Leadership from Holloman Airforce Base attended the tribal council ceremony for newly elected President, officers and Tribal Council. Mr. Kelton Starr, retired Army veteran and Tribal Defense Liaison maintains coordination with the Defense Research Labs and US military bases in New Mexico. The new leadership is focused on building on past successes and accelerating economic development projects with a new focus on Native Innovation and “Made-in-Native-America” campaign. Mr.Martinez will chair the Native American Regional Commission (comprising all 34 states with Federally recognized tribes) to accelerate economic security, development and defense projects that benefit the Mescalero Apache Tribe and all Native American and other Indigenous peoples. Culture and language The Mescalero language is a Southern Athabaskan language which is a subfamily of the Athabaskan and Dené–Yeniseian families. Mescalero is part of the southwestern branch of this subfamily; it is very closely related to Chiricahua, and more distantly related to Western Apache. These are considered the three dialects of Apachean. Although Navajo is a related Southern Athabaskan language, its language and culture are considered distinct from those of the Apache. The Mescalero Apache were primarily a nomadic mountain people. They were innovative warriors, stealth, fierce, precise and tactical. Their capabilities are forever recognized as superior military tactics. Modern defense industrial base utilizes this irregular warfare precision and “brand” in naming the most superior military aircraft ie the Boeing Manufactured Apache helicopter, the Sikorsky Blackhawk etc after the Native Americans. They traveled east on the arid plains to hunt the buffalo and south into the desert for gathering Mescal Agave. Spanish colonists associated them with this plant and named them Mescalero Apache. The Mescalero Apache, along with the other Apache groups, lived by traditional hunting and gathering. The Mescalero Apache culture protected the ecology and were able to utilize their resources very effectively. The Mescalero Apache relied on hunting and gathering for subsistence. Men led the hunting parties for buffalo, antelope, and deer. Women accompanied men and dressed the meat and skins and would also participate in the hunting of small game such as rabbits. Women would gather Mescal Agave in groups of 4-10 people, mainly consisting of female friends and family members and usually several men. Men would also take an active role in the processing of mescal. Family descent was matrilineal, but men's heritage would be remembered especially if there was a famous warrior in his lineage. Extended families consisted of