Jones couple lay life’s lessons on line for others

Photo By Angie Thorne | Adam Jones, author of “Weapons of Mass Deception: The Silent Struggle Within Every High Performer,” with his family.  

FORT JOHNSON, LOUISIANA, UNITED STATES

05.26.2025

Story by Chuck Cannon 

Fort Johnson Public Affairs Office

FORT JOHNSON, La. — Odds are if a person’s childhood dreams come true, they would be considered a success and at the top of their field. For a time, that was true of Adam Jones, an Army helicopter pilot who fulfilled his goal of flying Black Hawks and becoming a successful entrepreneur and Fortune 500 company employee.
But what starts as a success can be fleeting as a person loses sight of his or her priorities. Jones said that is exactly what happened to him.
Jones, author of the book “Weapons of Mass Deception: The Silent Struggle Within Every High Performer,” said when his career as a pilot ended and he left the Army, he went through a troubling time.
“It was deep anger, depression and total loss of identity after getting out of the military,” he said. “But even before I got out, I was struggling. I actually had two people — friends — who came to me after I had written the book and said, ‘Adam, when I served with you, I knew something was wrong.’”
Jones said when he asked them why they didn’t say anything at the time, they said they were going through their own issues and didn’t have time to slow down and ask him how he was doing.
“That’s key,” he said. “So five years before I hit my breaking point, there were warning signs I couldn’t see because I couldn’t see my own drift. I was living life tired and exhausted.”
One thing he learned was that people often give everything to others, and give their leftovers to the people closest to them.
“That’s normal, especially for Soldiers,” he said. “You give everything to a mission, you come home depleted and you don’t know how to connect with your wife or daughter. I thought that was the norm.”
Jones said it’s important that everyone — especially those who work with the military or other high performers — needs to have the courage to call out the drift.
“We have a responsibility as brothers- and sisters-in-arms,” he said. “It’s for all high performers. They put the weight of the world on themselves and they are going to drift. They get to where they want to hide the fact they are drifting, and sometimes they hide it long enough, they unfortunately begin to think they shouldn’t be alive anymore.”
That’s a problem facing those in the military and other high performers today.
“When I got out of the military, there was a time I didn’t want to live,” he said. “I had gotten everything I wanted and was empty. How does that make any sense? If you go for everything you want and you wind up empty, you think there’s nothing left. I think about all the celebrities who seemed to have everything and yet chose to take their lives.”
That’s led Jones to include suicide prevention, stress management and building strong relationships in his and his wife, Jessica’s presentations.
Jones admits Jessica, whom he affectionately calls Jess, was one of the reasons he was able correct his drift.
“She would tell me, ‘Adam, just be honest with me and tell me that you’re not present,’” Jones said. “Those said conversations were happening in the military, but became worse when I got out, because it gave time for me to see all the fractures in my relationships.”
While Jessica was honest with Adam when it came to her feelings about their relationship, she was bit nervous about sharing it through a book with the world.
“It’s our marriage, but I knew this message had to get out because of how many people — and marriages — it had already helped,” she said. “I saw the struggle with my husband, and I knew if we could help even one person, and give them tools so they would not have to go through what he did — and that they were not alone – it was important.”
Jessica said her role as a military wife gave her a platform built with experience to share with others.
“I want them to know a military spouse’s perspective, so they can have those hard conversations about what affect their actions have on their relationship,” she said.
The past year has been an amazing whirlwind for the Jones’ couple, Jessica said, as they work together to help not only service members, but also entire families. And that also shows in the Jones’ family relationships between husband and wife and father and children.
“We had reached a point in our marriage where I knew we weren’t going down a good path, and I wanted more for our daughter,” Jessica said. “We have two girls now, but I knew (at the time) it wasn’t him (Adam) in there. I had to look at him and ask, ‘Who are you?’ I didn’t know where he was at, but he was not with us. He would be in the room, but his head would be totally somewhere else.”
Looking back, Jessica said she realized being physically present — but not mentally present — is something that a lot of high performers struggle with because they’re usually thinking about what’s next, and taking work home with them.
Jessica said she remembers a conversation she had with Adam in the car on their way home from a family outing.
“We looked at each other and one of us said, ‘You know, I don’t really like you,’ and the other said, ‘I don’t really like you either,’” she said. “It was like we weren’t even friends at that point. That’s when we realized that something had to change.”
Jessica said the change didn’t happen overnight.
“We had to put in a lot of work,” she said. “You have to work on yourself and that’s what Adam did. He really put the work in and I had to accept that and trust that even though things might get a little bit harder, it was going to get better in the end. It was all part of God’s plan.”
Jessica said she and Adam work on their relationship daily, vowing to not let the world beat them.
“We’re going to survive,” she said. “We both had to do a lot of change through the years, and that’s the only way you’re going to make it. And Adam’s book is a phenomenal tool to help those who are struggling.”
In his book, Jones tells the reader that anyone who is ambitious and mission-minded is susceptible to an attack from a weapon of mass deception, which he describes as “any act of hidden malicious intent that exploits another person’s insecurities or motives in order to deter, delay, dissuade or destroy a multitude of people.”
As he thought about his definition of weapons of mass deception, Jones said he recalled some statistics he had read about the War on Terrorism.
“Over the course of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Department of Defense casualty report estimated that about 7,000 service members were killed in action over 14 years,” Jones said. “In the same 14 years, it was estimated that more than 73,000 veterans and active service members took their own lives. This really hit me.”
Jones said it’s not bombs and bullets that are the greatest threat today to the military – it’s something else hurting the nation’s warriors.
“My heart is for warriors, protectors, defenders — with or without a uniform,” he said. “Something is taking them from inside. There’s right and there’s evil, and it’s my belief that evil wants to take out our warriors, protectors and defenders because they are the ones who are going to stand up and do what’s right, even if no one else does. They are willing to sacrifice themselves.”
With his book, Jones said he hopes he’s given a tool to defeat weapons of mass deception. He and Jessica have made it their mission to reach as many warriors, protectors and defenders and help them overcome those weapons to live a rich, fulfilling life. But he’s quick to add the book is just a tool.
“I always say, it’s not about the book, it’s about a message,” Jones said. “A message of hope. We’re all human and limited. When you realize that, you can stop trying to control everything. I’m glad I put it in a book, because the book will live past me.”
To learn more about the Jones’ work visit https://www.kingdomoperatives.com.

• Date Taken: 05.26.2025
• Date Posted: 06.03.2025 15:32
• Story ID: 499559
• Location: FORT JOHNSON, LOUISIANA, US