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Tom Jones

Lieutenant General Noel T (Tom) Jones (USAF Ret) retired from the Air Force in 2015 as the Vice Commander of US Air Forces in Europe and Africa. In that position, he was responsible for the oversight of 24,000 members in seven operating bases in five European countries. During his three years as the USAF/AFAFRICA Vice Commander, he participated in and often oversaw the USAF response to world events that included the attack on the US consulate in Benghazi, the Russian invasion of the Crimean peninsula, the Ebola crisis in Africa, and the European Infrastructure Consolidation effort to reduce military bases in Europe. He was charged with formulating the command’s response to Congress’s sequestration law that forced a 27% reduction in headquarters manning and reorganizations across the command…a daunting task that he accomplished while ensuring no interruption of mission capability.

Tom served more than 35 years on active duty. After retiring from the Air Force, he spent 2016 as the Interim Aviation Director for the City of San Antonio before returning to his family in north Louisiana, where he currently resides. He is the owner of Tom Jones Consulting, LLC, a Commissioner on the John K Kelley Grand Bayou Reservoir and a Commissioner of the Red River Parish 911 Communications Committee. In 2018 he began serving as a Senior Mentor for the Air Force, one of a very select few who were asked to do so.

Tom entered active duty in 1980 as a graduate of the US Air Force Academy. He commanded at the squadron, group and twice at the wing level…one in combat during IRAQI FREEDOM, one in peacetime as a Brigadier General. Tom had distinctly unique assignments as a General Officer. As the commander at Luke AFB, he led the Air Force’s largest Fighter Wing, overseeing a massive base and its infrastructure and providing F-16 training for the Air Force with over 200 aircraft and 20+ squadrons. He served for two years as the Deputy Director of the Central Security Service (military workforce for the National Security Agency (NSA)) where he marshaled the efforts of 16,000 military cryptologists and cyber professionals in support of national and service intelligence requirements and participated in the standup of US Cyber Command. He also served one year in Baghdad with the US Forces-Iraq as the Director of Plans and Assessments (J-5). In this role he directed planning to execute the Presidential order to drawdown all US forces from Iraq by the end of 2011 and led the assessment of all operations, combat, and non-combat, to determine effectiveness in achieving the commander’s stated objectives. This was the largest and most complex redeployment of US forces since WWII. He later served as the Director of Air Force Requirements at the Pentagon where he established policy for operational capabilities-based requirements and supported commands in developing and evaluating the requirements for modernization programs including fighters, bombers, mobility aircraft, space systems, command, and control, munitions, and cyber requirements.

Tom has been married for 40 years to the former Deborah Kana of San Antonio TX. They have two children; Tommy (33 years old) and Danielle (32 years old) and three grandchildren.