’re changing enough lives that people are noticing, and they want to be a part of it. That’s the special part,” said Rieder.  

The PTSD Foundation continues to serve the community and benefit its sponsors with the pride of knowing they are helping to raise awareness of an important cause.   

 “Twenty-two humans a day that commit suicide because of PTSD and because of that trauma. If I could stop one of those, if we can stop two of them, if we can reach one person, and make a difference in their life and change their life, that is, that’s why I do it a hundred percent. I run around. I say it all the time. Let’s change lives together. And that’s what we’re all doing together,” said Rieder. 

The next event, 2022 Pull for a Soldier will take place at the Gig Harbor Sportsman Club on Friday, September 30th, 2022. For more information about the PTSD foundation, please visit https://ptsdfoundation.org. 

In Case of Failure

On this day, 80 years ago, the Allied armies joined forces in the largest amphibious invasion in military history. The battle took place on the shores of Normandy, where the waves crashed red in the days that followed.

The battle was brutal. The loss we incurred was catastrophic. In the end, the shadow of the war was swept away by the brave soldiers, navy, and marines who fought. And we prevailed.

But what if we hadn’t?

In Case of Failure

Above is a handwritten press release scrawled by General Eisenhower so hurriedly that he wrote the date as July instead of June. It is called the 'In Case of Failure' message. We ask you to take a moment and think about what it would have meant for that message to have been delivered. Had it been read by President Roosevelt. Had it been turned into a carefully scripted speech to be edited, re-typed, and broadcast over the airwaves.

What if, instead of a prayer on June 6th, the presidential address had told of the failure to gain a satisfactory foothold? That the troops had been withdrawn. That those who fought did all that bravery and devotion to duty could do. That we had failed.

What would the world look like today?

Though D-Day will never hold the same weight for us as it did for those who lived it, we owe them our honor, respect, and gratitude. Because of them, we won. And we’ll never have to know what the shadow might have turned into, had we not.

As Ronald Reagan once said, “Let us show them by our actions that we understand what they died for.”

To the boys of Pointe du Hoc

The men who took the cliffs

The champions who helped free a continent

And the heroes who helped end a war.

Key Peninsula News Articles

Summer Solstice Gnome Hunt

Lauren Trench, KP News

If you’ve visited any parks around the Key Peninsula lately, you may have noticed the appearance of uniquely painted garden gnomes. The first community-wide Summer Solstice Gnome Hunt began with more than 200 hand-painted garden gnomes strategically hidden around Gateway Park, 360 Trails, Volunteer Park and Home Park. The peninsula-wide scavenger hunt involved the entire community, from the conception and creation of the ceramic gnomes to the final turnout for the hunt June 22.

Garden gnomes are a novelty of Pacific Northwest lore and a signature piece for local artist Megan Schowalter, who teamed up with Tracey Perkosky, the executive director of Key Peninsula Metro Parks. Schowalter, who is also a teacher at Key Peninsula Middle School, had been looking to foster a community art project when she met Perkosky at the annual Key Center Art Walk in 2022. Perkosky had an idea about hiding items throughout the parks to entice visitors. Together, the two came up with the idea for the Summer Solstice Gnome Hunt.

“I could really see how my students and families might get excited about making Garden Gnomes,” Scholwater said. “They invited a sense of playfulness and fun into any classroom.”

Once the gnomes were formed and bisque-fired, Schowalter partnered with KPMS art teacher Richard Miller to enlist local students to hand-paint and decorate the gnomes.

“This was important to me because it is a learning opportunity for our students to work with ceramic forms and I wanted to establish a connection between KP Parks and our school district,” Schowalter said. “It also made it a more personal experience for students and their families. They can feel a part of the project tradition.”

Schowalter and Perkosky also partnered with Kellie Bennett, executive director of the Red Barn Youth Center to offer students of its after-school program an opportunity to contribute by painting the gnomes.

The Red Barn in Key Center is a safe place for kids from sixth grade to senior year to go after school or in the summer and offers anything from sports, board games and art projects to community service opportunities and help with homework.

“We have three field trips in the park that we’ll be doing this summer with our youths,” Bennett said. “We’ll hopefully encourage them to look for the gnomes if there are still any out there,”

Key Pen Parks staff made sure to discuss where the gnomes would be hidden beforehand in the interest of public safety. The gnomes were relatively accessible to the public and visible though secreted along the nature trails.

