Just watched “Hillbilly Elegy” a movie about some nobody who is now likely going to be vice president. They used an A-list director and cast for what amounted to a boring and campy Lifetime movie. It’s hard to imagine this film was made for commercial purposes.

The budget is estimated at $45 million. $45 million to make a boring movie about some guy nobody’s heard of… …who then less than a year after the release of the film announced he’s running for senate and now, just 3 years after that, is Trump’s VP.

It’s also worth mentioning that the movie is based on JD Vance’s book by the same name. A book that nobody cared about and only had mediocre sales. That is, until the New York Times out of left field wrote an extensive review of the book launching it into best seller territory.

But that’s not all, the New York Times featured multiple articles and interviews with J.D. Vance to discuss his book and his story. They’ve even invited him to contribute to articles as a writer. Yes, that New York Times.

I guess good things happen when you’ve got friends like Peter Thiel, Rebekah Mercer, American Enterprise Institute, The Manhattan Institute, The Hoover Institution, etc.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just dumb poor white trash from Appalachia who enlisted on a whim as a teen during a hot war and gets the cushiest desk post there is. What are the odds.

There are no “desk jobs” for lower enlisted Marines on deployment.

I suggest those of you trashing his four-year military service read this. No, he did not see combat - as he VERY CLEARLY states in this piece. He did, however, learn a lot of very valuable lessons that it appears many of you have never learned.

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-07-16/vance-trump-marines-vice-president-republicans-14505177.html

He very clearly states he was attached to units, when on missions and was in dangerous situations in unsecured areas. He got lucky that is wasn’t injured or killed, but he was most definitely in harms way and putting his life on the line. I worked as an active duty nurse and we had causalities from all different units and MOSs, not just infantry, including some of own nurses. So take a seat and stay in your lane.

PP here and I agree with you. I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Trolls have claimed that Vance made the claim that he "had seen combat," when in reality he had not. I was providing that link to show that he never made that claim - ever - and that in fact, he's very open about what his assignments were. I agree that he was in harm's way merely by being in the military. IOW, he never claimed to be anything he was not, unlike what the trolls would have everyone believe.

JD Vance was a public affairs REMF. He mostly did desk duty and the occasional photo op.

WASHINGTON — Long before J.D. Vance became the Republican nominee for vice president, he was known as Cpl. James D. Hamel, a combat correspondent in the Marine Corps. Vance, now a senator from Ohio, enlisted after graduating from high school in 2003 and served for four years, including a six-month stint in Iraq beginning in late 2005.

He spent his service working in public affairs, writing about Marines and taking photographs of their work, escorting civilian news reporters and speaking about happenings on base. In Iraq, he embedded with different units to get a sense of their daily routines and wrote a story about a crew keeping KC-130J tankers in the air. He also waded into unprotected Iraqi territory with a civil affairs unit to meet with locals.

“I was lucky to escape any real fighting,” Vance wrote of his deployment. In his last nine months in service, Vance said he unexpectedly became a media relations officer at Cherry Point — a position typically reserved for the most senior Marines. The job involved liaising with news media, considered the “holy grail” of Marine Corps public affairs with the “biggest audience and the highest stakes.” “The experience taught me a valuable lesson: That I could do it. I could work 20-hour days when I had to. I could speak clearly and confidently with TV cameras shoved in my face. I could stand in a room with majors, colonels, and generals and hold my own. I could do a captain’s job even when I feared I couldn’t,” he wrote.
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-07-16/vance-trump-marines-vice-president-republicans-14505177.html

Smart dude. Lots of guys get out and end up working in career fields where their job in the service doesn’t translate well in terms of skills.

Sounds like he got something out of it that helped him long term. Not sure why there is so much hate for him here.

DP. It's the way he changed from being a Never Trumper to being all in. It's inauthentic.

Everyone started from that position because DJT didn’t exactly debut in the race as an obvious presidential choice /candidate .

