When I was in the second grade pronouncing my name “Wachael Wiley,” I never conceived of a career beginning with the letter R.
Decades later, here I am — speech impediment conquered, and almost 15 years as a reporter.
I started at papers across my home state of Texas in the mid-2000s, moved to North Carolina in September 2016, and have been at The Fayetteville Observer since July 2018.
I’m frequently asked what brought me to Fayetteville, and my response is “to write about the military.”
Here are a few of the other top questions I’ve been asked during the past five years I’ve lived here.
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Do you have a spouse in the military?
No. I have no immediate connection to the Army, which helps me to remain neutral in my reporting. Indirectly, like a lot of people here, I’ve had multiple family members who served including my dad, who was in the Navy decades before my existence; a cousin who served in the Marine Corps; another cousin who served in the Air Force; an uncle who served in the Arkansas National Guard; and my maternal grandfather who served in the Army — more about him in a later response.