So yes, it is true– JD Vance was also an NCO, as I mentioned in the Tim Walz cartoon. Vance was a member of the US Marine Corps, while Walz was in the US Army.

Vance was also a Corporal, which in the US military system is “pay grade Enlisted-4”, or E-4. There is a sort of mystique about servicemembers of that grade. They seem to have a network of gossip and inside knowledge that feels like a mafia family.

While they are junior enlisted, they have been in for a couple of years and have acquired a wisdom that seems to bewilder younger troops. They always seem to know how to disappear just before a Sergeant shows up to put people to work– sneaking off like Gollum to hide somewhere and smoke a cigarette or just goof off.

It’s no magic, though– an E-4 has been in long enough that he or she knows how to “read the room”, so to speak, and know when busybody NCO’s or officers are about to make peoples’ lives miserable. The truth is, they got caught too many times and have now become wily like a fox.

So if JD Vance still has his E-4 instincts, he’ll magically know to avoid situations that may be uncomfortable or difficult, and sneak off for a smoke where he can be left in peace.

If anyone can ditch a Secret Service security detail, it will be an E-4.