Chattanoogan: Joe Hendrix – Living Large

“Our nation had just been attacked. I was searching for a purpose in life and I wanted to do something about it,” Joe Hendrix explains of his life-changing path. After having a chaotic upbringing, he could have let it hold him back or cause him to settle for mediocrity.

But it was his hard work, determination and a supportive older sister that helped pave the way to overcome insurmountable obstacles.

When Joe was younger, his father suffered with alcoholism, which resulted in undiagnosed depressions for his mother. “My dad had a history of being abusive emotionally and when he drank – it just made it worse,” Joe admits.

Instead of having youthful dreams of being a police officer or fireman, Joe’s only aspiration was to have a better life. “There had to be something better than what my parents were living. I wanted to be influential and I wanted to matter,” he says.

Joe’s parents divorced when he was 15 and quitting high school was inevitable. The dysfunctional family had struggled but if it had been an easier life Joe may not have the fortitude he has now to make things happen. He felt he needed to get a job and “just get out”.

“My sister being 11 years older than me was a very big influence in my life. Stacy was about five steps ahead of me and she was able to encourage, guide me and give me direction. She helped me build confidence in order to go to college. We both had the same childhood but she had self-determination,” Joe declares.  

He moved in with his sister and worked in a retail sporting goods store. Stacy encouraged her little brother to take classes and study for his GED. “I was petrified to take the test. I was afraid I’d fail it and it would destroy my confidence and, I really did have dreams of going to college,” Joe insists. “Stacy told me to just go down there and take the test and see what happens. So I did and I passed it. I did fairly well at it – and that helped build my confidence,” Joe says.

He enrolled in Chattanooga State, but with his lack of education Joe was advised to take several developmental courses which did not go towards his degree. “I was looking at about two years of doing this before I would be on any kind of college level toward a degree. My ACT scores were very low. They measure your academic level to put you on a path so you can be stable academically for college courses,” Joe maintains.  

“Shortly after, I had about 20 hours of courses that did count toward my degree – and then Sept. 11^th happened. That was an opportunity for me to enlist and I saw that it was something that was bigger than myself,” Joe reveals.

"I was positioned well because I was single, young and didn’t have any debt. I knew if I could join the military, not only could I help protect our nation but I could also get money for college,” Joe contends. 

It was a struggle for Joe, having started off a little behind and trying to work full time and attend college. Joining the Army in 2002 put Joe on a path that would change his life.

“I knew I would end up going to Iraq or Afghanistan. I left for basic training and one year later I was given a permanent duty station in Washington state out in Tacoma and I left for Iraq in November 2003.

After a couple of weeks in Iraq, Joe became very ill and was hospitalized three months later. Packed full of medication and steroids, Joe was not getting any better and was sent to Germany for more tests.

“I didn’t want to leave Iraq. I knew that if I said something about being ill, that was what would happen. The thought of going through all this training and leaving my brothers and sisters behind was just not something I wanted to do.  I fought going to the hospital, but trying to hide my illness was going to cause more harm than good. I ended up having to get a medical discharge from the military,” Joe states.

Having his large intestines removed and multiple surgeries, it took about a year for Joe to completely recover.

In 2005 he moved back home to Ooltewah and applied with the Veteran’s Administration program. Instead of using the GI bill to finish college, Joe chose a rehabilitation program through the VA.

“This particular illness could have kept me from getting adequate employment. The VA is good to be supportive and put you in training – it meant a college degree for me. I went through the VA’s vocational educational program and they paid for me to go to Lee University,” Joe says.

“It was the first time in several years where I did not have an enormous amount of stress. After all the things I had been through, this was a time to breathe and focus on where it was that I wanted to go and how I was going to get there. I was able to go to school full time and just kind of decompress and take a step back from all that I had just been through,” Joe attests.

“In 2007 I got an internship on Capitol Hill in Washington with Congressman Joe Pitts’ office. I was able to use my military experience, be of some influence and work with the press secretary. That was probably one of the most life-changing experiences I have ever had,” Joe professes.

“This was an instant fit for me. I was introduced to a former staff for Joe Pitts named Ken Miller. Ken worked for the Congressman for nine years and was executive director of the electronic warfare and information operations association. 

“He invited me to come over and help build public relations. While it wasn’t a lot of money it was a position. It was a contract job. It was a way for me to be connected to D.C. and to gain experience. I helped them set up a website and social media and helped develope some publications. Here I was still in college and I was building a real world experience,” Joe expresses.

