Lessons from Afghanistan

  • Published
  • By Major Allison K.W. Johnson, who interviewed Lieutenant Colonel Jophiel Philips on June 27, 2023

A Purple Heart Recipient’s Perspective

This article was written by Major Allison K.W. Johnson, who interviewed Lieutenant Colonel Jophiel Philips on June 27, 2023.

Anything But Routine

On 7 August 2015, then–Captain Jophiel “Jo” Philips conducted his Friday night routine on Camp Integrity, Kabul, Afghanistan, cleaning the physical training (PT) pad for group PT the next day. The chaplain would clean with him, then they would discuss Bible verses afterwards. The comfort in routine can set in when in a deployed environment, blending normalcy into a warzone that is anything but. Routines that now–Lieutenant Colonel Philips recalls, such as cleaning his weapon, playing soccer with local Afghan nationals on the basketball court, boxing with other service members, and camp-wide group PT on Saturday mornings to stay fit to fight. But that night promised to be anything but routine. At 2230 hours, a 10,000+ pound Vehicle Borne Improvised Explosive Device (VBIED) detonated at the camp’s entry point, adjacent to the PT pad where Lieutenant Colonel Philips and the base chaplain were cleaning in their PT gear.

Gearing Up For Deployment

Lieutenant Colonel Jo Philips began his career in the Air Force as a direct appointee, and entered active duty in February 2012. He first served at the 96th Test Wing Legal Office, Eglin Air Force Base (AFB), Florida. He first became interested in operations law when he was in technical training at the Judge Advocate Staff Officer Course (JASOC). “I got the advice … if I wanted to do Special Ops Law, put Cannon AFB down as my number one choice,” Lieutenant Colonel Philips recollects. So, from the sunny, white sand beaches of Destin, Florida, then–Captain Philips found himself in the New Mexico desert, three and a half hours from Albuquerque. When Lieutenant Colonel Philips told his Staff Judge Advocate (SJA), then–Lieutenant Colonel Paula Grant, that he had chosen Cannon as his number one assignment, she was surprised. Lieutenant Colonel Philips told her he wanted to practice operations law. So, Colonel Grant trained him: she had him on deployment lines providing legal assistance, briefing the law of war and rules of engagement. 

Lieutenant Colonel Philips appreciated the on-the-job legal training.

It set me up to deploy to Afghanistan. It wasn’t a typical Air Force deployment. I went to school at Fort Bragg[1] with the Green Berets and Navy SEALs. We all went to school together to learn about Camp Integrity and its mission. I was the JAG on that team, Lieutenant Colonel Philips recalled with pride.

When I went to Integrity, I knew everybody.

Looking back, Lieutenant Colonel Philips encourages young officers to put down bases because of their specialty missions and opportunities. If he hadn’t put down Cannon, “I don’t think I would have gotten that specific deployment,” he says.

 
The extensive training Lieutenant Colonel Philips received would prove to be life-saving during his deployment.
 





 

Lieutenant Colonel Philips also received special training at Joint Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst (JBMDL), New Jersey, specifically for deployers. That was the first time he heard rapid fire rounds, and trained himself to not freeze when he heard them. Lieutenant Colonel Philips also attended JAG-specific combat training at JBMDL.

You’re definitely a lawyer, but you’re also an officer—you have to know how to handle your weapon. You have to feel comfortable having a weapon and you have to have your brothers’ and sisters’ backs when you get attacked …. It is so important … [w]hen you’re going to deploy, someone’s life is in your hands, he said.

The extensive training Lieutenant Colonel Philips received would prove to be life-saving during his deployment.
 

CAMP INTEGRITY, KABUL, AFGHANISTAN 2015

The legal office at Camp Integrity was small, a four-person shop. Then–Captain Philips was the only Air Force representative, as the SJA was in the Army, and the other two personnel were in the Navy. Then–Captain Philips was in charge of advising on Human Intelligence (HUMINT) and Signals Intelligence (SIGINT) as well as special operations fiscal law. He also worked on detainee operations and mission planning.

