Johnny 'Joey' Jones recounts IED explosion that took his legs: 'Everything changed'
Retired Marine Johnny 'Joey' Jones, now a Fox News host, marks the 12th anniversary of his 'Alive Day,' when he survived an IED explosion in Afghanistan that cost him both his legs.
Retired Marine Staff Sgt. Johnny "Joey" Jones marked the 12th anniversary of his "Alive Day," a day when his life changed forever after he survived an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) explosion that claimed both of his legs.
Revisiting the harrowing experience with "Fox & Friends Weekend" co-hosts Will Cain and Carley Shimkus on Saturday, Jones detailed the explosion and the immediate aftermath of that day in Afghanistan, Aug. 6, 2010, while looking back on the 2020 Fox Nation special "Alive Day: Johnny Joey Jones."
"Before the [operation] was over with, they found 207 IEDs in two square kilometers, and I worked almost 50 of them in the first five days I was there," the Fox News personality said in the special.
The entire mission – and the lives of both Jones and Cpl. Daniel Greer – changed in the blink of an eye on the sixth day, however, when Greer and several engineers alerted Jones and others of something suspicious.
JOEY JONES ON GETTING A ‘SECOND CHANCE’ AT LIFE
Fox News host Johnny 'Joey' Jones in the Fox Nation special on his "Alive Day."
"[They] had found some things in this storage building that they needed us to come check out. Daniel stayed ready with his rifle, and once I realized we were working with a situation where something could be rigged to blow, I said, 'Hey, man, why don't you take a few steps back?' And Daniel just looked at me, said, 'No, you know, we're here to provide security for you.'"
Jones, who had leaned against a nearby wall, took one step away from it when the explosion rang out.
"A big cloud of dust came up. I felt my body become weightless, and I knew instantly what had happened. I'd seen it happen in front of me. I had responded to it happening to others," he said. "And I had stepped on an IED."
Johnny 'Joey' Jones standing
Still conscious, Jones said he realized both of his legs were gone, and one of his arms was almost completely severed.
"I don't know if I knew if I was going to make it or not, but that's part of the gig, you know?" he said.
Jones recalled waking up in a hospital in Germany and asking about Greer. "She just kind of looked at me and smiled and said, 'Don't worry, hon, you'll walk again,'" he said.
"What was really impactful about that moment, that took me years to understand was she didn't tell me what I wanted to hear. She told me what I needed to hear in that moment, because the truth was, Cpl. Daniel Greer's family was taking him off life support that same day, if not in that very moment. And he didn't make it," he said.
In the studio, Jones told Cain and Shimkus his "Alive Day" serves to honor Greer and others who paid the ultimate sacrifice.
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"All we truly had to believe in was that we were there for each other and to bring each other home," he said, adding that, while he does not feel guilt for surviving, he wishes he could have brought Greer home.
"When I celebrate my ‘Alive Day,’ I'm celebrating Daniel Greer and his memory," he said, asking viewers to remember Greer's name.
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