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A closer look into the private workspaces of some of the Valley's high-profile personalities.
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Surgical Roulette
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Operative Fate
Walking Tall
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The Vanity Tax
Addicted Youth
Silicone Valley
Fatal Lapse
 
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Brigadier General Noel T. Jones
Luke Air Force Base Commander

If it were a sovereign nation, Luke Air Force Base would be home to the world’s fifth-largest air force. As it is, Luke is home to the largest fighter wing in the U.S. Air Force. The man in charge, Brigadier General Noel T. Jones recently invited The Times in to see his high-tech workspace, complete with encrypted phone lines to Langley, a “confidential” computer for military secrets and, of course, family photos. Don’t be fooled by the office, though. General Jones still spends several hours every week in his other office, cockpits of F-16 fighter jets.
Chris Bianco

1. Ka-Bar knife, an institutional knife of the Marines. Given as a gift while serving in Kuwait, where he was stationed alongside Marines.
2. Plaque certifying first 1,000 hours of flight in the F-16, around 750 flights
3. Plaque certifying 2,000 hours of flight time in the F-16
4. LMR: Land Mobile Radio
5. Flat Panel
6. Two computers sit below. One is classified. One is not. When the classified machine is connected to the monitor, the entire monitor is surrounded by a red “Classified” message.
7. Rolodex
8. STE Secure Phone for confidential military conversations
9. Remotes hidden in credenza for meeting monitors outside of photo frame
10. Inbox and Outbox
11. “End of Day” book with last-minute updates
12. POW MIA bracelet, from a pilot who had flown with his dad in Vietnam
13. Jumpsuit: As a Brigadier General, Jones still flies F-16s regularly.
14. Tailfins from squadrons Jones flew in and oversaw in Shaw, South Carolina and in New Mexico
15. Awards from service in Kuwait
16. A memento from Jones’ service in Iraqi Freedom: The tailfin of a Russian air-to-air missile found among Saddam Hussein’s stockpiles. Jones and his squadron found munitions bunkers packed with bombs, mines and missiles, all of which were destroyed
17. Clock made from the tail wheel of a U-2 spy plane
18. Photos with daughter and wife
19. Statue of professional Air Force maintenance worker
20. Flag from a visit with Korean dignitary
21. The flag Jones will be buried with. As flag officers, only generals receive this flag, receiving one flag per star.
22. Other flags stay at the base and include Normandy, 1944 and Northern France, 1944, among others.
Chris Bianco
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ODD JOBS
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Tina Miser
Human Cannonball!