I was having a lot of fun, I enjoyed what I was doing. It was a small camp. I would go on different missions with our ops teams and NATO members from various different countries. We had a job to do and the camaraderie was something different than I’ve ever experienced playing football or being with my family back at home, Lieutenant Colonel Philips said.

While serving as an advisor was an important role, Lieutenant Colonel Philips found that getting to know his teammates was most important to getting the mission done. “When America is sending 18, 19-year-old young men and women out there … the responsibility they took I was in awe,” Lieutenant Colonel Philips remembered. “We are putting so much trust in them to be our security at our camp, conduct duties outside the wire for day-to-day living, do mission planning. It really stuck out to me how mature they were.
 


T-wall barriers

“The one person I had a hard time getting along with was [U.S. Army] First Sergeant (1SG) Peter "Drew" McKenna, Jr. …. We had a lot of disagreements on how quickly things could be done,” Lieutenant Colonel Philips recalled. “When he wanted to [buy] certain things, like t-walls and weapons, I needed justification, not just a rubber stamp. We figured out a way to do what he wanted.” These were important things for the camp for protection and the personnel to have, but legally they had to be done the right way. Lieutenant Colonel Philips continued, “What sticks out to me is how tough and intelligent he was … he was a seasoned vet—they relied on him to do a lot for that camp and he had been there a year already.” Despite their disagreements, 1SG McKenna was a valuable teammate, especially on the fateful night of 7 August 2015.

… the firefight raged around Lieutenant Colonel Philips and the Chaplain. When there was a pause in the shooting, they ran for it.
 

The explosion of the VBIED threw Lieutenant Colonel Philips in the air. He landed directly on top of the chaplain. “Glass goes into me and the chaplain, and the next thing I remember is hot flashes going on around me. The chaplain goes, ‘Jo, those are grenades, we’re getting attacked!’” He and the chaplain had to move, because they were unarmed at the time. They knew if they stayed put, they would draw fire. They took cover together under a nearby MRAP vehicle to get their bearings, but feared it would get hit by a grenade and collapse on them.[2] The two agreed to try to make it to the chaplain’s living quarters. They only had eight to ten yards to cross to relative safety, but the firefight raged around Lieutenant Colonel Philips and the Chaplain. When there was a pause in the shooting, they ran for it.

Lieutenant Colonel Philips ensured the chaplain was safe in his quarters, and got his weapon and armor and went back outside to defend his team, his camp. But the injuries from the blast made him disoriented, causing him to be one of several personnel to be medically evacuated in a Black Hawk, with the sides of the helicopter wide open, which was taking fire as the nurses calmly worked on their patients. One of those patients was 1SG McKenna.






 
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Sometimes, those who you believe to be ordinary have something inside them that enables them to do extraordinary things.
 

“What saved my life was that t-wall [concrete barrier] that 1SG McKenna put in,” Lieutenant Colonel Philips said—the same t-wall that he and 1SG McKenna had heatedly discussed. “Sometimes, those who you believe to be ordinary have something inside them that enables them to do extraordinary things.”[3] Lieutenant Colonel Philips later learned that 1SG McKenna, Master Sergeant (MSG) George Vera, and their Quick Reaction Forces—composed of the same young men and women described before, ran to the 28 insurgents who attacked the camp that night. Because of them, the majority of the insurgents were prevented from coming into the camp although eight contracted security personnel perished in the attack. 1SG McKenna took heavy fire, but saved many inside of the camp. 1SG McKenna lost his life that night, and MSG Vera was gravely wounded.[4] Although under medical care, Lieutenant Colonel Philips was allowed to return to Camp Integrity one last time to honor 1SG McKenna in a memorial service four days after the attack. “He’s left a tremendous mark on my life.” Lieutenant Colonel Philips said of 1SG McKenna.

