By: Ava
Carey was born November 27, 1974 and she is 44 years old. Carey’s middle name is Jennete and her full name is Carey Jennete Jones. Carey Jones was raised in an Army family and wanted to be a tank commander like her father, but at that time, women were not allowed to be in combat positions. Carey decided to pursue a career as a math professor instead. Carey joined ROTC in 1992 with a math scholarship to the University of North Carolina at Chapell Hills where she realized she loved the Air Force, the people, the mission and the environment.
Shortly after joining ROTC, the Air Force allowed fighter aircraft positions to women and Carey immediately knew she wanted to pursue that! A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training. Carey first applied to become a Weapons Systems Officer (WSO, pronounced “Wizzo”) and flew in the back seat of an F-15E Strike Eagle for 5 years where she operated the weapon systems of the aircraft. Carey later went to pilot training to pursue being a fighter pilot.
Carey became a fighter pilot in 1998 and has flown in Alaska, North Carolina, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, Mississippi, Spain, Turkey, Iraq, Kuwait and Afghanistan and many other locations in the United States. Carey has flown the F-15C and F-15E, but her favorite plane is the F-15C because she loves blowing stuff up and because the F-15C is so strong that it has never been shot down, because of that it is often referred to as the” Mighty Mighty”.
Carey’s favorite thing about being a fighter pilot is problem solving, like when her plane breaks, she loves to problem solve to see what is wrong with it.What Carey enjoys is the smart people she gets to work with.
Most fighter pilots have call signs, but they don’t get to choose their callsign. Once fighter pilots complete their training and are considered mission capable in their fighter squadron, their squadron mates will hold a naming ceremony where everyone tells funny stories about you. The pilots come up with different names that capture the story (or in most cases multiple stories) of the individual. Carey has had two callsigns. When Carey was a WSO in the F-15E they called her “TAC,” but when she became a fighter pilot her new fighter family named her Mamba, which she likes a lot.
Carey met her husband in pilot training, and they flew together for years and were the first married fighter pilot couple to fly together at her squadron in Alaska. Careys husband later became a thunderbird and is now an airline pilot.
Today Carey Jones is the first female commander of the 47th Operations Group in Laughlin Air Force Base, in Texas. Carey still flies and is also a flight instructor where she teaches pilots how to fly the T-6. Once these pilots are more advanced, they move onto a T-38C.
Carey has two children named Tally and Jet. Her children are both girls and they are both 9 years old. One thing Carey really enjoys is to sing at a church and do karaoke. Careys, favorite food is sushi and she likes to spend lots of time with her family.
Being a fighter pilot is a cool job but being a female fighter pilot is awesome. Mamba continues to make a difference in the fighter pilot community while balancing being a mom and a fighter pilot can be hard. I hope you enjoyed my bistro presentation
My sources
Personal email from Carey Jones
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