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Cecil Burton Jones, Jr. (born 1949) is an American community activist, politician and commentary writer campaigning for the U.S. House of Representatives for Texas's 23rd congressional district. The district stretches about 550 miles from San Antonio to El Paso along the U.S.–Mexican border.

Background
Early Years:

Cecil Burton Jones Jones, Jr., aka Burt Jones, was born in June 1949, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, the heart of the Mississippi Delta. He grew up in Sherard, Mississippi, where his father was the accountant for Sherard Farms and his mother was postmaster of the Sherard Post Office. Mr. Jones grew up as an old-fashioned country boy, who roamed and hunted the fields and woods throughout the local area. He even occasionally herded cows with the farm’s stock handler. An active boy, he liked to play sports on the weekend with his boyhood friends, mostly baseball or football. There was also the occasional game of chase in the pecan trees. Mr. Jones attended school elementary through high school in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He started playing football in the 8th grade and suffered through three years as a scrub tight end/wing back. When the school system split into two separate school districts, Mr. Jones then attended Coahoma County High School, where he was moved to quarterback for the newly formed high school team. After he graduated from CCHS, he attended Mississippi Delta Junior College on a football scholarship.

College Years:

He graduated MDJC with an Associates in Arts and then headed to Mississippi State University. Prior to entering Mississippi State, he attend the Basic Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) camp at Ft. Benning, Georgia. Once at Mississippi State, he majored in Political Science and continued with his ROTC commitment. He was an inaugural member of the Young Republicans, a member of the Student Union Program Council and was appointed Chairman of the Student Union Program Council for the summer of 1971. He graduated in August 1971 with a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science, and he was then commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in Military Intelligence, and was recognized as a ROTC Distinguished Military Graduate.

Army Years:

Mr. Jones entered active Army duty Dec 2, 1971 and was sent to the United States Army Infantry School where he successfully completed Infantry Officers Basic Course. He was then sent to Ft. Huachuca, Arizona to attend the Combat Intelligence Officer Course. Upon graduation, he was assigned to the 66th MI GP in Munich, Germany as the Executive Officer of the Interrogation Company, 18th MI BN. His follow-on assignment was the Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Soviet Orientation Team, which was an Army traveling road show, that briefed troops in Europe on the training and readiness to the Soviet forces then aligned against them behind the Iron Curtain.

Formative Years:

Competing his two-year commitment, Mr. Jones received an European out and headed to Söll, Austria where he spent the Winter as a Bergwacht (ski patrolman). When spring came, he grabbed his back pack and headed south to Greece to begin his “back packing through Europe adventure.” Mr. Jones saw all the great cities and museum in Athens, Rome, Florence, Barcelona, Madrid, and Paris. At the end of the summer, his parents joined him in London and they traveled to Stratford upon Avon, Paris, and Amsterdam. As his parents headed back to the US, Mr. Jones made his way to Frankfurt to his base in order to return to the US.

University of Mississippi Years:

With law school as his goal, Mr. Jones entered the University of Mississippi School of Business Administration to work on his BBA with a goal of improving his GPA to law school standards. He resumed his Army reserve commitment and joined an Army Reserve unit in Tupelo, MS. He applied himself to his studies, but kept active in sports. As a founding member of the Ole Miss Rugby Club, he went on to be a four-year mainstay of the club. Mr. Jones was accepted for admission to Law School in the fall of 1975. After three studious years, he graduated with a Juris Doctor in May 1978. Along the way, he was Vice Chancellor of the legal fraternity Phi Alpha Delta, Phi Alpha Delta legal researcher, President of the Lamar Society of International Law, a Law School Senator, a Law School Annual photographer and player/coach of the Law School football team. At graduation he was awarded the Dean Parham Williams Service Award for his unselfish contributions to the Law School.

Legal Services Years:

Admitted to both the State and Federal Bar Association upon graduation, Mr. Jones accepted a position as a staff attorney with South Mississippi Legal Services in Biloxi, Mississippi. Mr. Jones practiced poverty and domestic law, eventually rising to the position of managing attorney of the Biloxi Office. While working as a lawyer, he maintained his Army Reserve association and transferred to a Reserve Military Intelligence unit in Vicksburg, MS. During his time at Legal Services, he tried numerous Chancery Court cases and argued appeals at the Mississippi Supreme Court on five separate occasions. In 1984, as a Reserve Officer, he was offered and accepted an active duty training assignment to the Defense Language Institute (DLI) to study German.

Army Civilian/Reserve Years:

While at DLI he was recruited by Army Intelligence for a position at the Army Foreign Counterintelligence Activity (FCA). In March 1987, Mr. Jones joined the Army civilian Intelligence program as a Counterintelligence (CI) Officer. Over the next 32 years of service, Mr. Jones conducted CI investigations, CI operations and liaison activities in the US, in Europe, Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, Central and South America. In August 1999, Lieutenant Colonel (LTC) Jones, retired from the US Army Reserve after 28 years of dedicated service, 12 years of which coincided with this Army civilian career. A decorated intelligence officer, Mr. Jones received numerous letters of appreciation, three Army Commanders Award for Civilian Service, two Department of the Army Superior Civilian Service Award, and a Meritorious Civilian Service Award.

Professional Education:

Mr. Jones attended over 20 separate training courses and schools during his career as an Army Civilian. Most notable were Command and General Staff School (correspondence), Intelligence Financial Management, Senior Intelligence Officer Course, Joint Intelligence Officer Course, Operations Training Course, Advanced CI Investigations Course, and the Joint Interrogation Management Course. In 2012, Mr. Jones was selected by the Department of the Army to attend the Harvard University Senior Executive Fellows Course.

Current Status:

Mr. Jones returned to his home in San Antonio to retire, where he lives with his wife, two of his three children, a rescued cat and three rescued dogs.

Issues
Border Security:

Need better border security, wall is a stop-gap measure. We need to completely revamp our immigration laws and enact a Guest Worker program similiar to the former Brocero program during WWII.

Energy:

Need to develop a national energy policy based on a balance of fossil fuels and renewable energy sources, with the long term goal of signifcantly reducing our CO2 emissions.

Veterans:

Greater emphasis on Veterans" health care and welfare.  Real need to upgrade VA's antiquated IT systems.

Federal Spending:

Bipartisan effort to bring federal spending under control. I'll work tirelessly to balance the budget. End