ROAD TO RECOVERY: POST-AFGHANISTAN

Lieutenant Colonel Philips rotated through multiple hospitals on his way to recovery from his injuries: Hamid Karzai International Airport hospital to Bagram Airfield hospital in Afghanistan then to Al Udeid Air Base, Qatar, then to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, Germany. It was in Landstuhl, Lieutenant Colonel Philips recalled, that the JAG Corps family greeted him with open arms—there ready and waiting to take him to the hospital was then-Captain Jessica Jacquay, a JASOC classmate. Together, they visited MSG Vera, who was recovering from his multiple injuries. Lieutenant Colonel Philips then was transported to San Antonio Military Medical Center (SAMMC), Texas.

Recovering at SAMMC, Lieutenant Colonel Philips saw multiple personnel return from Afghanistan with varying degrees of trauma. He spent time with those troops and talked with them. “SAMMC does a great job putting you back on your feet. I probably left SAMMC a little too early … I wish I had sought help and talked to therapists sooner,” Lieutenant Colonel Philips said of his own recovery.

I wish everyone who goes down range, or when our Area Defense Counsel and Victims’ Counsel see different trauma, [they] would seek professional help. We need mentors to tell us to talk to someone. When I did get pushed to get help, it really did help me.

Reflecting on his time in Afghanistan and his own recovery, Lieutenant Colonel Philips recalled how he felt when Afghanistan fell in August 2021, almost six years to the day of the blast. He often wonders about the local people who were kind to him and his teammates when he was deployed—the local orphanage he gave toys to, the Afghans who worked on base, the local women going to school. He thought about heroes he served with such as 1SG McKenna and MSG Vera, whose actions saved many lives. While Lieutenant Colonel Philips was out-processing to the Reserve, he was back at JBMDL during Operation ALLIED WELCOME. He saw the Afghans who were able to make it out of the country and to the United States on the base.

 


Many were playing soccer on the basketball courts. I resisted the urge to join them, but the full circle of it wasn’t lost on me. I often think about those who are still in Afghanistan and future of Afghanistan, what many of our teammates sacrificed. I do believe our presence in Afghanistan sparked a desire for social change and hope to see it come to fruition there with future generations in the years ahead.

About Lieutenant Colonel Philips

 
Lieutenant Colonel Jophiel Philips

Lieutenant Colonel Jophiel Philips, USAF

(B.A., State University of New York at Stony Brook, Suffolk, New York; M.A., Wesleyan University, Middletown, Connecticut; J.D., University of San Francisco, San Francisco, California) is an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate (Individual Mobilization Augmentee) at the 319th Reconnaissance Wing, Grand Forks Air Force Base, North Dakota. He is the recipient of the Bronze Star Medal, the Purple Heart, and the Air Force Combat Action Medal for his service in Afghanistan.
Edited by: Major Allison K.W. Johnson (Editor-in-Chief), Major Victoria H. Clarke and Major Andrew H. Woodbury
Layout by: Thomasa Huffstutler
 

Endnotes

 
[1] Fort Bragg, NC was recently changed to Fort Liberty in 2023. Hannah Schoenbaum, Fort Bragg changes name to Fort Liberty, part of U.S. Army plan to rename installations honoring Confederate soldiers, PBS (June 2, 2023, 12:30 P.M.), https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/fort-bragg-changes-name-to-fort-liberty-part-of-u-s-army-plan-to-rename-installations-honoring-confederate-soldiers.
[2] Wikipedia, MRAP, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MRAP (last visited June 29, 2023).
[3] Jophiel Philips, “Veteran’s Day Remembering My Teammates,” TJAG Online News Service, (Nov. 11, 2015) at 729-730, https://kmjas.jag.af.mil/moodle/pluginfile.php/51733/mod_resource/content/7/TJAG%20Online%20News%20Signature%20Piece%20COLLECTION-2000-2023.pdf [restricted access link].
[4] 164 Cong. Rec. H1360-H1351 (Mar. 5, 2018).