“I buried it for years”

2023-04-02

Dear friend,

Exhausted. Overwhelmed. On edge.

Terrified of stepping in the wrong hole.

Questioning whether one's efforts made a difference.

I've had a lot of happy and excited moments since the start of my first House session in January. But I'll be honest, I also hit a lot of hard emotions in the last couple weeks.

It's no coincidence that in the past couple of weeks, your Vermont House of Representative has put the pedal to the metal. We've worked late hours to get critical bills out of our chamber and over to the Senate in time for the "crossover" deadline.

I have a lot to report back on. Please look for emails in the upcoming week, and please read to the end for a zoom Q&A.

It's the time of year in the State House when what you've been working on starts to materialize -- or doesn't. As much as what goes in in Montpelier is often about starting a conversation for the long-term, when something small or large goes not quite the way you want, it can be a bummer.

One person I've taken inspiration from at times like this is Rep. Joseph "Chip" Troiano of Stannard. Because he's the Vice Chair of my committee, House Corrections & Institutions, I see a lot of him. I see how much Rep. Troiano thinks about his constituents in committee deliberations.

And Chip is someone who has been in tough places, and endured.

Chip served a combat tour in Viet Nam 1966–1967. He served as an air mobile Infantryman and a helicopter door gunner.

I've shared with Chip how much the shadow of Vietnam was part of my early life. My father several times told me about his experience in the first Vietnam draft lottery drawing on December 1, 1969. The lotto machine held 366 blue plastic capsules contained the birthdays that would be chosen that night.

The first birth date drawn that night, assigned the lowest number, “001,” was September 14. Anyone born that day would soon be called up. Drawing a higher number meant you were unlikely to be sent to the war, which at that time was killing dozens of young American men every day.

My dad's birthday, June 18, drew 341.

But he didn't realize it. He mis-heard the broadcast. He spent an anxious night believing and telling his friends that he had drawn a low number and was going. It wasn't till he double-checked the chart the next day that he realized he was in the clear.

Being born in 1978 meant to me being well in the clear of that war. But I registered for the Selective Service at 18, and looked in awe at those who served in Vietnam, Korea, Granada, Panama, Somalia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lebanon, Haiti, Iraq, Afghanistan, and everywhere else.

Chip is currently the only Vietnam vet in the House. I asked him what it was like being drafted.

"JFK was killed when I was, I think, a junior in high school. He had left an impression on me," Chip told me last week.

"When I got that draft letter there was no question that I was going to answer it, on the basis of 'Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country,'" he told me, referring to President Kennedy's famous challenge to Americans.

"I went. I was reluctant warrior but I knew my life depended on it so I was a good soldier." Chip was a helicopter door gunner -- a position in which he saw a lot of action.

"I fought for survival and not political ideology," Chip told me. Chip told me that whatever the result of the war was for the U.S., he found meaning in his own endurance. He got through, and that was enough.

"I buried it for years," Chip told me, but in recent decades has become active in working with veterans and telling the story of the war that took 58,220 U.S. military fatal casualties, and an estimated 966,000 to 3 million Vietnamese soldiers and civilians killed.

Wednesday, March 29 was National Vietnam War Veterans Day, a day meant to pay tribute to veterans of the Vietnam War.

That day on the House floor, Rep. Troiano spoke about his experiences and the history of the Vietnam War during announcements. You can hear his story here, and also see more in the film "Viet Nam the Reconciliation."

I salute Rep. Chip Troiano for his dedication to Vermont and to the United States of America, and I salute all veterans of the Vietnam War for their bravery.

You help show us the path forward.

P.S. I fixed the technical glitch from last week. Trying again for this Tuesday:

--Q&A with Rep. Tristan Roberts -- ask about bills, budgets, and you-name-it

--Meeting ID: 905 471 8804

--One tap mobile +13092053325,,9054718804#