Over time, DJT has become the standard bearer for American labor , populism, and the anti Neo con anti war division of the Republican Party. Trump is one man labor union for the US . He rallies against illegal immigration and international war - both traditionally Republican policies. Remember, Trumps Republican predecessor Dubya was the amnesty and the Iraq war present. What Trumps done by expanding ICE and the federal govt annoys Republican traditionalists and the 1%, but helps white and black America and especially ignored rural and Midwestern Americans get factory jobs. The Democrats are no longer the party of labor . They call these regions the flyover states which shows you all you need to know about their elitism and insensitivity . Trump stops by and doesn’t ignore these states as fly overs and you wonder why they made him a national hero? Dems need to realize their failure isn’t that Trump whacks them over the head with the baton its that they passed the populist baton to someone like Trump in the first place

Well said.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Russ Douhat had a very revealing interview with Vance in The NY Times. Whatever your politics, it’s hard to argue that Biden, Harris, or Trump are nearly as smart or insightful as Vance, who offers nuanced, well formed answers to every question posed:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/opinion/jd-vance-interview.html

This guy seems like an actual intellectual, not a lightweight peddling cliches and poll tested talking points, which is refreshing.

Talk is cheap. He would force his own wife or daughter to bear her rapist's baby. So intellectual! Such nuance! So insightful and well formed!

I like it when he says it is “inconvenient” when a woman becomes pregnant from rape.

Once again:

Vance is opposed to abortion; on the website for his 2022 campaign for the Senate, he declared himself “100 percent pro-life” and called for “eliminating abortion.” However, he said on CNN in December 2023: “We have to accept that people do not want blanket abortion bans. They just don’t. And I say that as a person who wants to protect as many unborn babies as possible. We have to provide exceptions for life of the mother, for rape, and so forth.”
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/10/politics/fact-check-biden-campaign-j-d-vance-heritage-foundation/index.html

He has an anti abortion agenda like trump and the rest of the GOP. That is the GOP now. A losing stance but that is their stance.

+1 And not just anti-abortion, but anti birth control, too.

DP. What are you babbling about? That's just complete bull$hit. From the GOP 2024 platform:

We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments).

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform

Vance voted against a Senate bill to protect access to IVF. Less than a month ago.

Then what’s this?

https://www.britt.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/6.12.24-IVF-Statement_49.pdf

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Russ Douhat had a very revealing interview with Vance in The NY Times. Whatever your politics, it’s hard to argue that Biden, Harris, or Trump are nearly as smart or insightful as Vance, who offers nuanced, well formed answers to every question posed:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/opinion/jd-vance-interview.html

This guy seems like an actual intellectual, not a lightweight peddling cliches and poll tested talking points, which is refreshing.

Talk is cheap. He would force his own wife or daughter to bear her rapist's baby. So intellectual! Such nuance! So insightful and well formed!

I like it when he says it is “inconvenient” when a woman becomes pregnant from rape.

Once again:

Vance is opposed to abortion; on the website for his 2022 campaign for the Senate, he declared himself “100 percent pro-life” and called for “eliminating abortion.” However, he said on CNN in December 2023: “We have to accept that people do not want blanket abortion bans. They just don’t. And I say that as a person who wants to protect as many unborn babies as possible. We have to provide exceptions for life of the mother, for rape, and so forth.”
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/10/politics/fact-check-biden-campaign-j-d-vance-heritage-foundation/index.html

He has an anti abortion agenda like trump and the rest of the GOP. That is the GOP now. A losing stance but that is their stance.

+1 And not just anti-abortion, but anti birth control, too.

DP. What are you babbling about? That's just complete bull$hit. From the GOP 2024 platform:

We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments).

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform

Vance voted against a Senate bill to protect access to IVF. Less than a month ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I DGAF what he did in the military. It's not a get-out-of-jail free card that means we can't judge his character and find him wanting right now. He's not trustworthy.

