Fifteen years ago, Johnny Joey Jones’ life took a dramatic turn when he stepped on an IED in Afghanistan. The blast claimed both of his legs and the life of a brother-in-arms, Corporal Daniel Greer. Yet for Jones, every August 6th isn’t marked by sorrow, but by gratitude and determination.
“It’s my Alive Day,” says Jones, now 38 and a Fox News contributor. “We treat it like a birthday. We’re grateful and we’re driven to do something meaningful.”
The Day That Changed Everything
On that fateful August morning in 2010, Jones was a 24-year-old Marine Staff Sergeant clearing explosives in Safar Bazaar. In just five days, he and his bomb disposal partner had found over 30 IEDs. Taliban forces had packed the area with deadly traps, hoping to cause maximum harm even after their retreat.
“We were working hard,” Jones recalls. “That day, Corporal Greer asked me to help check a storage unit. While examining a flare, I stepped on an IED.”
The explosion threw him backward. “The first thing I did was feel my face. I wasn’t sure if it was even there anymore,” he says.
Both legs were lost above the knee. His right forearm was nearly detached, and his left arm was pinned beneath his body. For a moment, he feared he’d lost that too.
Jones initially thought Greer had just been knocked out. But when he woke up two days later in a German hospital, he was met with a nurse’s calm smile — and the heartbreaking reality.
“She told me, ‘You’ve lost both legs above the knee. But don’t worry, you’ll walk again,’” he remembers. “She set the tone for my recovery. If she’d told me then that my friend was gone, I might not have found the strength to keep going.”
From the Brink to a New Beginning
Jones spent nearly a year in grueling recovery at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
“Doctors had to reattach my muscles in new places,” he explains. “The hardest part wasn’t the surgeries — it was the frustration and pain, and learning how to move forward with what I had left.”
Jones had powerful reasons to fight. A newborn son. A devoted family. And a promise to honor the life of Daniel Greer.
“I didn’t resent losing my legs,” he says. “I owed it to Dan, and to myself, to make something of it.”
And he did. Jones earned a degree from Georgetown University, joined Fox News in 2019, and became a trusted voice on issues from veterans’ affairs to American culture — all delivered with the unmistakable southern drawl of his hometown, Dalton, Georgia.
“I come from a place where cows outnumber people,” he jokes. “When I speak, people hear a voice that sounds like theirs. They come up to me and say, ‘Thanks for saying what we’re thinking.’”
A Mission to Serve and Inspire
Beyond TV, Jones sits on the board of Boot Campaign, helping veterans heal from trauma and chronic pain. This weekend, he’ll spend his Alive Day in Madison, Mississippi, speaking at a Warrior Bonfire Program retreat for fellow Purple Heart recipients.
“Working on my Alive Day matters,” he says. “I’m here, I’m speaking, and I’m helping.”
When the retreat ends, he’ll head home to his family: son Joseph, daughter Margo, and wife Meg. The two were high school sweethearts, and after some time apart, married in 2012.
“She’s helped me grow up,” Jones says of Meg. “She taught me to put others first. The Marine Corps taught me the rest.”
A Story of Resilience and Remembrance
Jones shares more of his journey in his 2023 memoir, Unbroken Bonds of Battle. It’s not just his story — it’s also a tribute to the friends and fellow warriors who shaped his path, including Stacy Greer, Daniel’s widow.
At its core, Jones’ story is one of survival, determination, and using life’s second chances to make a difference.
“Alive Day is a reminder,” he says. “I made it through. So now, let’s make it count.”
