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Staff Sergeant (Ret.) Johnny ‘Joey’ Jones Turned Tragedy into Advocacy

By Cator Sparks Published May 17, 2017

After loosing both legs in a bomb blast in Afghanistan, Sgt. Joey Jones slowly relearned how to walk before coming into his own as a veteran advocate and a brand ambassador for country music singer Zac Brown. We speak with Jones for this week’s Worn Out Wednesday.

I met Zac Brown, the famously Georgian Country Music mogul, while working at a military nonprofit. Within the first few hours of our friendship we connected on many levels. Our passion for the people we share this world with is uniquely strong and eventually led to me; a native Georgian, turned Marine Bomb Tech, turned DC insider, turned Fox news analyst and motivational speaker, turned nonprofit exec, to come home to Georgia and work along side a true hero of my own!

Zac-Brown_Joey-Jones_1 — Zac Brown (Left) and Sgt. Joey Jones (Right) Image used with permission by copyright holder

As for my own personal style:

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Jeans: I don’t think it gets better than Levis 527s for a fashionable fit, but enough breathing room to move. I like a pair jeans that I can work in or wear to dinner.

Shirts: Most of the time I can be found in a branded t shirt for a charity, sports team or music artist I support. I like the fit of Next Level.

Pants: I rarely wear pants. Why cover up my most unique fashion accessory; my robot legs! I get most of my shorts from Gap.com and J.Crew.com Their khaki and colored shorts are a perfect fit and match pretty much any t-shirt, polo or button up I have.

Suits: I befriended Michael Strahan a while back and he keeps my closet full of his “Collection” suits. They’re a perfect fit and work well on anything from red carpets to my TV news hits. I have all my suit pants hymned to just above the knee I call this my “suit mullet” and it seems to be a hit on social media!

Shoes: With static ankles on my legs I need flat soled shoes. I can rock Vans most days and Aldo has some pretty nice options for a more formal or fashionable look. Theres always a great pair and brand to fit my needs on the shelves at DSW.

Accessories: I have a few accessories I cant leave home without. My wooden wedding ring and 22Kill.com ring are important to me, my black metal memorial bracelet that holds the names of my fallen brothers never leaves my wrist, but as a far an actual accessory goes; I love my Southern Grind “Rat” fixed blade knife with its military cord lanyard and sheath. Its super small and comfortable to wear around my neck and I always have a tool on me!

Outerwear: I’m hot blooded, I can usually get through a Georgia winter with shorts, t shirt and a hoodie. However, when I do need an extra layer I have an eclectic collection of wool vests, my favorite is a J.Crew multi-color. I like to throw on with custom hymned jeans and a J. Crew button up.

Favorite cologne: I leave my cologne to my family. A random new bottle seems to make its way into every Christmas. I don’t think I’ve picked my own cologne out since Curve was popular in high school. Usually I’m au natural!

Favorite app: I have built much of my public career on Twitter, so as much as I hate to give social media the spotlight I have to admit the majority of my app life is through Twitter and Instagram.

Favorite piece of technology: I walk around on state-of-the-art “Robot Legs” so I guess that should be my favorite technology. Those legs use magnetic charging and I’d have to say that’s the most versatile and user friendly piece of technology.

Next style/gear purchase: I can’t wait for our leather company SouthernHide.com to finish my custom alligator skill wallet and wallet chain. These are the perfect look for my “southern Gentleman” style with nice jeans, dark low cut leather shoes, exposed tattoos and vest. SouthernGround.com

Former Former Digital Trends Contributor, The Manual

Fashion & Style

Breitling’s new Top Time is a wearable tribute to the Aston Martin DB5

The new watches rep the iconic Bond car right down to subdials shaped like its dashboard gauges.

Car, Watch, Man

Breitling just released a trio of heaters: the Top Time B01 Chronograph 41 Tribute to Aston Martin DB5, a three-edition collaboration with the British carmaker. The connection between the Swiss watchmaker and the British car company runs back to 1965, when a Top Time ref. 2002 appeared on Sean Connery's wrist in Thunderball, worn alongside the DB5 — the first Q-modified watch in the Bond series. It's a nice bit of trivia that the DB5 and that Top Time shared the screen in the same film, and both went on to outlive the movie by decades.

The car cues go deeper than the "squircle" gauge-shaped subdials: a wooden inner ring nods to the DB5's steering wheel, and each edition rides on a hand-colored gradient calfskin strap meant to read like automotive upholstery. All three run on Breitling's in-house Manufacture Caliber 01, a COSC-certified automatic chronograph with a 70-hour power reserve, visible through a sapphire caseback and finished with an Aston Martin-engraved rotor. The case measures 41mm. The editions are divvied up by material and rarity. Stainless steel with a silver dial is limited to 1,022 pieces and sticks closest to the original ref. 2002, while steel with a platinum bezel and black lacquered dial drops to 315 pieces.

Fashion & Style

Look to the sky for these space themed watches

These 5 space themed watches will have you seeing stars

Accessories, Strap, Wristwatch

It was the 1960s. We were in the middle of a Cold War with Russia, and instead of escalating to an actual war with bullets and bombs, we took the conflict to the sky. We created a war of economics, science, and morale in a race to the sky to be the first nation to reach the moon. While the race picked up throughout the decade, it came down to the wire before the USA won the race by landing on the moon (if you believe that sort of thing and don't believe Stanley Kubrick directed the greatest ruse of all time). In any case, no race can be run without a good timekeeper. And watches were a must-have for all involved. Ever since, chronophiles like me have been obsessed with space-themed watches and, in particular, moon mission watches.

That is why I happened to have this list in my head. Five watches that bring the space race and the great beyond to the forefront of thinking to build a collection that is out of this world.

Fashion & Style

Legendary designer has a project coming up you may not know about

Legendary designer, Tom Ford, is writing and directing a film adapting the Anne Rice novel, Cry to Heaven

Accessories, Formal Wear, Tie

Tom Ford is a name that every fashionisto knows well. He is the top of the top when you talk about famous suit makers. He began his career changing the landscape of multiple brands, including Gucci and Yves Saint Laurent, before launching his own self-named brand of his own in 2005. The brand has remained a mainstay in the industry for the last 20 years, including the acquisition of Estée Lauder in 2022 for an estimated $2.8 billion. For the movie buffs in the room, you also likely know about Tom Ford because he became the exclusive tailor and suitmaker for Daniel Craig's James Bond for Quantum of Solace in 2008. He carried that gig all the way through the series and defined men's style for two decades.

Now, for the real cinephiles in the room, you may also know that Tom Ford himself is a movie buff and entered the industry as a writer and a director in 2009 by directing A Single Man with Colin Firth and Julianne Moore. Then again in 2016 with Nocturnal Animals with Amy Adams, Jake Gyllenhaal, and Michael Shannon. Of course, the wardrobe was stellar in both, and we will get a chance to see his talents onscreen again this fall with a new Anne Rice adaptation, Cry to Heaven.