At Home Instead, we are passionate about providing the best veteran's in-home care in Anchorage, AK. We are excited to welcome Jon McCoy, our new Veteran Care Coordinator, whose extensive military background and commitment to helping others make him an invaluable addition to our team.
Inspired by his father’s service in the Korean War and two uncles who served in Vietnam, Jon joined the United States Army at the age of 20 in September of 2000. Seeking a challenge and adventure he enlisted as an Infantryman with an Airborne contract. He attended Basic Combat Training and Advanced Individual Training in Columbus, GA on Fort Benning what is now known as Fort Moore.
His first assignment was to the famed 4th Battalion 31st Infantry Regiment of the 10th Mountain Division on Fort Drum, NY. Jon grew to love the cold weather and massive amounts of snow experienced in upstate New York. Jon was only in his 4th month of his first assignment as a rifleman when 9/11 tragically struck our Homeland.
In his first call to defend our nation Jon was sent to Aberdeen Proving Grounds, MD just 9 days after 9/11. There C 4/31 INF was tasked with guarding highly sensitive facilities against terrorist attack. After a month and a half, they returned home to prepare for deployment to Afghanistan in December of 2001. From December 2001 until April 2002 4/31 performed defensive and offensive operations against the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan and along the borders of Uzbekistan and Pakistan. The most notable was Operation Anaconda in the Patika Province of Afghanistan.
Upon returning home Jon was assigned the role of Squad Automatic Rifleman and later Radio Telephone Operator. It was at this time when Jon’s daughter Raegan was born on April 1st, 2003!
Jon was his Company RTO when they deployed almost a year to the day after returning to the country of Djibouti in the Horn of Africa. In Djibouti Jon was in the first American class to attend the grueling French Foreign Legion Desert Commando School and earned the Commando Badge. After 8 and a half months of training the Djiboutian and Ethiopian Miliary C 4/31 returned home to Fort Drum.
Six months after returning from Djibouti Jon’s Unit was tasked to deploy to Baghdad, Iraq where Jon served first as a Fire Team Leader and later as a Squad Leader. In January of 2005 Jon participated in the Unit providing security for a large section of Baghdad so that the people of Iraq could hold their first truly free Parliamentary Election since 1958.
A year after returning from Baghdad, in June 2006, Jon once again deployed back to Iraq to an area named after the town of Yusifiah. There he and his unit spent 15 months conducting offensive, stabilization, and humanitarian missions. The unit returned home in September 2007.
Almost two years later Jon deployed to Iraq for the last time, this time to a place called Salmon Pak. The mission this time was to focus on training the fledgling Iraqi military and police with a less than heavy hand. While deployed Jon got orders to report to Fort Sill, OK in January of 2011. It was in Oklahoma where Jon learned to love hunting and enjoying remote wilderness.
Arriving in Lawton in January of 2011 Jon was assigned to be an Instructor on the Hand Grenade Range for Basic Combat Training. There Jon trained over 35,000 Soldiers how to properly employ a hand grenade. In the summer of 2014 Jon got orders to attend the infamous United States Army Drill Sergeant Academy. He was assigned as a Drill Sergeant in C 1/31 Field Artillery Regiment and really enjoyed his time training civilians the basic skills required to be a Soldier.
Sometime in 2016 Jon got lucky and was ordered to report to Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson by February 2017. Not knowing anything about the area Jon found himself living in Eagle River where he met his beautiful wife Carly after returning yet again from Afghanistan in 2018.
God blessed Jon and Carly when on July 4th, 2019, their first son, Kelton was born. Jon served in the Army at JBER from February 2017 until his retirement in September of 2021. Throughout that time Alaska grew to be a part of him and he could not see himself leaving this wonderful state. His daughter Carmen was born just before Veteran’s Day in 2022 and his son Kaiden was welcomed to this world in April 2024.
Always looking for some place to help and be useful in a career Jon tried a couple different approaches before finding Home Instead. Excited for the chance to once again help service members Jon is looking forward to a long tenure at Home Instead.
Jon, Carly, Raegan, Kelton, Carmen, and Kaiden are hoping to one day soon own a Class A motorhome so that they may enjoy traveling the state in the summer and attending as many dog shows as possible with their family.
Some awards and decorations Jon achieved in his career in the U.S. Army were; The Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Army Achievement Medal, Army Good Conduct award, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Afghan Campaign Medal with Arrowhead Device, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, National Defense Ribbon, Overseas Medal, NATO Medal, Expert Infantryman Badge, Drill Sergeant Badge, and Parachutist Badge, along with other awards and certificates of training.
