Phillips to lead 919th SOW

  • Published
  • By Dan Neely
  • 919th Special Operations Wing Public Affairs
DUKE FIELD, Fla. --  The Air Force Reserve has selected Col. James Phillips to take command of the 919th Special Operations Wing.

Phillips, previously the 919th Special Operations Group commander, takes charge of the wing Dec. 7 in a ceremony officiated by Maj. Gen. William Binger, 10th Air Force commander. He succeeds Col. Anthony Comtois, who departed in September to become commander of the Joint Special Operations Air Component for Special Operations Command Africa.

Phillips is a 1988 graduate of North Carolina State University where he earned his commission through the Air Force ROTC program. He is a master navigator with more than 5,000 hours. His previous assignments include flying duties as a C-130 instructor navigator and an MC-130E Combat Talon I navigator, instructor navigator and evaluator navigator.

Phillips separated from active duty in 1999 and entered the Air Force Reserve in the 711th Special Operations Squadron at Duke Field, flying the MC-130E. He participated in Operations Desert Shield, Desert Storm, Southern Watch, Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
The 919th SOW is Air Force Reserve Command's only special operations wing and its most decorated unit.

The wing, in a classic association with the Air Force Special Operations Air Warfare Center, provides operations and maintenance personnel to support the aviation foreign internal defense and combat aviation advisor programs for the Air Force Special Operations Command through the use of the C-145A aircraft.

The 919th conducts U-28 and C-145A formal training unit flight instruction through a classic association with the AFSOAWC. It also employs the MQ-1 Predator unmanned aerial system in a geographically separated classic association with the 27th Special Operations Wing, Cannon AFB, N.M.

The 919th provides personnel to support AFSOC and AFRC Air Expeditionary Force taskings relating to security forces; civil engineering; communications; logistics; supply; transportation; services and personnel functions.