Al Barrus

Al was born in Anchorage, Alaska, and grew up in Shelton, Wash., where he graduated high school, then started his career serving in the U.S. Army, attending basic combat training in Fort Jackson, S.C., then public affairs specialist training at Fort Meade, Md., and worked in the field as an Army news writer and photographer in Baghdad and Fallujah in Iraq. Al studied computer science at South Puget Sound Community College, North Seattle Community College, then graduated from The Evergreen State College in Olympia, Wash., in 2011 with a Bachelor of the Arts. Later that year Al moved to Saltillo, Mexico, where he taught English and wrote travel articles for an international auto insurance company. 

In 2014 Al started working for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, first as a maintenance clerk at a dam in Libby, Mont., then as a public affairs assistant in Omaha, Neb. During which time he also earned some graduate hours from Colorado State University in organizational studies. In January 2017, Al began working for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service as a public affairs specialist, starting mainly as a social media manager and feature story writer, but these days you'll find him mainly working on communications planning for Endangered Species Act announcements, responding to media queries, and working on stories.