Bernie Tyler enjoys role as program lead for Diné Naazbaa Partnership

• Bernie Tyler served five years in the U.S. Army and three years in the reserves.
• She is a Shiprock native and graduated from Navajo Prep in 1994.
• She is a fluent Navajo speaker.

FARMINGTON — After graduating from Navajo Prep in Farmington in 1994, Shiprock native Bernie Tyler chose a career path that none of her 11 siblings had followed — she joined the U.S. Army.

It wasn’t until she had been inducted that she really began to ask herself why.

“I was really nervous,” she said, describing herself as just a kid trying to make her way in an entirely new environment. “I thought, ‘What am I doing? Is this right? I’m the first child of 12 to go into the army. … Am I doing this just to get away from all the generational strife (on the reservation)?’”

She might not have been able to see it then, but these days, Tyler said she understands very well why she was compelled to join the service as a teenager — it put her in a position to understand the needs of Navajo veterans and be able to devote the rest of her life to helping Navajo them, which she calls her passion.

“I’ve always been involved with veterans,” she said, noting that even when she was working other jobs, she was helping veterans fill out tax returns or nudging her sons to chop wood to help keep a veteran’s home warm in the winter. “I think it was always in my mind to help veterans.”

In March 2022, Tyler found the perfect way to do that — she took a new job as the program lead for the Diné…