And no one said anything of the sort, so nice strawman. You can judge him all you want but you can’t deny or diminish the fact that he spent four years as an active duty Marine, as some trolls were desperately trying to do.

Anonymous wrote:I DGAF what he did in the military. It's not a get-out-of-jail free card that means we can't judge his character and find him wanting right now. He's not trustworthy.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just dumb poor white trash from Appalachia who enlisted on a whim as a teen during a hot war and gets the cushiest desk post there is. What are the odds.

There are no “desk jobs” for lower enlisted Marines on deployment.

I suggest those of you trashing his four-year military service read this. No, he did not see combat - as he VERY CLEARLY states in this piece. He did, however, learn a lot of very valuable lessons that it appears many of you have never learned.

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-07-16/vance-trump-marines-vice-president-republicans-14505177.html

He very clearly states he was attached to units, when on missions and was in dangerous situations in unsecured areas. He got lucky that is wasn’t injured or killed, but he was most definitely in harms way and putting his life on the line. I worked as an active duty nurse and we had causalities from all different units and MOSs, not just infantry, including some of own nurses. So take a seat and stay in your lane.

PP here and I agree with you. I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Trolls have claimed that Vance made the claim that he "had seen combat," when in reality he had not. I was providing that link to show that he never made that claim - ever - and that in fact, he's very open about what his assignments were. I agree that he was in harm's way merely by being in the military. IOW, he never claimed to be anything he was not, unlike what the trolls would have everyone believe.

JD Vance was a public affairs REMF. He mostly did desk duty and the occasional photo op.

WASHINGTON — Long before J.D. Vance became the Republican nominee for vice president, he was known as Cpl. James D. Hamel, a combat correspondent in the Marine Corps. Vance, now a senator from Ohio, enlisted after graduating from high school in 2003 and served for four years, including a six-month stint in Iraq beginning in late 2005.

He spent his service working in public affairs, writing about Marines and taking photographs of their work, escorting civilian news reporters and speaking about happenings on base. In Iraq, he embedded with different units to get a sense of their daily routines and wrote a story about a crew keeping KC-130J tankers in the air. He also waded into unprotected Iraqi territory with a civil affairs unit to meet with locals.

“I was lucky to escape any real fighting,” Vance wrote of his deployment. In his last nine months in service, Vance said he unexpectedly became a media relations officer at Cherry Point — a position typically reserved for the most senior Marines. The job involved liaising with news media, considered the “holy grail” of Marine Corps public affairs with the “biggest audience and the highest stakes.” “The experience taught me a valuable lesson: That I could do it. I could work 20-hour days when I had to. I could speak clearly and confidently with TV cameras shoved in my face. I could stand in a room with majors, colonels, and generals and hold my own. I could do a captain’s job even when I feared I couldn’t,” he wrote.
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-07-16/vance-trump-marines-vice-president-republicans-14505177.html

Smart dude. Lots of guys get out and end up working in career fields where their job in the service doesn’t translate well in terms of skills.

Sounds like he got something out of it that helped him long term. Not sure why there is so much hate for him here.

DP. It's the way he changed from being a Never Trumper to being all in. It's inauthentic.

Everyone started from that position because DJT didn’t exactly debut in the race as an obvious presidential choice /candidate .

Over time, DJT has become the standard bearer for American labor , populism, and the anti Neo con anti war division of the Republican Party. Trump is one man labor union for the US . He rallies against illegal immigration and international war - both traditionally Republican policies. Remember, Trumps Republican predecessor Dubya was the amnesty and the Iraq war present. What Trumps done by expanding ICE and the federal govt annoys Republican traditionalists and the 1%, but helps white and black America and especially ignored rural and Midwestern Americans get factory jobs. The Democrats are no longer the party of labor . They call these regions the flyover states which shows you all you need to know about their elitism and insensitivity . Trump stops by and doesn’t ignore these states as fly overs and you wonder why they made him a national hero? Dems need to realize their failure isn’t that Trump whacks them over the head with the baton its that they passed the populist baton to someone like Trump in the first place

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Russ Douhat had a very revealing interview with Vance in The NY Times. Whatever your politics, it’s hard to argue that Biden, Harris, or Trump are nearly as smart or insightful as Vance, who offers nuanced, well formed answers to every question posed:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/opinion/jd-vance-interview.html

This guy seems like an actual intellectual, not a lightweight peddling cliches and poll tested talking points, which is refreshing.

