The 2023 Louisiana Legends Gala is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, the Gail and Tom Benson Charitable Foundation.

Our premiere sponsor, the William J. Doré family, with additional support provided in part by the Irene and CB Pennington Foundation, Louisiana Lottery, and Roy O. Martin with the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.

He loved Louisiana so much.

Carries the Louisiana legend because from humble beginnings, he answered his nation's call.

General Jones's life as an example of the triumph of the human spirit.

He loved all his friends and their families, his teachers, his coaches.

He was an impeccable leader of men and women would follow him anywhere.

So we're here at Sea Bird High School in Shreveport, Louisiana.

Brigadier general Mike Jones, so very glad to be here in your hometown.

Having this conversation with you today.

So welcome.

Oh, thank you so much.

It's good to see you again, by the way.

Well, Sea Bird was very instrumental in helping me grow, but, I think one of the things that I hearken back to is a book that was written by Hillary Clinton who talked about, Takes a Village.

Yes.

And I think that that's a very important book, because it really highlights to all of us, you know, the things that you do sometime are really not about yourself.

It's about those that empower you to move to where you want to go, to achieve what you want to achieve.

And that really was achieved through the mentors that I had, the coaches, the teachers, the first responders, the ministers, those people who helped shape to lead me and get me to where I needed to be to be successful.

From an early age, Mike developed a reputation for his charisma and ability to lead.

I met General Jones in 1967 at Broadmoor Junior High, but we became teammates and in a matter of 3 or 4 days of knocking heads with everybody, I figured out that he was a force of nature.

He was a great athlete, filled with enthusiasm.

And within a few days, we knew he was the leader.

I like to say that our high school team was his first, platoon.

He literally would look at us with that grin and say, let's roll, boys.

He taught so much about his friends and their families and his coaches, his teachers.

that put so much into his life when he was younger.

I think sports did everything from they had helped me understand that.

Kind of like our Constitution says, all men are created equal, endowed by their creation with certain inalienable rights.

Among those are life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness.

I was here in the school in the period where integration first started in 1970, and we had come to the schools some young black men and their coaches, who were part of already a successful program at Valencia High School.

They had won two state championships before they arrived.

We had won none that I know of unless there was one back in the 50s, I think 1955.

So they sacrifice an incredible amount to come to this school to be a part of this institution.

And for us, it created something akin to Remember the Titans with Denzel Washington, where he brought these young men together who, through their cultural differences, were able to bond together and struggle together to achieve a common goal.

And to this day, my entire life, these young black men that I knew that came to this school were like family to me and brothers.

And I remember them dearly.

And we were a lifelong friend.

And it change started the change, in my opinion, to the perspective of America, of how they looked at themselves as a nation, to move forward and embrace each other instead of be separate.

So I thought it was very important to I helped shape the way I took that into my military career, and understanding that all men, no matter where they come from, have great value.

He went to LSU on a full scholarship the same year that freshmen could play varsity football.

Then, of course, General Jones made the varsity team.

He also double tracked and became involved in LSU, his prominent ROTC program.

And while he is literally practicing football every day, when he's through with that, he's going to ROTC, training.

And he ultimately became the commandant of the LSU ROTC and was named number one in his class on the day he graduated from LSU.

General Jones was commissioned into the Army.

He headed to his first posting at Fort What UCA, Arizona, where he trained as a CIA agent.

He then attended Airborne School at Fort Benning and was assigned to the third Infantry Division in Germany, where he served as a CIA agent, infantry platoon leader, and infantry company commander until 1981.

He would go on to command all levels of the Green Beret in the United States.

The current Green Berets, or the most elite army in the history of mankind, and he was the commander of it.

I hold him in the highest regard for all that, because it was a culmination of a lifetime of leadership, pursuit of excellence, work ethic, perseverance, humility and love.

He literally was involved in every conflict that the United States was involved with, from the mid, from the mid 1990s through the 2000.

He participated in the invasion of Panama.

His unit captured General Noriega's pilot, which was a significant, intelligence windfall.

