J.D. Vance visits the 121st Air Refueling Wing at Rickenbacker Air National Guard Base in Ohio in May 2023. (Ralph Branson/U.S. Air National Guard)
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.
The experience “taught me how to live like an adult,” Vance wrote in his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.” It also reportedly makes him the first Marine veteran to be a vice-presidential candidate.
“It was the Marine Corps that first gave me an opportunity to truly fail, made me take that opportunity, and then, when I did fail, gave me another chance anyway.”
— J.D. Vance
Vance, 39, served with the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing at Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina, according to his service record. He enlisted, never having run a mile continuously or knowing how to manage money.
“When I joined the Marine Corps, I did so in part because I wasn’t ready for adulthood,” Vance wrote in his book. “I didn’t know how to balance a checkbook, much less how to complete the financial aid forms for college.”
By the time Vance was discharged, he said he could run three miles in 19 minutes and had learned how to compare banks, shop around for a loan and make wise financial decisions.
“It was the Marine Corps that first gave me an opportunity to truly fail, made me take that opportunity, and then, when I did fail, gave me another chance anyway,” Vance wrote.
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.
He earned several awards in uniform, including a Marine Corps Good Conduct Medal and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, according to his service record.
Vance said he left the Marines in 2007 with a sense of purpose and a catchphrase — “Giving it my all” — that was repeatedly drilled into him by the Marine Corps.
He took the mantra to heart the first time he ran three miles, in a “mediocre” 25 minutes. A senior drill instructor greeted Vance at the finish line, told him, “If you’re not puking, you’re lazy” and ordered him to sprint back and forth.
“I was heaving, barely able to catch my breath,” Vance wrote. “‘That’s how you should feel at the end of every run!’ he yelled. In the Marines, giving it your all was a way of life.”
