Paul Furbush:
Her personality, her attitude. I just I admire her, I admire what she does and how she does it.
Truc DeCoste:
I’m just so grateful to be able to, to do what I do and to really love something so much that it doesn't feel like work
Paul Furbush:
I had heard about the award and instantly, I mean, I didn't even have to think the Truc came to mind. So even though I was the initiator, I was not the only nominator and we put in one whole package for her.
Truc DeCoste:
It's always great to be to be recognized, but without the support of my family, without the support of my friends, without the support of my peers, I wouldn't be able to do what I do and so my wanting to serve really came way before I was even born.
My grandfather was an American soldier in the Vietnam War. I always wanted to know why he served and what would make someone want to give up their life for their country. And so I joined the Air Force. For my mother was a lot of radical acceptance of the fact that I was going away. You know, it's not necessarily a traditional for a Vietnamese woman to join the service. It's so outside of the culture and outside of the norm.
I was an airborne linguist. I always had a knack for languages. I had learned French and Spanish and Japanese and Arabic all throughout my schooling. I grew up in a bilingual household, speaking Vietnamese and speaking English, and so languages were sort of something that I really caught on really quickly.
I have such fond memories of my service. I have so many friends that I've maintained contact with, and it's a sort of like brotherhood, sisterhood that is really second to none. And I really missed the mission, the camaraderie.
What I found was that when I got back, I struggled with my own sort of transition when going from active duty to civilian life. I got into this nonprofit that helped veterans with PTSD and TBI and realized from there that, you know, there is a huge gap when it came to access mental health. But that was because oftentimes other things were not addressed. So for me, it was a sort of easy transition to go from really focusing on veterans’ mental health to really focusing on veterans as a whole. And so I landed here at the office of the Veteran Advocate.
Paul Furbush:
She's just extremely dedicated, motivated, and she's almost like a glue that kind of holds our group together.
Truc DeCoste:
I've been here for about a year and a half now, and it's been so amazing. I work really, really closely with the veteran service officers in each town and municipality.
Paul Furbush:
Serving the veteran service officers in her communities has been tremendous
Truc DeCoste:
They are the first call for anything veteran related in the community and oftentimes there's a lot of people out there helping veterans, but not too many people helping those who help the veterans
Paul Furbush:
Everywhere you go, you just you hear Truc’s name. I mean, I'm in Central Mass and she's down southeast and I still hear her name. You know, we love Truc! It’s more than a job for her. It's her life.
Truc DeCoste:
It doesn't feel like anything out of the ordinary for me to really pour into this community. I just really want to help veterans, and I think, I hope people feel that message.