HWS News
13 August 2025 Forging a Path to Service
Guided by hometown heroes, college leadership and HWS courses, Will Jones ’26 finds clarity in his calling as a future U.S. Marine Corps Officer.
From a young age, William “Will” Jones '26 wanted to pursue a career in the military. Now part of the Platoon Leaders Class, Jones is a U.S. Marine Corps candidate committed to join after graduation.
Once unsure of how he would contribute to the military, Jones’ academic and leadership experiences at HWS have prepared him for a future of meaningful service as a Marine Officer.
Jones' military aspirations were initially encouraged by stories of Navy Special Warfare Operator Chief Petty Officer Kevin Houston, who was killed in Afghanistan in 2011 during Operation Enduring Freedom. “Kevin Houston was a Navy SEAL from my hometown, who served on SEAL Team Six during The War On Terror,” Jones says. “Hearing stories about him really inspired me to continue with the military because of the type of person he was, as a leader, as a friend and the type of SEAL he was.”
One of the benefits of attending HWS before serving, he says, is being able to tailor your education to your interests and goals—something he has been able to do within his politics major and philosophy minor.
Courses like “Philosophy of War,” taught by Professor of Philosophy Scott Brophy, who also served as Dean of Hobart College, have had a lasting impact. “That was a very interesting class. Some of the concepts we learned in class have come up in my training at Officer Candidates School.”
Such academic experiences have shaped his understanding of leadership and ethical responsibility. Officers must make decisions that consider a variety of factors simultaneously: the orders given, the safety or danger fellow Marines might face and the morality of what they’re asked to do, explains Jones. “I think that delving deep into those aspects of warfare and listening to a bunch of different opinions really helped me to understand and respect the gravity of the decisions I could be making in the future.”
In addition to ethics and leadership, his classes have also deepened his understanding of the ways policy and the military are connected. Jones says that the discussions in his politics and philosophy classes, such as how policy decisions and world events have a direct influence on the military, are all relevant and important for his future career.
Perhaps most significantly, the connection between Jones’ experiences at HWS and the U.S. Marine Corps is the importance of putting others above oneself and giving back to community.
“I think one of the biggest things they emphasize at Officer Candidate School is it's not about you,” he says. “That's a very emblematic thing that parallels HWS too. The first week you're at HWS, you participate in a day of service and go out and you serve your community. It's not just about yourself. It's about the people that are around you.”
This sense of service and responsibility carries across both communities. “In the case of the HWS community, it's about giving back to the people who have set you up for success, whether that's a parent, or a guardian, or a friend or whoever it is. And then in the Marine Corps, it’s about setting your Marines up for success any way you can.”
On campus, Jones is a two-year captain of the of the Statesmen baseball team.
