Virginia Tech® home

MGySgt Lance Jones

Senior Enlisted Advisor

Master Gunnery Sergeant Lance L. Jones (U.S. Marine Corps, retired) is the senior enlisted advisor for 4th Battalion.

MGySgt Jones joined the Marine Corps in 1984, attending boot camp at Marine Corp Recruit Depot San Diego, California. After three months of intense training he proceeded to Infantry Training School at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

After graduation, he was assigned to his first duty station at Marine Barracks 8th & I, Washington, D.C.  While there, he served three years on the Marine Corps Silent Drill Team. He then proceeded to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where he served with 1st Battalion, 6th Marines as a squad leader. He served on two combat deployments during his tour there.

MGySgt Jones then proceeded to Okinawa, Japan, where he served as a team leader at the Jungle Warfighting School. After his tour on Okinawa, Japan he proceeded to Marine Corps Recruit Depot Parris Island, South Carolina, as a basic warrior instructor.  Afterward, he proceeded to Charleston, South Carolina, as canvassing recruiter. During this tour he was meritoriously promoted to the next rank.

MGySgt Jones returned to Marine Base Camp Lejeune, where he served for 14 years as an infantryman and warfighter at various units and executed three combat deployments to include Operations Iraqi Freedom (Iraq), Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan), and eight combat contingency deployments.

He then received orders to the Pentagon to serve as the infantry occupational field sponsor and enlisted advocate for the Marine Corps.

Following his tour at the Pentagon, MGySgt Jones was selected as the deputy director of the Staff Non-Commissioned Officer Academy in Okinawa, Japan.

His final, active duty assignment was at Twenty-Nine Palms, California, as the senior enlisted advisor of the Tactical Training Exercise Control Group.

MGySgt Jones served 29 years.

After his retirement, he served at Hargrave Military Academy as a training advisor and counselor for post-graduate students.

His personal awards include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Navy Marine Corps Commendation Medal with two gold stars, Navy Marine Corps Achievement Medal with three gold stars, and the Combat Action Ribbon two gold stars.