A native of suburban Chicago, Charles Thomas Jones was born on October 12, 1984 at Oak Park Hospital in Oak Park, IL. He grew up in Arlington Heights, IL and attended Prospect High School in Mount Prospect, IL and graduated in 2003. Upon graduating, Charles enlisted in the United States Marine Corps. On July 20th, 2003 he shipped off to Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) San Diego for basic training followed by Camp Pendleton, CA for combat training and then finally Ft. Leonard Wood in Missouri for Motor Vehicle Operators Course. After the training cycle, Charles was sent back to Camp Pendleton on orders to join the fleet at Headquarters Company, 1st Marine Regiment. Upon arrival Jones was immediately shipped out to Fallujah, Iraq in February, 2004 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom II (OIF II). There, like many others, Jones wore many hats that included training in Nuclear, Biological, Chemical (NBC) decontamination, first aid medical evacuation as an ambulance driver, and basic infantry training. After 14 months of deployment, Charles returned to Camp Pendleton, was promoted to the rank of corporal.
After some time, Jones was sent to 29 Palms as an instructor/controller at Mojave Viper, teaching deploying units anti-terrorism measures such as setting up vehicle check points, searches, and detainment procedures as well as aiding in the testing of these units for their final exercise. After being promoted to the rank of Sergeant Charles was accepted at DePaul University in Chicago, IL and separated from active duty to pursue his education in business administration. About a year later he activated himself into the SMCR and join 2nd Battalion, 24th Marines in Chicago, IL as the Operations Chief for motor transport for the next almost 6 years. There he was promoted to the rank of Staff Sergeant, but would eventually leave the reserves and the Marines all together and was honorably discharged in April of 2015.
Throughout his post active-duty time, Charles struggled with a alcoholism and depression for several years until finally seeking help. After a 56 day stay in rehab, Charles began his sober life and actively sought a new and more fulfilling life.
After recalling a long forgotten personal favor, Charles began what would be the genesis of the Dear Calvin Project (and Survived Inc.) and through the support of his friends and family was able to create the first tribute video and started the company to bring this service to many as many Gold Star Families as possible. He hopes to expand the scope of Survived Inc. to aid Gold Star families in many different ways.