Talk is cheap. He would force his own wife or daughter to bear her rapist's baby. So intellectual! Such nuance! So insightful and well formed!

I like it when he says it is “inconvenient” when a woman becomes pregnant from rape.

Once again:

Vance is opposed to abortion; on the website for his 2022 campaign for the Senate, he declared himself “100 percent pro-life” and called for “eliminating abortion.” However, he said on CNN in December 2023: “We have to accept that people do not want blanket abortion bans. They just don’t. And I say that as a person who wants to protect as many unborn babies as possible. We have to provide exceptions for life of the mother, for rape, and so forth.”
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/10/politics/fact-check-biden-campaign-j-d-vance-heritage-foundation/index.html

He has an anti abortion agenda like trump and the rest of the GOP. That is the GOP now. A losing stance but that is their stance.

+1 And not just anti-abortion, but anti birth control, too.

DP. What are you babbling about? That's just complete bull$hit. From the GOP 2024 platform:

We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments).

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform

Vance voted against a Senate bill to protect access to IVF. Less than a month ago.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just dumb poor white trash from Appalachia who enlisted on a whim as a teen during a hot war and gets the cushiest desk post there is. What are the odds.

There are no “desk jobs” for lower enlisted Marines on deployment.

I suggest those of you trashing his four-year military service read this. No, he did not see combat - as he VERY CLEARLY states in this piece. He did, however, learn a lot of very valuable lessons that it appears many of you have never learned.

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-07-16/vance-trump-marines-vice-president-republicans-14505177.html

He very clearly states he was attached to units, when on missions and was in dangerous situations in unsecured areas. He got lucky that is wasn’t injured or killed, but he was most definitely in harms way and putting his life on the line. I worked as an active duty nurse and we had causalities from all different units and MOSs, not just infantry, including some of own nurses. So take a seat and stay in your lane.

PP here and I agree with you. I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Trolls have claimed that Vance made the claim that he "had seen combat," when in reality he had not. I was providing that link to show that he never made that claim - ever - and that in fact, he's very open about what his assignments were. I agree that he was in harm's way merely by being in the military. IOW, he never claimed to be anything he was not, unlike what the trolls would have everyone believe.

JD Vance was a public affairs REMF. He mostly did desk duty and the occasional photo op.

WASHINGTON — Long before J.D. Vance became the Republican nominee for vice president, he was known as Cpl. James D. Hamel, a combat correspondent in the Marine Corps. Vance, now a senator from Ohio, enlisted after graduating from high school in 2003 and served for four years, including a six-month stint in Iraq beginning in late 2005.

He spent his service working in public affairs, writing about Marines and taking photographs of their work, escorting civilian news reporters and speaking about happenings on base. In Iraq, he embedded with different units to get a sense of their daily routines and wrote a story about a crew keeping KC-130J tankers in the air. He also waded into unprotected Iraqi territory with a civil affairs unit to meet with locals.

