Schuylkill County is mourning the loss of one of its best and brightest, Capt. Jason Benjamin Jones, a Green Beret who was killed in action Monday near Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

Jones, 29, had been deployed to Afghanistan in April as part of Operation Enduring Freedom.The 2003 Blue Mountain High School graduate was the son of Jay Jones of Pottsville and Suzy Jones of Orwigsburg.The Jones family on Wednesday drew together under its mantle of grief.Family friend Eric Mika, who worked with Jones' father, who has a law office in Tamaqua and grandfather, Joseph Jones, in their law firm, shared his thoughts as he visited the memorials to Jones in the Orwigsburg town square.Photographs of the young soldier have been placed at veterans' monuments on the square; the American flag flew at half-staff."I had the great fortune of knowing Jason for the past 15 years," he said.He recalls Jason as a teenager."He liked to tell a lot of jokes. As a high school kid, he was very affable, very good-natured in his joking. He was just a great kid. One of the most respectful kids you'd ever want to meet," Mika said.Jones, 29, attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, where he studied nuclear engineering.He earned several awards and honors during his military career, including a Bronze Star while serving in Iraq in 2008-2009.He became a Green Beret, a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, in May 2013. When he died, he was commander of a 12-man Special Forces A-Team.A year ago, he wed the love of his life, Dr. Amy Weniger. The young couple lived in Chapel Hill, North Carolina."I have an 11-year-old son, and if he grows up to be just like Jason, follows the same career path as Jason, I would be eternally blessed," Mika said."Jason is truly a dream son, one that anyone would wish to have," he said."The family is devastated, as can be expected. But they are people of faith, and they are managing, they're coming along."It was a terrible,shocking tragedy. But with the help of family, friends, and the good Lord, they'll make it through," Mika said.Jones is the third soldier in the area to sacrifice his life to the war in the Middle East.Sgt. Jennifer Hartman, a Tamaqua High school graduate, died on Sept. 14, 2006, when car bomb destroyed the building she was in Iraq.On Nov. 12, 2007, Capt. David Boris, a 2005 Pottsville High school graduate, died in Bermel, Afghanistan, when his vehicle was blown up.Schuylkill County commissioners opened their meeting Wednesday with a moment of silence for Jones.