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LOGAR PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Ask Chief Warrant Officer 4 Walter Jones why he serves and he will tell you “It’s all about flying and soldiers.”
Jones, born in Mountain Home, ID., is serving in Afghanistan as an aviation maintenance officer with D Company, 5th Battalion, 101st Combat Aviation Brigade. Jones enlisted in the Army at the age of eighteen and after completing basic training in 1969, went on to Fort Rucker to become a Huey crew chief. Soon after that he found himself assigned to the 162nd Assault Helicopter Company in Can Tu, Vietnam.
One day during a mission his aircraft started to receive small arms fire. Rounds struck the helicopter's fuel cell, and the aircraft immediately caught fire. The helicopter began to spin about 200 feet above the ground.
Jones braced for impact and was knocked unconscious.
He was injured and spent ten months recovering in the hospital. During this time he made an important decision.
“That experience really made me focus on what I wanted to do with my life,” said Jones, “I wanted to make a career out of the Army.”
The Army re-classified him as a telephone line repairman and stationed him with the 82nd Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C. Having valuable combat experience as a Huey crew chief in Vietnam, he quickly found his way back into aviation.
This was also his first experience with the Cold War during the Arab-Israeli War in 1973.He remembers sitting on the green ramp being on standby to support Israel if needed, but Israel did not require it.
While at Fort Bragg he saw the experimental balsa wood full scale model of the future UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter. He pointed to one of his buddies and said, ”I am going to fly that one day.”
“And I did,” said Jones, now a veteran Black Hawk pilot.
In 1975, he graduated from flight school. The 101st Airborne Division was next on his horizon. Assigned to the D Company, 158th Assault Helicopter Battalion, it was here where with the ‘Ghostriders’ that his dream of flying Black Hawks became a reality. D Company was the first unit in the Army to receive the UH-60, and in 1979 he became one of the first pilots to go through the UH-60 qualification course.
“The 101st set the standard as far as Army aviation goes,” remarks Jones. “101st is the only way to go, it sets the standards for air assaults.”
After assignments in Korea, Hawaii and Texas Jones found his way back to Fort Campbell, Ky., when the 6th Attack Training Battalion returned to the home of the 101st to become the 2nd/101st Attack Battalion.
Jones retired from active duty service out of Fort Campbell in 1993. After his retirement, he went to work for contractors in Saudi Arabia, where he continued to fly.
In 1999 his wife, Diane, gave him an ultimatum.
“She told me, ‘If you are going to leave again don’t bother coming home,’” recalled Jones
So he took a job working once again at Fort Campbell for DynCorp in 2001. Being back on a military base, working around Soldiers and only being responsible for the maintenance of aircraft, Jones saw significant differences between his life as a Soldier and as a civilian.
“Being around the [Soldiers] and working a nine to five job as a civilian is different,” he said, “When you are working as a civilian, nine times out of 10, the people you work with you don’t associate with off the job; whenever your shift is done you are on your way.”
Jones started to miss the camaraderie and sense of family that comes with military service. Diane could also sense that her husband missed his old life.
“When he retired, I did not think that he would serve again, “ said Diane, “ but it wasn't long before I knew that he missed it and regretted retiring.”
Walter and Diane, who just celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary, grew up in military families with both their fathers having served in the Air Force.
“To be honest, I had missed the military also,” said Diane, “Growing up in the Air Force, the military is all we both had ever known. “
In 2004, Jones decided it was time to make a change. He made a plan and decided to talk to Diane about the financial benefits of going back onto active duty service.
“I get emotional when I think about it,” said Walter. “She looked me in the eyes and said, ‘You want to fly again.’ If I ever mention going contract maintenance overseas again she will say no. But I can deploy as many times as I want. She is a military wife all the way through.”
Walter applied to come back on active duty through the voluntary recall program.
One of the forms he was had to fill out was the Army “Dream Sheet.” When asked to fill out his top three choices, Walter only had one place he wanted to go — Fort Campbell.
“I told them it was 101st, no ifs, ands or buts about it, “ said Jones.
In January 2005, Jones went to the replacement company at Fort Campbell and was sent to his unit. Walter was sent to the same unit he has served in almost 30 years before. It was something he did not expect to happen.
“When I came back in, I did not ask for any unit in particular I just wanted to get back into the air assault, back into the ‘Hawks flying again,” said Jones. “Whoever did it I thank them.”
It was a homecoming for Jones and he could not have been happier about it.
Having served with the 101st Combat Aviation Brigade for the past 7 years, Jones has deployed with the 101 CAB four times. This current deployment is his third to Afghanistan.
With 32 years of active duty service under his belt, Jones will tell you that not much has changed since his days of serving in Vietnam.
“I look back and the biggest difference is that the equipment and technology is so much more complicated,” said Jones. “I think it was a simpler time back then. Young soldiers have to be a lot smarter to do the same job we did back then. I admire these young Soliders so much for what they are dealing and working with.”
If anything, Jones is a shining example of someone doing what they love every day?
“He has been happy being back in the Army and doing a job that he loves,” said Diane. “I am happy that he has been able to do what he loves.”
| Date Taken: | 10.21.2012 |
| Date Posted: | 10.21.2012 08:37 |
| Story ID: | 96515 |
| Location: | LOGAR PROVINCE, AF |
| Web Views: | 133 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Vietnam veteran still serving his country, by MAJ Christina Wright, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