By the time he got to Bosnia and Kosovo, he commanded the Joint Special Operations Task Force and significantly, he was responsible for the capture of 25 individuals who had committed crimes against humanity, indicted against as war criminals, and ensured that they were delivered to the truck to The Hague for trial.

You might think it's hard.

It was we had a motto here at this school is God, as far as my friends are.

Second line third.

And when you whether it's the military or not, number one is, is the the feeling of love and compassion for the people that you're working with.

You got to love each other and you got to have compassion, and you have to have a sense of mercy so that, you know, mistakes are not mistakes that are not recoverable.

They're learning events.

So as a leader, one of the things you have to always do as one, have that love and compassion for the people that you're with.

But you must never ask them to do something that you're not willing to do yourself, right.

Specifically, in the military, if there's a combat condition that's out there and soldiers put on the front lines and they're fighting the wars for a nation, you as a colonel, general, whatever you might be, need to be out there with them on the front doing what they're doing so they understand that your life is as expendable as their lives.

Yeah.

So we're all in this.

We're all in this together.

I mean, this is this is what sports brings you.

You.

You struggle together.

You train together, and you all are attempting to achieve the same objective that has nothing to do with race, color or creed.

It has to do with men struggling together to achieve a common goal, which means that it has to be a selfless effort and you can't be first.

But you as a leader, have to ensure that the hardships that are endured are endured by you.

And if they are endured by you to a degree that's even greater than theirs, they can understand it and they have more respect for years later.

What a very good question.

I remember watching the movie Saving Private Ryan.

I'm an emotional guy.

Football players are all emotional.

Okay, okay.

Really kind of.

Yeah.

Love people.

And, I remember in the movie, Private Ryan with his wife, at the at the grave markers of all the soldiers who had been killed during D-Day.

he fell to his knees and looked at his wife and have I been a good man?

Wow, did I earn it?

And yeah, for me, it's it's that's what it's about.

Yeah.

Commonly.

Just be a good man.

Love your fellow man.

Treat them with dignity and respect and make sure that, that they understand that you truly care about them.

and, and I personally believe that that's what's most important.

The other thing for me, which is important, because if I had anything that I would want to leave behind, I'd want people to know that I was a good father and a good husband, and that that I love my fellow man.

That's, one and nothing more.

Really?

I don't want it to be about me.

And man, it's really about.

It's about others.

It's about giving to others, really is what it's all about.

No.

Not really.

I mean, if I had it to do all over again, I'd do it all the time.

Wow.

And then it's just I've been fortunate to be blessed by just wonderful people around me.

I think Obama said at one time, which a lot of people criticized him for, which I agree with him completely, which talked about the things that you do or things you achieve are not yours alone.

Sure.

You know, somebody was there to help you here.

Somebody here gave you a break.

Somebody taught you something that you didn't know, but you were led through this process in many ways to get to where you are.

you know, it's your turn sometimes, and you're there to turn around and help lead those or help those who need that assistance become successful.

I mean, it's really about making good man better man and good women better women.

I love it.

Yeah, Well, you know, actually I want to spend more time with my wife and the grandchildren.

I mean, they're kind of my number one priority.

I'd like to, spend a little time working with youth in some way, shape or form.

Talking the youth help, mentoring you?

I don't you know, to me, it's not about getting paid.

What I really like to see is the reward of children understanding that that they can be something that others tell them they probably candidate.

Yeah.

Because there's so many kids out there and I say children, I'm talking about young adults.

Really?

That want to achieve something in life and be successful.

And sometimes they need help and that means just pushing them over the line.

So I'm like giving them a good word that encourages them to understand that they have the potential to be anything they want to be, and nothing can stop them.

The 2023 Louisiana Legends Gala is brought to you by our presenting sponsor, the Gail and Tom Benson Charitable Foundation.

Our premiere sponsor, the William J. Doré family, with additional support provided in part by the Irene and CB Pennington Foundation, Louisiana Lottery, and Roy O. Martin with the Foundation for Excellence in Louisiana Public Broadcasting and viewers like you.