{"id":5774,"date":"2019-12-22T13:52:49","date_gmt":"2019-12-22T17:52:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/?p=5774"},"modified":"2022-03-17T15:53:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T19:53:40","slug":"jd-vance-marine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.shortform.com\/blog\/jd-vance-marine\/","title":{"rendered":"JD Vance\u20144 Marine Corps Lessons Reformed His Hillbilly Ways"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

What was life like for Hillbilly Elegy<\/em>‘s JD Vance in the Marines? What were the lessons of JD Vance’s Marine Corps experience?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’ll cover JD Vance’s Marine Corps experience and how it helped him escape his hillbilly background.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

JD Vance, Marine<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The final three years JD lived with Mamaw<\/a> were transformative. He lost interest in drug experimentation, became a good student, aced his SATs, and discovered a love of learning and exploration. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was happy, living in a stable environment, and felt for the first time that he had options in life. The next test was what to do with these options.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turning Down College…For Now<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For most kids, including most of his friends, the next logical step would have been to go to college, but JD was unsure if this was the right move for him. For starters, so few people in his family had gone to college. It was an experience and a world that he felt little prepared for.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With his grades and test scores, he certainly had the option. But when the financial aid forms for Ohio State arrived in the mail, he was discouraged. He didn\u2019t think that the cost (and the debt he\u2019d incur) were worth it. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He also feared the intellectually rigorous and unstructured environment of college. He didn\u2019t want to be completely on his own. He wanted to be somewhere that would help him capitalize on his potential,<\/strong> but still give him the guardrails and structure that would keep him on the right path<\/a>.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Semper Fidelis<\/strong>: JD Vance Joins the Marines<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

One of JD\u2019s cousins recommended that he join the U.S. Marine Corps. As she put it to him, \u201cThey\u2019ll whip your ass into shape.\u201d
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the rigors of basic training, the verbal abuse of drill sergeants, and the possibilities of being sent into a war zone were frightening. But when JD spoke to a military recruiter, he became convinced that the Marines would give him the discipline and leadership skills he needed<\/strong> to succeed in life\u2014wherever he went.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JD experienced the first extended separation from his family when he reported for training at the boot camp on Parris Island, South Carolina. Mamaw\u2019s encouragement was a great source of strength for him during the physical and emotional trials of Marine Corps basic training. He also learned, through the voluminous letters his Mamaw sent him, just how much she loved him. This was an important part of JD Vance’s Marine Corps experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With his tumultuous home life growing up and the instability that came from his mother\u2019s lifestyle, this sense of being loved and valued meant everything. 
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JD was grouped together with people who came from outside the hillbilly culture<\/a> he\u2019d known all his life. There were black and Hispanic kids, rich people from the Northeast, Catholics, Jews, and even atheists. These fellow Marines brought with them a set of values and experiences that JD had never known <\/strong>growing up in Middletown<\/a>, another crucial aspect of JD Vance’s Marine Corps experience.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JD Vance’s Marine Corps Lesson #1: Discovering Potential<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Discovering his own potential may be the most important element of JD Vance’s Marine Corps experience. The Marines didn\u2019t just physically whip JD into shape (although they certainly did that). They helped him adjust his attitude and broader expectations about life. They showed him the true potential that he had.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every time he managed to keep pace on a grueling march; every time he endured the drill sergeant\u2019s screaming; every time he completed a daunting physical obstacle, he was learning to believe in himself and discover just how deeply he\u2019d underestimated his own capabilities.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was overcoming the learned helplessness<\/a> of his youth. All his life, he had been taught (and seen from the examples of most of the adults in his life) that his choices didn\u2019t matter. That he was resigned to his fate, no matter what he did. It didn\u2019t matter if you tried or not, so why bother trying? <\/strong>This attitude was utterly inimical to the Marine Corps ideology, where the emphasis was fully on individual responsibility. This was the lesson of JD Vance’s Marine Corps experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JD Vance’s Marine Corps Lesson #2: Learning Gratitude<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Eventually, JD was deployed to Iraq. Part of a civilian affairs unit that was doing outreach to the community, he was assigned to work with a local school.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One day while on patrol, he gave a young Iraqi boy a small gift of an eraser. When the child lit up with joy at receiving this humble gift, JD experienced what he calls an epiphany. He realized how misplaced so much of his bitterness and resentment had been. <\/strong>If this young boy in a war-torn nation, living in material circumstances far <\/em>worse than JD had experienced could still be capable of that kind of happiness, then JD had little to complain about. Learning gratitude was a huge part of JD Vance’s Marine Corps experience.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Living in a wealthy, industrialized country like the United States brought great opportunities for social and economic mobility<\/a>, even for a hillbilly kid from Middletown\u2014the American Dream wasn\u2019t dead, and he had the power to do anything he wanted.<\/strong>
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JD Vance’s Marine Corps Lesson #3: Becoming a Leader<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

JD Vance’s Marine Corps experience also taught him how to be a leader<\/a>. This was where he first gave adults orders to perform tasks\u2014and expected them to be done.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He discovered that leadership wasn\u2019t about screaming and yelling or issuing threats\u2014the primary model of leadership he had seen growing up. <\/strong>He saw instead that being a leader<\/a> meant earning the respect of those you were supposed to lead.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As an example, he was assigned to become a media relations officer after his tour of duty in Iraq ended. He learned how to build relationships with the press, stay on message, and budget his time wisely. Most importantly, he learned that he could handle complex assignments that he thought he might be unqualified for. He could work long hours and hold his own with high-ranking military brass and members of the press, all while speaking clearly and confidently.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

JD Vance’s Marine Corps Lesson #4: Gaining Financial Independence<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

JD\u2019s salary in the Marines wasn\u2019t much, but it was enough to give him some degree of financial independence<\/a>. He also learned basic financial competence through mandatory classes on how to balance a checkbook, save, and invest.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of JD\u2019s superiors stopped him from financing an auto purchase with a usurious 21-percent loan. This was the kind of financial guidance he\u2019d never had and he now sees that it helped prevent him from making the kinds of monetary missteps that so many family and friends made<\/strong> back in Middletown. JD Vance’s Marine Corps experience taught him to be financially savvy.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It also gave him the means to pay Mamaw back in some small measure for all that she had done to care for him during his childhood. When her health insurance premiums went up, JD was able to give her the extra $300 per month to cover the difference. Mamaw had never accepted anything from him, but he was learning to be the same sort of provider and protector that she had been\u2014and that his mother had never <\/em>been.
<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One fulfilling memory JD has from this period of his life was being able to buy his extended family dinner. Even though it was only Wendy\u2019s fast food, he felt an immense sense of joy and accomplishment watching his loved ones enjoy the meal that he\u2019d paid for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What was life like for Hillbilly Elegy‘s JD Vance in the Marines? What were the lessons of JD Vance’s Marine Corps experience? We’ll cover JD Vance’s Marine Corps experience and how it helped him escape his hillbilly background.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[66],"class_list":["post-5774","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-hillbilly-elegy","","tg-column-two"],"yoast_head":"\nJD Vance\u20144 Marine Corps Lessons Reformed His Hillbilly Ways - Shortform Books<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"What was life like for Hillbilly Elegys JD Vance in the Marines? 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