You see him on your screen almost every weekend, usually sitting on the bright-colored sofa of The Big Weekend Show or cracking a joke with Greg Gutfeld. He has this easy, Georgia-bred charm that makes you feel like you’re sitting on a porch with him rather than watching a national news broadcast. But if you only know Joey Jones from Fox News as "the veteran guy" on TV, you're missing the most interesting parts of his story.
Honestly, he isn't just a talking head. Johnny "Joey" Jones is a retired Marine Staff Sergeant who lived a hundred lives before he ever stepped foot in a TV studio. He’s the guy who spent his summers as a teenager in Dalton, Georgia, laying bricks with his dad and uncles. Hard work? Yeah, he knows it. He knows the smell of mortar and the weight of a heavy pack.
The Day That Changed Everything
In 2010, Joey was in the Helmand Province of Afghanistan. He wasn't just patrolling; he was an Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) technician. Think about that job for a second. Your entire day consists of looking for things meant to kill you and then touching them. He had already rendered safe more than 80 IEDs and thousands of pounds of explosives during that deployment.
Then came August 6.
He stepped on an IED. The blast took both of his legs above the knee. It tore up his right forearm and wrists. Most people would have checked out mentally right then and there. But Joey didn't. He survived, but more importantly, he decided to win. He spent months at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, not just learning how to walk on prosthetics, but figuring out how to live a life that actually mattered.
Why Joey Jones From Fox News Is Everywhere Now
If you’ve noticed he’s on more shows lately, it’s not an accident. Fox News officially named him a co-host of The Big Weekend Show as it expanded to a three-hour format. He also fills in on The Five and Outnumbered and is basically a permanent fixture on the late-night hit Gutfeld!.
Why does he work so well on TV?
It’s the "perspective" he always talks about. Joey has this way of looking at a political disaster or a cultural fight and saying, "Look, if the worst thing that happens today is I’m stuck in traffic, I’m doing okay." He’s a New York Times bestselling author now, too. His first book, Unbroken Bonds of Battle, stayed on the charts for months, and his 2025 release, Behind the Badge, hit number one almost immediately. He’s not just talking about veterans anymore; he’s writing about police officers, firefighters, and the people who keep our neighborhoods from falling apart.
Life Off-Camera in Georgia
Joey doesn’t live in the New York City bubble. That’s probably why he sounds like a real person. He lives on a small farm near Calhoun, Georgia, with his wife, Meg, and their daughter. He’s an avid hunter—he even hosted Fox Nation Outdoors, which was the first hunting show on a major cable news property.
He’s a huge Atlanta Braves fan. He loves Georgia Bulldogs football. If you see him on a Saturday afternoon, he’s probably in a "Go Dawgs" shirt, not a suit. He’s also a bit of a woodworker and works with nonprofits like the Boot Campaign.
People often ask how he stays so positive. He’s got a blunt answer for that: "Well, don’t ever get negative, since you have yours." He’s referring to your legs. It’s a bit of dark humor, sure, but it’s authentic. He isn't pretending that losing his legs was a gift, but he refuses to let it be a cage.
The Impact Beyond the Screen
Joey used his recovery time to get a degree from Georgetown University. He didn't just sit around. He worked on Capitol Hill with the House Committee on Veterans' Affairs. He actually helped write policy that changed how the VA and the Department of Defense handle wounded Marines.
- He founded a peer visit program at Walter Reed.
- He served as COO of the Boot Campaign.
- He helped Zac Brown (yes, the country singer) pilot a military transition program.
When you see Joey Jones from Fox News providing military analysis, he isn't reading a script written by a producer who never left a cubicle. He’s talking about the guys he served with. He’s talking about the "Alive Day" reunions he has with his EOD unit.
If you want to follow his lead on finding a better perspective, start with how you handle small frustrations. Joey’s big takeaway is usually this: you can't control what happens to you, but you can 100% control how you respond. Instead of focusing on the seconds ticking away when you’re late for a meeting, try listening to a song you love and realizing that being "stuck" in a comfortable, air-conditioned car is actually a luxury most of the world doesn't have.
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Stop looking for the "bad" in people and start investing in what they do best. That's a lesson he learned from his dad on those brick-laying jobs in Georgia. It's a lesson that works whether you're on a construction site or a national television set.