Hillbilly Elegy

Corps assignments. This was something
else entirely. As a friend joked, I had a
face for radio, and I wasn’t prepared for
live TV interviews about happenings on
base. The Marine Corps threw me to the
wolves. I struggled a bit at first—
allowing some photographers to take
photos of a classified aircraft; speaking
out of turn at a meeting with senior
officers—and I got my ass chewed. My
boss, Shawn Haney, explained what I
needed to do to correct myself. We
discussed how to build relationships
with the press, how to stay on message,
and how to manage my time. I got better,
and when hundreds of thousands flocked
to our base for a biannual air show, our