Interview with Jeff Philippart History 150 Spring 2023, Conducted by Ben Philippart, March 15, 2023.

Overview to Social Change Interview

Jeff Philippart discusses his experiences in the United States Air Force. The interview discusses his time in the Air Force Academy, involvements in Operation Deny Flight, Operation Iraqi Freedom, and Operation Enduring Freedom. The interview covers how his service affected his social life and his family. The main historical events during the time frame discussed in the interview include the ethnic cleansing of Bosnia in the 1990s, 9/11, and the war that ensued in the Middle East after 9/11.  The time frame is approximately from 1986-2014.

During his time in the Air Force, he visited over 90 different countries and all 7 continents. He was involved in the Iraq War and was stationed in the Middle East several times. 

This interview primarily focuses on themes of family and the military. A key portion of the interview focuses on how Jeff’s home life was impacted by his service in the military, especially the impact it had on his wife and kids. He would be stationed overseas for several months, even a year in some instances. Finding a balance at home and making sure to spend time with his family were crucial in these moments for Jeff. He also dives into his various assignments around the world, ranging from Italy to Antarctica. He talks about the effects that moving around so much had on his family and how each place brought their own experiences. There is also a financial factor to his choice to join the military, as Jeff went to the academy to receive a debt-free education.

Biography: My father, Jeff Philippart, served 24 years in the United States Air Force, during which he was involved in three major military operations: Operation Deny Flight, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. He was stationed in over 90 countries during his entire career.

Research: Important events for this interview include Operation Deny Flight, Operation Enduring Freedom, and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Operation Deny Flight occurred from 1993-1995 during the Bosnian civil war when NATO enforced a no-fly zone over Bosnia to keep the peace agreement. Operation Enduring Freedom was the name given to the military operation that took place directly after 9/11, in which the United States military, in response to the event, invaded the Middle East with the goal of taking down the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. Operation Iraqi Freedom involved the US military invading Iraq and taking down the president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein, who was reported stockpiling and distributing weapons of mass destruction, in direct violation of U.N. resolutions.

Speaker 1: Hi, my name is Ben Philippart. And I will be interviewing my father, if you would like to introduce yourself.

Speaker 2: Thanks. Yeah. Hi, this is Jeff Philippart.

Speaker 1: Great. To start, could you just give a little summary of your, of your career in the Air Force?