Tabitha Black, an event attendee who learned about the gnome hunt online, was fortunate enough to have found two garden gnomes while hunting with her daughter.

“It gives us something fun to do together, promotes a healthy activity … it teaches kindness and good, honest competition,” Black said. “It’s always great to see the community out and about in local parks, everyone — young and old — is so friendly, even though we’re hunting for the same things. We lucked out and actually found two gnomes, both beautifully made. We kept the purple one and re-hid the ‘peace’ one.”

“It’s all part of the fun … I honestly don’t know how many of them still may be out there,” Perkosky said.

Overall, the event was a success in achieving its goal of encouraging community members to get out and explore local parks.

“The parks were full of people that day, there was just such an amazing energy of watching people come into the parks at all hours, looking for gnomes,” Perkosky said. “You could see them peering around and kind of looking all over. Especially the kids, when they found them … they would cup their hands together and cradle the gnome and carry it so carefully. And just to see their smiles.”

All parties involved hope to continue the Summer Solstice Gnome Hunt annually as a mystical, fun way to interact with nature and take into consideration the care of local parks.

“The intention behind this project was to be able to get out and enjoy our parks,” Perkosky said. “Perhaps to explore a park that maybe you’ve never been to before or a trail you’d never been to before. And to be able to take home a little reminder about the joys of being outdoors and the importance of taking care of our parklands because, ideally, those little gnomes need good homes. And if we take care of our parks, all the gnomes will have homes.”

To see more or share your own experience, use the hashtag #kppgnomehunt or the tag @keypen_parks on Instagram and @keypenparks on Facebook.

The Annual Art walk returns

Lauren Trench, KP News

Key Center bustled with color and live music amid strong winds as the seventh annual Key Center Art Walk kicked off. Sponsored by the Two Waters Arts Alliance, the Art Walk showcased more than 40 artists and attracted locals and visitors to the Key Peninsula.

TWAA, a nonprofit organization founded in 2001, is dedicated to supporting creativity on the Key Peninsula.

“A lot of it is community coming together, supporting the artists, and just having a time to be together and celebrate friendships,” said TWAA’s event coordinator Susan Quigley. She said the turnout might be more than the 2021 Art Walk, which boasted approximately 500 attendees.

“As good or better,” Quigley said.

Musicians strummed guitars and sang into the splendor as guests embraced, enjoyed wine from vendors, and admired the art and local goods in front of Sunnycrest Nursery Florist and Décor.

It was the first year with a booth for Alaina Seyssel, a textile artist who specializes in craft patterns and custom memory bears. Seyssel, who has a background in textiles, decided to use some leftover material from personal items and sentimental clothing, including her wedding dresses, to create keepsakes in the shape of bears.

“I had the background, but I had never made a bear before, and I was thinking, you know, that would be a cool project. So, I thought I’d give it a go,” said Seyssel, who had to remain perched on the edge of her booth to keep the wind from knocking it over. “A couple of mock-ups later, it came out cuter than cute.”

Tames Alan, a maker of suncatchers and performer of Living History Lectures, shared a booth with Seyssel.

“I do one-woman historical shows that are educational entertainment called Living History Lectures. I usually come out in the skivvies of the time period, get dressed in front of the audience,” Alan said. “I do over 35 shows in rap going from Ancient Greece through to the Flappers,”

Alan had enlisted Seyssel’s help with some of her costume work for the theatrical and educational performances. The two later decided to share a booth for their crafts at the 2022 Art Walk.

“I do better when she’s here; people see something sparkly and come over,” Seyssel said about Alan and her crystal suncatchers.

“We work as a team,” Alan said. “I call mine ‘window bling.’ They’re suncatchers. I call it playing with color and light.”

Despite the heavy wind, the two appeared to be enjoying the day, and displaying their unique art.

“Today’s been great!” Alan said.

Longtime resident and artist Kathy Sheehan Best said, “It’s nice. It seems to be a good crowd.”

Best’s booth displayed intricate paintings that included portraits of people, animals and diverse landscapes.

“Ever since I could hold a pencil, I’ve been drawing, painting, coloring, and that’s my escape,” she said.

