Hillbilly Elegy

month into my training, I had a nasty
exchange with a drill instructor, who
took me aside for a half hour, forcing me
to alternate jumping jacks, sit-ups, and
short sprints until I was completely
exhausted. It was par for the course in
boot camp, something nearly everyone
faced at one point or another. If anything,
I was lucky to have avoided it for so
long. “Dearest J.D.,” Mamaw wrote
when she learned of the incident, “I must
say I have been waiting for them dick
face bastards to start on you—and now
they have. Words aren’t invented to
describe how they piss me off.... You
just keep on doing the best you can do
and keep thinking about this stupid