“I was lucky to escape any real fighting,” Vance wrote of his deployment. In his last nine months in service, Vance said he unexpectedly became a media relations officer at Cherry Point — a position typically reserved for the most senior Marines. The job involved liaising with news media, considered the “holy grail” of Marine Corps public affairs with the “biggest audience and the highest stakes.” “The experience taught me a valuable lesson: That I could do it. I could work 20-hour days when I had to. I could speak clearly and confidently with TV cameras shoved in my face. I could stand in a room with majors, colonels, and generals and hold my own. I could do a captain’s job even when I feared I couldn’t,” he wrote.
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-07-16/vance-trump-marines-vice-president-republicans-14505177.html

What a coincidence the totally unhooked allegedly poor hick from Ohio got the cushiest gig there is and never saw combat while all the actual white trash men were canon fodder after 9/11. Then has the nerve to boast about his “service” and imply he is some front line ME vet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Russ Douhat had a very revealing interview with Vance in The NY Times. Whatever your politics, it’s hard to argue that Biden, Harris, or Trump are nearly as smart or insightful as Vance, who offers nuanced, well formed answers to every question posed:

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/13/opinion/jd-vance-interview.html

This guy seems like an actual intellectual, not a lightweight peddling cliches and poll tested talking points, which is refreshing.

Talk is cheap. He would force his own wife or daughter to bear her rapist's baby. So intellectual! Such nuance! So insightful and well formed!

I like it when he says it is “inconvenient” when a woman becomes pregnant from rape.

Once again:

Vance is opposed to abortion; on the website for his 2022 campaign for the Senate, he declared himself “100 percent pro-life” and called for “eliminating abortion.” However, he said on CNN in December 2023: “We have to accept that people do not want blanket abortion bans. They just don’t. And I say that as a person who wants to protect as many unborn babies as possible. We have to provide exceptions for life of the mother, for rape, and so forth.”
https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/10/politics/fact-check-biden-campaign-j-d-vance-heritage-foundation/index.html

He has an anti abortion agenda like trump and the rest of the GOP. That is the GOP now. A losing stance but that is their stance.

+1 And not just anti-abortion, but anti birth control, too.

DP. What are you babbling about? That's just complete bull$hit. From the GOP 2024 platform:

We will oppose Late Term Abortion, while supporting mothers and policies that advance Prenatal Care, access to Birth Control, and IVF (fertility treatments).

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2024-republican-party-platform

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just dumb poor white trash from Appalachia who enlisted on a whim as a teen during a hot war and gets the cushiest desk post there is. What are the odds.

There are no “desk jobs” for lower enlisted Marines on deployment.

I suggest those of you trashing his four-year military service read this. No, he did not see combat - as he VERY CLEARLY states in this piece. He did, however, learn a lot of very valuable lessons that it appears many of you have never learned.

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-07-16/vance-trump-marines-vice-president-republicans-14505177.html

He very clearly states he was attached to units, when on missions and was in dangerous situations in unsecured areas. He got lucky that is wasn’t injured or killed, but he was most definitely in harms way and putting his life on the line. I worked as an active duty nurse and we had causalities from all different units and MOSs, not just infantry, including some of own nurses. So take a seat and stay in your lane.

PP here and I agree with you. I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Trolls have claimed that Vance made the claim that he "had seen combat," when in reality he had not. I was providing that link to show that he never made that claim - ever - and that in fact, he's very open about what his assignments were. I agree that he was in harm's way merely by being in the military. IOW, he never claimed to be anything he was not, unlike what the trolls would have everyone believe.

JD Vance was a public affairs REMF. He mostly did desk duty and the occasional photo op.

WASHINGTON — Long before J.D. Vance became the Republican nominee for vice president, he was known as Cpl. James D. Hamel, a combat correspondent in the Marine Corps. Vance, now a senator from Ohio, enlisted after graduating from high school in 2003 and served for four years, including a six-month stint in Iraq beginning in late 2005.

He spent his service working in public affairs, writing about Marines and taking photographs of their work, escorting civilian news reporters and speaking about happenings on base. In Iraq, he embedded with different units to get a sense of their daily routines and wrote a story about a crew keeping KC-130J tankers in the air. He also waded into unprotected Iraqi territory with a civil affairs unit to meet with locals.