“It was instrumental in putting me in areas I had never been before. I was going to meetings with three-star generals, and influencing legislation on Capitol Hill. This was literally life changing. It was a way of solidifying the fact that for the first time I was on a path that was so different than what my parents had been on."

His sister Stacy says, “I'm so proud of his accomplishments. He loves God, his family and his country. Joe just has a heart of gold.”

Just before Joe had gone to D.C. for the internship he went to Europe on a cross-cultural trip required by Lee University. “There was a period between the end of that trip and the beginning of me going to Washington to work on Capitol Hill, where I was not in school. You don’t get the VA money during the summer if you aren’t taking classes. I had to get a job, I had to get it fast and it had to be temporary,” Joe insists.

“The only thing I could find that would hire me temporarily was a little company in Chattanooga contracted with EPB,” Joe says and then smiles, “I am standing there with a hard hat on, making seven or eight bucks an hour by holding a sign that said stop and go - flipping it back and forth.  Then less than a week later, I am in a suit on Capitol Hill influencing a congressional office,” Joe laughs. 

“I came out of that first meeting amused. One of the staff for Congressman Pitts asked me what I was laughing about. I said, ‘Do you know what I was doing this time last week?’ I told him that I was flipping a stop and go sign back and forth and now I am on Capitol Hill.’ I said to him, “I am having a moment… so let me just have my moment’,” Joe chuckles.

“When I worked with AOC, there was a flight simulator that I had an opportunity to fly. I am quite proud of myself because I landed on the aircraft carrier.  It’s an exact replica of flying the Boeing EA-18 Growler at Andrew’s Air Force base in Maryland,” Joe states.

When Joe got the job with AOC, graduating became difficult. “I was traveling back and forth to Washington, driving and flying, attending conferences throughout the nation to do the publications and the tasks they asked me to do. I would have graduated from Lee in two years, but it took me an extra year because I was working. I finally graduated and got a full time position in Washington, with a PR firm right on K Street," he said.

While working for the PR firm, Joe had the opportunity to go to the White House. “Our firm led, implemented and executed the Martin Luther King memorial dedication on the National Mall last October, project-managing it from beginning to end,” Joe says. “We had to work with the White House advance team, getting microphones and cameras set up, implementing security strategies …all those things," he said.

“Once again, it was one of those times where you step back and you just can’t believe that you’re doing this. You just realize all the hard work you put in and all the risks that you have taken. I was at the White House, standing in the back yard and I thought, ‘I’m invited to be here and the Secret Service isn’t going to tackle me!’  You look out at the gate and see people looking in knowing that – that’s going to be you again, but for right now - you are on the White House lawn!’ Joe exclaims, “It was one of the greatest moments.”

Joe was growing a bit leery of how expensive D.C. was and felt like it may be time for him to do something different.

“I saw online that Scottie Mayfield was considering running for Congress. Scottie is incredibly well known, he had a bio that is impressive and I thought this could be something good. I emailed Tommy Harper my resume telling him that I was in D.C. and I asked if he was looking for a communications director for the campaign,” Joe says. “I didn’t even know if I would get a response at all. Through a series of emails, Tommy wound up in D.C. after about two weeks. We had a good meeting and I felt good about being a part of it.”

Scottie lost to Chuck Fleischmann. After losing the race, Joe was asked by his peers if he would continue in politics. “I most likely will not get involved with politics similar to what I did with running a campaign. It was incredible but I saw things that were troubling to me in terms with how the game is played - and it is a game,” Joe admits. “It was tough to watch this wonderful guy that I had made an investment with continue to take a beating in the media for certain things fabricated and simply not true. It was tough to watch. Scottie handled it a lot better than I did.”

Joe then had an opportunity to be a political strategist with a firm but decided not to go that direction.

“After the campaign ended, I applied for a job with Area203 as a senior public relations specialist. I could tell immediately that I was supposed to be there and I think they felt the same way; it was just an instant fit,” Joe insists. He will begin this new endeavor toward the end of this month.

Proud of her brother’s achievements Stacy says, “Life is an ongoing adventure for him and he sees no boundaries toward reaching his goals.”

Looking back, Joe says, “When I was in basic training and that drill sergeant was in my face I knew that it was going to lay a foundation for the rest of my life.  And that is exactly what has happened. The last 10 years have been so incredibly intense – one wrong move and it could change your life forever. I was blessed enough to have a sister who supported me, guided me and put me on a path for success.”