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NEWS | Feb. 3, 2020

Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jacquelyn Jones: Living her dream career out loud

By Annette P. Gomes U.S. Army Warrior Care and Transition

Chief Warrant Officer 4 Jacquelyn Jones couldn’t have written a better script for her life. She simply had one goal in mind: find a career that would let her use her skills and see the world.

“I wanted a career where I could use my foreign language skills, payoff student loan debt, see the world and obtain skills for civilian employment. I experienced some of that travel as a Navy dependent.” Jones said.

Enlisting in the Army became the vessel to help her achieve that goal. She speaks four languages: Russian, Spanish, French and Serbo-Croatian. Her nearly 30-year career in the Army Reserve deployed her to Operation Desert Storm and Operation Iraqi Freedom in Iraq and assignments to Kuwait and Okinawa, Japan.

However, severe damage to her ankle from years of wear and tear resulted in her receiving a titanium joint and changing her way of life.

“Honestly, it is hard to accept having physical limitations. I wish I could still run. I struggle to walk some days. Things could have turned out much worse for me, had it not been for my experience at the Warrior Transition Battalion at Fort Belvoir in Virginia.” Jones said. “I was extremely lucky. I benefited from having good people to support me when I was struggling.”

During her recovery period at the WTB, the Iowa native started preparing for a career change. She began researching and preparing herself for her next mission in life through the Career and Education Readiness Program.

In 2017, Jones completed a nine week Cyber Common Technical Core Course along with a Cyber Protection Team Course. She also began a position as a traffic analysis technician with the National Capital Region Cyber Protection Center, a unit under the Army Reserve Cyber Operations Group (ARCOG), 335th Signal Command (Theater). In addition to those courses, she completed her Master’s Degree in Cyber Security and has returned to duty with her Reserve unit.

In December of 2019, now fully recovered, Jones was promoted to chief warrant officer four and will soon take on a new position as a Cyber Operations Technician.

‘It’s been quite the journey these past few years, but it makes me appreciate my accomplishments even more.”