Mark “Ranger” Jones is a retired Master Sergeant who describes his experience in the military as “living the dream.”
While in his sophomore year of college Ranger joined the Army as a cook with the Airborne Rangers because of his wife (and high school sweetheart) Lorries medical condition, she had suffered an aneurism and he wanted to be able to provide her with good medical benefits.
Before arriving at the Fort Benning Jump School Ranger had no idea that he would have to jump out of a perfectly good aircraft. Ranger has said “It was probably noon, but it was my first night jump because my eyes were closed tight the whole way down.”
In addition to serving in Desert Storm, Desert Shield and the Haitian Campaign, Ranger Jones went on to become the Senior Aide to the Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff, General Hugh Shelton. In his US Army career Jones has completed more than 4,000 airborne jumps, even jumping with former President Bush.
Interesting Facts:
To this day, Ranger Jones remains the only Airborne and High Altitude, Low Opening (HALO) jump-qualified cook in US Army history.
After his retirement Ranger Jones continued to be a strong advocate for service men and women alike, recently he appeared in the Veterans Business Journal to discuss opportunities in the Federal Government for Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Businesses and has assisted in a major ad campaign for the US Army’s recruiting efforts.
Mark “Ranger” Jones in Todays Military Ad
Jones serves as a Board Member for the Greater Southeast Hospital Foundation and Salute America’s Heroes Foundation as well as the Fisher House™ Foundation.
“You can’t judge an individual by how much money they make, but you can always judge someone by their character,” Jones has said, and it’s obvious that he applies this to his company The Ranger Group.
“The Ranger Group is a global general construction and commissioning services company founded in 2006 by U.S. Army veteran Mark “Ranger” Jones. It is a Service Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business (SDVOSB) company as well as a certified Minority Business Enterprise (MBE) with Virginia-Certified Small Minority Owned Business (SWaM), Maryland Department of Transportation® (MDOT), and South Central Texas Regional Certification Agency™ (SCTRCA).” – http://www.ranger-group.com/
The Ranger Group Foundation is a proud supporter of the Fisher House(TM) Foundation, with Ranger Jones serving on the Board of Trustees. The Fisher House(TM) is an organization that shares our commitment to military and veteran communities and their families, providing a “home-away-from-home” for more than 10,000 families of patients receiving care at major military and Veterans Affairs Medical Centers. Our support also included negotiating a new roof for the West Palm Beach, FL Fisher House(TM) at no cost. To find out more about the program or to contribute to the Fisher House(TM), please visit www.fisherhouse.org
Ranger with Ken Fisher in Iraq 2008, visiting troops and hospitals to learn first hand how to better help Soldiers in their time of need.
The Life Chest team had the pleasure of spending this years Grand Prix in Michigan with Mark “Ranger” Jones.