There was something for everyone at the Art Walk. Local organizations, food vendors and farmers were woven between artists displaying their crafts, paintings and photographs the length of Key Center. The event succeeded in TWAA’s mission to connect the Key Peninsula with the arts, displaying how welcoming and warm the KP community can be

KP Gardens

Lauren Trench, KP News

Longbranch is ready to welcome a new community garden. What began as piece of land riddled with blackberry bushes, shrubs and trash has been developed into a budding garden for the community to enjoy. Located at the Longbranch Improvement Club, the garden began its development last year and is now into a projected three-year plan for completion.

The idea for the project came from David Shinners, a member of the Longbranch Improvement Club who saw an opportunity for the club to become more visible to the public.

“I started realizing that we do a lot of great things in the Longbranch Improvement Club, but nobody sees them because they’re in the building … and I started thinking that we need more things that people can physically see as they’re driving by so that if they don’t know about Longbranch, they can kind of see what’s going on,” Shinners said.

The Longbranch Improvement Club, founded in 1921 as a means to encourage the betterment of the community through volunteer effort, recently marked its centennial anniversary last December, though the festivities continue into August . The club focuses on the improvement of roads, schools, public safety and public service projects.

The garden is meant to promote a sense of neighborhood and community in Longbranch while creating opportunities to educate those who know little about horticulture or sustainability, and for people to simply enjoy.

“When people think of a community garden, they automatically go to one type of community garden. I’m not even sure community garden is the right term; it’s a multi-purpose outdoor garden activity,” Shinners said.

The area is set to go through phases of development that include construction of spaces large enough to hold events such as weddings or small enough for people to gather for coffee or dinner.

“We cleaned it all up, but it’s big enough that you could have sections almost like rooms. There’s a circle up front where you can do activities, and we’re building this kind of expanse at the back right now where you can have things like a dinner or a wedding reception,” Shinners said.

The idea was inspired by a combination of circumstances, including a lack of places to safely gather following COVID-19.

“I thought, well, we could create a garden, where people could kind of gather a community to a true community place,” Shinners said.

The garden is projected to be fully developed and operational for the enjoyment of all by 2024.

Friends of the Ironwood Forest Article

Cocoroque Butte: An archaeological site

MARANA, AZ—About a mile or so by foot off a rocky dirt road on the southwest border of Ironwood Forest National Monument, a careful visitor may begin to notice unusual fragments resting beneath desert cholla, saguaro and ironwood trees.  Upon closer inspection, that same visitor might handle the fragments and discover that what they’re touching are pieces of broken pottery from prehistoric tribes that once traversed the area. If the observer is lucky, there might still be paint visible—a remnant of a past long gone in a place now known as Cocoroque Butte. 

Once a year visitors to the monument come together, thanks to “Friends of the Ironwood Forest,” an organization that sponsors an annual event called “Hike the Monument.” Anyone is welcome to participate in the event. The group meets at Marana Airport on Avra Valley road at 7:30 a.m. on the chosen date. Once at the meeting site, participants are asked to sign in, so they can be dispersed into four separate groups, depending on which area of the monument they desire to visit. They are given safety instructions and advised to stay hydrated. They are warned to be cautious of dangerous terrain and aware of wildlife. They are then caravanned in four-wheel-drive vehicles to opposite locations within Ironwood Forest National Monument to hike and explore. Cocoroque Butte Archaeological District, a federally protected 300-acre archaeological site was one of the areas visited during this year’s event. 

Cocoroque Butte, first listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975, contains more than 10,000 petroglyphs: Archaic drawings incised or abraded into rock. These carvings date back roughly 2,000-3,000 years. Petroglyphs from the Hohokam Formative Period were created between A.D. 450-1450. 

“Cocoroque Butte is one of the largest concentration of petroglyphs in the entire Southwest. There’s over 10,000 petroglyphs out here,” Kirk Astroth, an archaeologist with a research focus on the butte, said.

According to the Bureau of Land Management (BLM), the site contains ancient Hohokam residential sites built by early inhabitants of south/central Arizona. These residential sites were occupied between A.D 700-1400. The sites also belong to ancestors of early Native Americans known as “Huhugam.”  The area is rich with petroglyphs and other archaeological evidence, including pottery sherds and areas that appear to have been modified by human hands. The signs of habitation indicate a long, lush anthropological history.