“I was lucky to escape any real fighting,” Vance wrote of his deployment. In his last nine months in service, Vance said he unexpectedly became a media relations officer at Cherry Point — a position typically reserved for the most senior Marines. The job involved liaising with news media, considered the “holy grail” of Marine Corps public affairs with the “biggest audience and the highest stakes.” “The experience taught me a valuable lesson: That I could do it. I could work 20-hour days when I had to. I could speak clearly and confidently with TV cameras shoved in my face. I could stand in a room with majors, colonels, and generals and hold my own. I could do a captain’s job even when I feared I couldn’t,” he wrote.
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-07-16/vance-trump-marines-vice-president-republicans-14505177.html

What a coincidence the totally unhooked allegedly poor hick from Ohio got the cushiest gig there is and never saw combat while all the actual white trash men were canon fodder after 9/11. Then has the nerve to boast about his “service” and imply he is some front line ME vet.

Wtf are you talking about. You sound insane.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just dumb poor white trash from Appalachia who enlisted on a whim as a teen during a hot war and gets the cushiest desk post there is. What are the odds.

There are no “desk jobs” for lower enlisted Marines on deployment.

I suggest those of you trashing his four-year military service read this. No, he did not see combat - as he VERY CLEARLY states in this piece. He did, however, learn a lot of very valuable lessons that it appears many of you have never learned.

https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-07-16/vance-trump-marines-vice-president-republicans-14505177.html

He very clearly states he was attached to units, when on missions and was in dangerous situations in unsecured areas. He got lucky that is wasn’t injured or killed, but he was most definitely in harms way and putting his life on the line. I worked as an active duty nurse and we had causalities from all different units and MOSs, not just infantry, including some of own nurses. So take a seat and stay in your lane.

PP here and I agree with you. I think you misunderstood what I was saying. Trolls have claimed that Vance made the claim that he "had seen combat," when in reality he had not. I was providing that link to show that he never made that claim - ever - and that in fact, he's very open about what his assignments were. I agree that he was in harm's way merely by being in the military. IOW, he never claimed to be anything he was not, unlike what the trolls would have everyone believe.

JD Vance was a public affairs REMF. He mostly did desk duty and the occasional photo op.

WASHINGTON — Long before J.D. Vance became the Republican nominee for vice president, he was known as Cpl. James D. Hamel, a combat correspondent in the Marine Corps. Vance, now a senator from Ohio, enlisted after graduating from high school in 2003 and served for four years, including a six-month stint in Iraq beginning in late 2005.

He spent his service working in public affairs, writing about Marines and taking photographs of their work, escorting civilian news reporters and speaking about happenings on base. In Iraq, he embedded with different units to get a sense of their daily routines and wrote a story about a crew keeping KC-130J tankers in the air. He also waded into unprotected Iraqi territory with a civil affairs unit to meet with locals.

“I was lucky to escape any real fighting,” Vance wrote of his deployment. In his last nine months in service, Vance said he unexpectedly became a media relations officer at Cherry Point — a position typically reserved for the most senior Marines. The job involved liaising with news media, considered the “holy grail” of Marine Corps public affairs with the “biggest audience and the highest stakes.” “The experience taught me a valuable lesson: That I could do it. I could work 20-hour days when I had to. I could speak clearly and confidently with TV cameras shoved in my face. I could stand in a room with majors, colonels, and generals and hold my own. I could do a captain’s job even when I feared I couldn’t,” he wrote.
https://www.stripes.com/theaters/us/2024-07-16/vance-trump-marines-vice-president-republicans-14505177.html

What a coincidence the totally unhooked allegedly poor hick from Ohio got the cushiest gig there is and never saw combat while all the actual white trash men were canon fodder after 9/11. Then has the nerve to boast about his “service” and imply he is some front line ME vet.

The military tests recruits when they join the service. I find it reasonable to believe that a guy who eventually went to Yale Law and wrote a best-selling book without a ghostwriter was able to shine on the military standardized tests in the area of language ability, leading to the media relations job. Honestly, my guess is that many recruits (especially the ones without college degrees) do NOT do well on standardized tests of langague ability.