rescue operation, by deploying U.S. Marines to recaptured the SS Mayaguez and also attacked the island of Koh Tang, on which it was believed the crew of the SS Mayaguez was held imprisonment by the Khmer Rouge. The crew of the SS Mayaguez was finally rescued, however General Jones saw a complex communication and relationship between the military and the civilian officials during the Mayaguez Incident. The Mayaguez crisis was the one that eventually convinced General Jones of the need for change within the military and civilian relationship, especially during a military crisis and wartime situation. This what was became crucial factor in the enactment of the 1986 Goldwater-Nichols Act. On May 31, 1978, Jones was awarded the Order of the Sword, the Air Force enlisted force's highest honor for officer leadership. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General David C. Jones was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 21 June 1978, replacing General George S. Brown, who retired due to ill health. General Jones became the only Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who was not a graduate from either a college or service academy. General Jones became the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during a period of increasing of the Soviet military arsenal and the emerging of Muslim militias within the Persian Gulf region that was deemed as a threat within the Western world nations. General Jones also oversaw the increased funding for defense in response to the Soviet threat and due to the continuing Joint Chiefs of Staff advocacy of strategic force modernization. Jones accompanied President Jimmy Carter to Vienna, Austria, in June 1979 for the final stage of the Strategic Arms Limitation Treaty II negotiations with the USSR. When the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan raised fears that Soviet forces there might move into neighboring Iran, where an anti-Western militant Islamic regime had taken power in early 1979, Carter created a rapid deployment force for Southwest Asia to counter any such attempt in the region. Subsequently, at the direction of the secretary of defense, Jones oversaw planning for the transformation of the Rapid Defense Force into a regional unified command. The planning for what in 1983 became the United States Central Command (USCENTCOM) was essentially completed during his chairmanship. Jones also oversaw the planning for the rescue of the U.S. embassy personnel taken hostage