“I was part of a group that for the last three years has been documenting this site. So, we documented all of the petroglyphs. We found over 200, I won’t call them habitation sites … we’re not sure what they are. You have heard the term trincheras. There are these terraces that are built up on the sides of the hills, created with walls and then filled with dirt. We don’t know if they were temporary habitation sites or garden plots. We haven’t really figured it out, but we found over 300 on that big hill,” Astroth, leader of the Cocoroque Butte tour for the 2019 “Hike the Monument,” said. 

The Tohono O’odham or “desert people,” are considered descendants of the Hohokam and Huhugam and currently share a border with Ironwood Forest National Monument to their west and Mexico to their south. The Tohono O’odham reservation consists of approximately 2.5 million acres with part of its boundary crossing into Mexico and stretching for almost 70 miles. 

Peter Steere, the Tribal Historic Preservation Officer for the Tohono O’odham, regards Cocoroque Butte as a sacred site of ancestral importance to the Tohono O’odham. 

“The [Tohoho O’odham] Nation regards all rock art sites as sacred sites, as semi-religious and very special places that are in need of protection,” Steere said.

According to the BLM, archeological sites on state and federal land are protected by the Archaeological Resources and Protection Act (ARPA). The ARPA helps protect these sites by prohibiting digging, removal or defacing of artifacts. 

“There’s things left behind by the ancestors. And the philosophy of the Nation is basically, the people can certainly look at them…but leave them in place,” Steere said. 

The BLM and the Tohono O’odham Nation work closely together to protect sites such as Cocoroque Butte under the umbrella of protection provided by the federal government. They collaborate to ensure that sites considered sacred by the Nation remain unaffected despite being accessible to the public. Unfortunately, they don’t always succeed.

“If the boulders are moveable [they] become a target sometimes for looters. Fortunately, most of the big ones on bedrock are immovable … [T]here have been numerous arrests made in the last decades. People steal things. When it becomes a problem is when the boulder is small enough and someone can lift it and put it in a pick-up truck. And there have been several cases that have been prosecuted here in Arizona in the last few years,” Steere said. 

Amy Sobiech, archaeologist for the Tucson chapter of the BLM recalled heading up a volunteer project that ended last year with the help of retired, vocational and other archaeologists at Cocoroque Butte in which all the petroglyph panels were recorded photographically for the BLM. Projects such as this help to identify which areas have been looted or damaged. 

“These guys recorded for us all the petroglyph panels that are out there…. Archaeologists like that because you can see the condition at this and this time. And then somebody comes in six years later and they’re like, where did that, you know, lizard petroglyph that was on the far south said go to? Because there’s active vandalism and looting,” Sobiech said. 

 A visitor might not understand that the best way to preserve areas of intrinsic and cultural value such as Cocoroque Butte is to try and leave it exactly as it was found. Peter Steere has previously helped to train others, including federal and state law enforcement, in cultural sensitivity sessions that educate governmental officials and members of the public on the importance of observing the land without taking from it. The message is well known to archaeologists such as Kirk Astroth, who, while visiting during a “Hike the Monument,” event, conveys the importance to everyone before commencing the hike. 

“You can pick up anything you see but you want to put it back where you found it. There’s no collecting. You’re going to see pieces of broken matates all over. We’ve found archaic coins out here over 4,000 years old. You can look at all that, you can photograph it, you can sketch it if you’re an artist, but you can’t collect it,” Astroth said. 

Visitors are directed to place pottery in the exact spot where it was discovered, preferably paint-side down so the painted side will not be exposed to the desert sun. People are allowed to climb the bedrock boulders to the top of the hill that makes up Cocoroque Butte, although they are advised to be cautious not to trace any etchings with their fingers or step on possible rock art. 

Part of Astroth’s research compares petroglyphs with dated graffiti (1931-1937 and earlier) in an attempt to gauge a potential timeline or age for the petroglyphs.

Despite the number of petroglyphs on Cocoroque Butte, it can be difficult to discern what exactly the images are. Though some might appear obvious: a sun, a human, a spiral…the meaning behind the art often remains a mystery. 

