THE SOCIETY OF MOUNT KIA/MIA
(Copyright 2007, The Society of Mount KIA/MIA,
GRAPHIC, LOGO and/or TRADEMARK)

             Mount KIA/MIA is named in honor of all those "Killed in Action" and/or "Missing In Action" in all of America's wars.  The sound, KIA/MIA, is a meaningful utterance in the Ute language when a place-name suffix is added to it, such as in Kiya'-miya-vat.  The verb stem kiya means, "To play," or "to laugh" in the Ute language.  The verb stem miya means, "to walk around" (plural form) or "to do something while walking about" (plural form).  The meaning of such a sound in the Ute language is then, "place where people walk about playing," or "place where people walk about laughing."  Thus it is, KIA/MIA (as in Kiya'-miya-vat) is an appropriate name for a mountain in Colorado that honors all veterans.  A warrior, once departed, crosses to "the other side," a place often described as one where a person may walk about in peace, without care, happy; in other words, "A place where people walk about laughing."

            When Native Americans honor their warriors it is in a different sort of mind set from how other cultures honor their warriors.  It is said by Native Americans that, "America honors their veterans three days a year; Native Americans honor their warriors every time they meet."  And when most American's think of their veterans, they associate them with a war or conflict.  America almost seems to place the value of a veteran's sacrifice on the conflict of the war he fought.  Military units themselves seem to associate the value of the veteran with the unit he fought in.  A veteran's honor and prestige is recognized more for the battle they fought in, the cause and the unit, rather than recognizing them as individuals and with any understanding of what it requires personally of an individual to give, take and lose ones life in war.  Most warriors would agree that losing ones life is a very personal process rather than a collective event.  It is very personal to the warrior's family as well.  It is the individual warrior's sacrifice and spirit, born and tested on the battlefield of war, that is honored in memorializing America's KIA and MIA at Mount KIA/MIA and it is a place where the spirit of America's warriors can be brought to rest happily in peace at the top of our Colorado Rocky Mountains.

            The logo honors the cycle of life in archetypes found in cultures all over the world through all times.  There is the red sun in the east that brings the day.  It is happiness and potential.  Red symbolizes sacrifice and valor in military heraldry.  Colorado itself is in the light of the sun more days of the year than others and the Colorado flag is properly shown in the east under the sun.

            The color green is found in the south.  Green is symbolic of those things that nourish us.  It is the earth that gives us nourishment.  It is where life springs from.

            The west is symbolized by the color black or blue.  It is where the sun sets and where the rains come from.  It is the potential of everything beyond the moment.  It is, in a sense, the direction America was born in, Manifest Destiny, the potential of America's future, and where the Star Bangle Banner appears with the tears of sacrifice above it insuring its potentiality.

            The north is white.  It is symbolic of rebirth and a symbol of all that is innocent and new.  The north has the storms that force change.

            All four elements of the universe are thus represented, fire, earth, water and air.

            The lighting bolts are symbolic of events that can cause the earth and sky to split.  It is where one crosses over to unspeakable knowledge.  In various cultures it might also be symbolized by the serpent (the zigzagged line between the mountain top and its base), the magician's wand or the tau that is the line between the yin and yang.  It is the cross or crucifix (hook) or that powerful and mystical place where two rivers cross (the letters form a white cross on the mountain, and certainly there are many white crosses found at Arlington National Cemetery or in the American Battles Monument Cemeteries overseas), where the conscious and the subconscious meet.  It is symbolic of that line where mortals, our warriors, have met eternity.

            And so it is that Mount KIA/MIA is an island forged in the middle of the cycle of life, thrust upward into the heavens, where American's fallen warriors have at last found peace, and where we remember them.  The eagle finally comes to rest there, representative of the highest ideals of America that America's fallen and lost in battle have upheld in an ultimate sacrifice.  The white dove alights at Mount KIA/MIA with laurel leaves honoring our fallen and missing while insuring them eternal peace and happiness. Kiya'-miya-vat.