JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md. –
(Note: This is the third in a three-part series about NCOs with 14 or more years of enlisted service who chose to pursue careers as officers.)
U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Bahja J. Jones, 316th Security Forces Squadron B-Flight commander, has always had a passion for teaching.
She enlisted in the Air Force in 2010, and after completing her bachelor’s degree while serving as a professional military education instructor at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, she decided to pursue a commission.
“I think I realized I wanted to be an officer while I was teaching PME,” she said. “I was working with a lot of Airmen who had a lot of ideas about the leaders that they have encountered in their career fields.”
After her PME assignment, she was scheduled to return to her career field as an executive flight attendant with the 89th Airlift Wing at Andrews. But she realized she couldn’t make the same impact mentoring and shaping Airmen in that position.
“I just felt like there are things we could control within the enlisted corps in terms of culture, but there was also a different opportunity in the officer rank to shift culture,” she said.
The path to a commission was not easy. She submitted an Officer Training School application while at Hickam, but was not surprised when she did not get selected.
She later applied for the Senior Leader Enlisted Commissioning Program through Pacific Air Forces and was an 11th Air Force finalist, but again was not chosen.
After returning to Andrews, Jones applied for SLECP through Air Mobility Command and was once more a finalist but did not get selected. She then applied a fourth time for OTS and was notified of her selection in February 2024.
Jones was a technical sergeant at the time, and three months later she was selected for master sergeant. She commissioned as a second lieutenant on Sept. 27, 2024, three days before she would have sewn on her master sergeant stripes.
Jones’ first Air Force specialty was public affairs, and her top choice for an officer position was to return to that career field. But fate — or, she said, maybe faith — had other plans.
“I selected four jobs — public affairs, force support, logistics readiness and security forces,” she recalled. “The first two were jobs I thought I’d be good at, and the other two were jobs I thought would have more of an impact on Airmen’s lives.
“I felt like I was more qualified for everything else. Then I was selected for security forces. Well, you know what happens when you tell God what your plan is.”
After completing security forces officer training at Camp Bullis, Texas, she returned to Andrews, this time as a flight commander with the 316th SFS. She said she initially felt like “a fish out of water” but has leaned on her enlisted experience to lead a flight of 60 defenders.
“Most other officer jobs straight out of tech school don’t get that type of leadership experience,” she said. “I think my Air Force career, having almost 16 years of experience, has primed me to be really comfortable.”
Jones served in three enlisted career fields and, as a flight attendant, visited more than 60 countries. She said she uses that experience to relate to NCOs and Airmen who have only known security forces.
“My job is connecting with Airmen and trying to get them more connected to what they do and why they do it,” she said. “I think it's harder when all they've seen is security forces.”
Reflecting on commissioning after 15 years of enlisted service, she said she had “no regrets” about the timing.
“Had I not made the transition at 15 years, I would have been content to finish as a senior NCO and see if I could make it to chief,” she said.
Jones said she has “a lot of love for the Air Force” and believes she still has more to give. In her OTS application essay, she focused on the idea of “leaving the Air Force better than you found it,” a principle she said guides her in every role.
She earned her bachelor’s degree in English from the University of Maryland Global Campus and is now pursuing a master’s in organizational leadership and human development at George Washington University.
Jones has called Andrews home for all but four years of her career. Her first Air Force assignment as a public affairs specialist in 2010 was with the 11th Wing, Andrews’ host wing at the time. She cross-trained in 2014 as a flight attendant with the 89th AW and served there from 2014 to 2019 and again from 2022 to 2024.
As a flight attendant, she flew aboard the 89th AW’s C-32, C-40 and C-37 aircraft, as well as SAP missions with the “Silver Bullet” on C-17 Globemaster IIIs.
Jones said those enlisted years has helped shape her and guide her journey toward her new career as an officer.
“I can’t imagine missing out on the experiences I had as an Airman or not getting the chance to fall in love with so many different parts of the Air Force first,” she said.