“You can’t put yourself in the mind of someone who put that thing on the rock a thousand years ago. You can look at what the drawing is…Is it an animal? Is it a person? There are astronomical things that show up on some of these things. We have moons. We have suns that show up that may be tied in, through the seasons and the Tohono O’odham or Hohokam people, the timing of the seasons, the timing of when the rains coming,” Steere said.

“When you go to look at a rock art site, you may have a visual feeling yourself and everybody’s going to look at it individually…. There’re people, there’s animals, there’s abstract designs. There’re some things in there that almost look like maps, but they’re there. They’re an important remnant that was left by ancestors…hundreds if not thousands of years ago. And some of these go back very deep in time, not just Hohokam, some of them go back even earlier, but they are regarded by the [Tohono O’odham] Nation as very important sites.”  

On previous occasions, Friends of the Ironwood Forest have collaborated with Tohono O’odham public schools and arranged field trips so that students might visit sacred sites such as Cocoroque. These field trips have proven to be emotional for the Tohono O’odham visiting the sacred area of their ancestors. In some cases, other visitors have been asked to quietly observe with respect. It is customary for the Tohono O’odham students and faculty to form a circle in a private blessing following their visit where they are then smudged with burning sage in the hope that they will leave the area undisturbed. 

“That land where the monument is, is their land … I mean the BLM manages it. Yes, but it’s … it’s in them. It’s important,” Sobiech said. 

Cocoroque Butte is one example of a special archaeological site within Ironwood Forest National Monument deemed worthy of protection that is also, fortunately, accessible to members of the general public who wish to learn from and admire the butte. Events such as “Hike the Monument,” provide a unique opportunity to take a walk on the same path, look at the same piece of pottery or stand near the same rock that another human did thousands of years ago; to be brought close to someone who made a mark, beyond modern understanding, that has lasted centuries.  

“I’ve had the unique opportunity of being an archeologist for a federal agency that manages all these lands to be able to not only participate with Native Americans in that cultural aspect, but to see the physical manifestations in my hand,” Sobiech said.

 “The Nation regards all rock art sites as sacred sites…we make a strong effort to make sure that those kinds of sites are protected, whether they’re on tribal land or off tribal land. And certainly, I think one of the nation’s driving reasons for supporting the creation of Ironwood Forest National Monument was to protect the hundreds of archaeological sites that are out there,” Steere observed.

These sites are more than faded paint on broken pottery or an arrangement of rocks on the side of a hill with indiscernible etchings. These sites represent old ways of living, ancient cultures and rich history.

About a mile or so off a dirt road on the southwest border of Ironwood Forest National Monument a careful visitor might just be lucky enough to touch a piece of it …

The Tohono O’odham: A brief History

People have existed in the Sonoran Desert for thousands of years. The name Tohono O’odham means “desert people.” The name “O’odham,” was originally disregarded by early Spanish colonialists who dubbed the O’odham “Papago” or “Pima” which was, by most accounts, considered disrespectful. It wasn’t until 1986, that the O’odham people were able to officially designate and choose their own name “Tohono O’odham” (McIntrye& AHS, 2008).

In the late 1600s, Spanish explorers and nomadic bands of Apache began venturing and migrating into Southern Arizona. A Jesuit named Father Eusebio Kino attempted to convert the Tohono O’odham peoples to Christianity in 1687. In 1767, after the Jesuits were expelled from the area by King Carlos III, the Franciscans arrived and also attempted to bring Catholic Christianity to the area. The O’odham resisted, and eventually the Spanish were forced out of Mexican lands during the War of Mexican Independence in 1821. Pursuant to the Gadsden Treaty and Purchase, the United States bought the land in 1854 and Arizona became a territory in 1863 (McIntrye& AHS, 2008)

At this time, the future of the Tohono O’odham depended on the United States Government. President Woodrow Wilson signed two executive orders (Executive Order Number 2300, and Executive Order Number 2524) that created boundaries designating public and Tohono O’odham land. Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal Agenda drew reservation lines that continue to exist today. Under this agenda, the Tohono O’odham were authorized to occupy the second largest land reserve in the United States, land that covers over 2.8 million acres (McIntrye& AHS, 2008).

Remnants of their history exist today in the Ironwood Forest National Monument and the Sif Oidak District bordering it directly to the west, (Tohono O’odham Nation-Location, n.d.).