Vermont's War
It's known for liberal politics. But the Green Mountain State has also paid a heavy price in Iraq
"The war has been very personal in Vermont," says Sanders, whose stepson's childhood friend, National Guard 2nd Lt. Mark Procopio of Stowe, was killed in Ramadi in late 2005-one of six state guardsmen in Task Force Saber who died in that violent Sunni triangle city when they relieved a Marine unit. "We see the pain and the loss, and that has the effect of making people wonder why," Sanders said.
With the nation's second-smallest state population, 624,000, Vermonters know the dead. They know their children and parents and grandparents. There have been antiwar protests-a handful of folks still march in front of the Montpelier post office once a week down State Street from the Capitol, and 50 communities in 2005 passed referendums that asked the administration to reconsider its involvement in Iraq. But most displays have been quiet and respectful, like Russ Bennett's field south of Waitsfield, where small white flags honor U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq. The war has touched almost everyone, said state archivist Gregory Sanford, "but what do we do now?"
It's an excruciating question for Vermonters who have lost loved ones, made more painful by the debate over whether to bring the troops home or send in more. What will honor their loved ones? And what will more deployments mean for Vermont?
Traveling Interstate 89, it's easy to imagine that the Vermont idealized by Norman Rockwell can be found off any exit ramp. Low clouds hugged the mountain valleys on a drizzly December day; white church steeples and red barns peeked through forests. But those views can mask the scarce opportunities for young people who don't go to college yet long to stay. Family farms have all but disappeared; at the start of this decade, only 3 percent of the state's working population was still engaged in agriculture. A local think tank recently warned that if the state doesn't create jobs that keep young people here, it will soon face dire tax and budget problems.
Service. So military recruiters continue to hit pay dirt. Despite deep losses suffered by the Vermont National Guard-nine of the state's war dead are guardsmen, the others active duty-the guard's annual recruiting numbers at the end of November were the nation's best in terms of exceeding goals. Vermont National Guard Lt. Col. John Boyd maintains that the success, while in part about desire to serve, is no mystery. "Let's be honest; full-time guard pay is really good money for this state," says Boyd, who once headed the state's recruiting and retention effort. Even part-time service pays well, he says, and has attractive benefits. There are 950 full-timers in Vermont's Army and Air National Guard and an additional 2,650 part-timers-those who attend drills one weekend a month and two full weeks a year. There have been 2,500 deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan from their ranks, including multiple air guard deployments for shorter assignments.
Though some minimize the lure of the money and benefits-"You offer a guy a couple hundred dollars, and he may lose his life serving his country?" asks Vermont Adjutant Gen. Mike Dubie-the economics can't be ignored. Since 2005, the part-timers have received $20,000 signing bonuses and are eligible for state and federal education aid. They receive the equivalent of two days of active-duty pay for every drill day, a range of $170 to $1,500 per weekend depending on rank and length of service. At age 60, those who have put in 20 years qualify for medical coverage and a military retirement equal to half their base pay. A harder sell, Boyd says, has been retaining those who have seen war up close. "They've been in Iraq, they've been in Afghanistan, and they know you're not in the National Guard to get out of something."
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