Keepin' up with Jones (and his journey to the 931st)

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Jason Schaap
MCCONNELL AIR FORCE BASE, Kan. --  If an airplane was involved, the young Barry Jones was there. Watching. Sometimes for hours.

John Wayne would be flying into war and "I would be glued to the TV," said Jones, now a lieutenant colonel and new commander of the 931st Operations Support Flight.
 
Wanting to be a pilot is part of Colonel Jones' earliest memories. 

His Air Force story began in South Carolina, where many Saturdays of his youth were spent watching air battles in old war movies. Where his family went to the airport to pick up his uncle on leave from the Air Force. The same uncle who mailed him patches and other mementos from the flying world.
 
Colonel Jones' long journey to the 931st shaped the commander he was to become. But it did not always follow predictable paths.

He followed high school with college, but that didn't stick. "Running out of motivation and (money)," he decided to enlist. He did well on an aptitude test and an Air Force recruiter said he could choose what job he wanted.
 
"Ok, I want admin," he responded, knowing that an administrative position would likely give him predictable work hours and time at night to go back to school. 

"Before the Air Force taught me to fly, it taught me to type," Jones later joked with people. 

Getting a degree, becoming a pilot, was always the light at the end of the tunnel. Every morning at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., he looked at the two lieutenant bars and pilot wings that he hung on his barracks room wall.
 
"They're never going to let you fly," his enlisted buddies scoffed when they saw the display.
 
Airman Jones' commander thought otherwise. Lt. Col. Bob Graham (now retired) saw promise in him. He brought Jones along during tours around the unit. A mentorship began.
 
"(Colonel Graham) learned something about everybody," Colonel Jones said. "It wasn't about him. It was about the people who worked for him."

It was Colonel Graham who put Jones in a fighter jet for the first time. An incentive flight in an F-4 Phantom. 

"Man, that cinched it right there," Colonel Jones said, remembering how the thunderous F-4 blew away any doubts he had about becoming a pilot. "This is what I want to do," he decided. 

Col. Edsel A. "Archie" Frye Jr., 931st Air Refueling Group commander, met Jones a few years later at Barksdale Air Force Base, La. Colonel Frye was an A-10 Thunderbolt instructor pilot and Jones was a "persistent first lieutenant who wanted to fly A-10's," Col. Frye remembered. 

Jones became an A-10 pilot in July, 1998. His persistence paid off. 

To Colonel Frye, Jones is still a young Airman, awe-struck by an F-4 ride, deciding he wants to do something and never looking back. He knows Colonel Jones will accomplish the mission. 

"That's what we need as we try to grow this unit," Colonel Frye said. "There's a reason I like him: he's just that good." 

Like Colonel Frye, Colonel Jones said, he sees himself at the bottom of an upside-down pyramid. They both believe in "servant leadership." The people under their care are their top priority. 

"I won't ask you to do something I wouldn't do," Colonel Jones said. "If the trash needs to be taken out, I'll take it out...literally. What matters is that we get the job done." 

When his job is done for the day, Colonel Jones said he's probably one of two places: the gym or home with his family. His wife, Lisa, is from Kansas. They met when he worked for the Air National Guard at McConnell in the mid-90's. The K in Kanon, his oldest son, is for Kansas.

Although "it's still cold" here, he somewhat lamented, Colonel Jones likes Kansas. Just don't expect to see him wearing a Kansas Jayhawk or K-State purple. A self-proclaimed college football fanatic, his loyalty lies with his alma matter, the University of Georgia.

So if it's Saturday, and Bulldog football is involved, the Jones family is there. At home. Glued to the TV. Tailgating.


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Click here to see Colonel Jones' in the Spirt Spotlight.