Speaker 2: Sure. So I graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1990. And I went, my first assignment was to actually go to grad school, so I went to the University of Maryland, College Park for two years, got a degree, a Master’s Degree in Public Policy. From there, I went to pilot training and Lubbock, Texas at Reese Air Force Base. So I spent a year in Texas, learning how to fly getting my wings from Texas. Spent a little bit of time in Little Rock Arkansas going through training for my first assignment, which is flying ECE Echo, Charlie 130s, in Biloxi, Mississippi. And while I was in Arkansas finishing my training, the unit that I was going to the seventh accs airborne command and control squadron. We call it the x. So seventh X. They, they called me and told me not to make plans for Christmas since I was going to be going to on a deployment to Italy as soon as I got done with my training. So went to Biloxi did my what we call initial qualification training in about a month, and didn’t even really find a place to live in Mississippi just got on the plane went to Italy. And I said, “When will I be home?” and they said “we don’t know.” And this is all in support of Operation Deny Flight. So this was the US led no fly zone over Bosnia. So this is when there was a civil war in Bosnia Herzegovina, ethnic cleansing, lots of stuff going on. So the United States set up a no fly zone. And so my airplane was part of the command and control network, flying long missions. Mostly boring missions, flying in a racetrack pattern over the Adriatic Sea, while the folks in the back of a plane did their job, communicating to the fighters and other airplanes to operate and enforce that mission. So that was in the end of 1993 and the beginning of 1994. And before I could come home from that first deployment, the squadron commander came over and told us the unit was moving. So we were going so the unit was relocating from Biloxi, Mississippi to Tucson, Arizona. It was renamed the 42nd accs or the 42nd. X. And I came home and packed up what little stuff I had and drove my car to Tucson, Arizona, and was in Tucson from 1994 to 1998. Continuing to fly the EC-130 continuing to support you know, deployments back and forth to Italy. We were flying out Aviano airbase in Italy and spent probably, you know, all total almost a year and a half of my life in Italy, you know, 60 days, 90 days different different rotations. While I was continuing to advance in my flying career, going from Copilot to Aircraft Commander, to instructor pilot to finally evaluater pilot and was pretty much ready to do something different. And that’s when I got the opportunity at the end of 1998 to transition from flying the C-130 to a brand new airplane C-17. So this is a big transition there. The the EC-130s I flew were built in the 1960s, a lot of them flew in Vietnam. Yeah. And the see some of the C seven teens I flew were brand new, brand new airplane. So I went to training office Air Force Base, Oklahoma and got to my new unit in Charleston, South Carolina in spring of 1999 and that’s where and that’s where I became part of the The 14th Airlift Squadron, nicknamed the pelicans and started flying, you know, as a co pilot in the C-17. And that’s where, where I was, I was actually in the airport at Charleston, getting ready to fly to Long Beach, California to the factory where they make C 17s – yes – on 9/11. And, obviously, I didn’t make that flight, left the airport, went back to work and, you know, started supporting all the activity that was going on because of the terrorist attack on 9/11. A couple of months later, I did actually get to go to Long Beach to pick up that brand new C 17. But, yeah, that really ramped ramp things up. Your brother was about six months old. So you know, a lot of deployments, a lot of time on the road. And it was hard to predict, you know, like, you would be gone for a week, and then you know, you’d be home and like, okay, when are you going again, like I don’t know, and you get the phone call. And basically 12 hours later, from getting that phone call, you could you could get another phone call saying you’ve got to come in and time to fly. And you don’t know where you’re going. You don’t know how long they’re gonna be gone. It could be three days, it could be 21 days, it just really was a very unpredictable lifestyle. Yeah. So flew a lot of missions flew into Afghanistan, Bagram Air Base, primarily, again, long missions. Probably my longest mission ever was flying out of Frankfurt, Germany, into Afghanistan, and back in one day, and it was almost a 26 hour day. Wow. Before we were all said and done. So was still Charleston, in the spring of 2003. When we had Operation Iraqi Freedom kickoff. I got within, well, you know, the the actual operation, liberation of Iraq took, you know, 30 days or less? So within the first couple of months, I was actually flying – flying missions into Iraq, supporting supporting that activity. Before we left in the summer of 2003, to go to Montgomery, Alabama, for one year of what we call intermediate, intermediate education. That’s the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery. And that’s where you were born. Yep. So, spent, spent a year in Montgomery, got another Master’s degree. And was sent from my first staff assignment, which was to United States Central Command in Tampa, Florida. So working, living in Florida, outside of Tampa and working on that staff for two years, supporting all the operations in Iraq, Afghanistan, Horn of Africa – all the all the garden spots, if you will, of the world, we’re kind of under our jurisdiction. So again, very busy, actually had to deploy to what we call the CENTCOM Forward Headquarters, which was in Qatar, outside of Doha, Qatar, spent some time there, working at the Ford headquarters, but most of the time was in Tampa. And toward the end of that assignment, I was selected to be an Operations Officer, which is like the second in command of a squadron, in Tacoma, Washington. McChord Air Force Base. Your sister was born one month before we left Tampa. Yeah. So that’s why we say we’re military family because our three kids born in three different states. But we did the cross country drive to Tampa or from Tampa to Tacoma. And got to Tacoma. And the squadron that I was in the fourth Airlift Squadron was going on a deployment to support, again, operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. This time the squadron was deployed to two locations: Incirlik Airbase in Turkey, And also we had us detachment at Manassa Airbase in Kyrgyzstan. So Kyrgyzstan, we were flying into Afghanistan, and from Incirlik, Turkey we were falling in to Iraq. So that was over Christmas over the Christmas holiday. So I missed Christmas with you guys. But before we left, I found out that I was selected for my command, squadron command, which was sort of like one of my career goals while I was in the Air Force. Unfortunately, my squadron command was a year in Qatar.
So with three young children, your mom was not thrilled that I was going to be gone for a year. So she moved the family from Tacoma back to Northern Virginia. And I spent a year in Qatar as part of the 8th Expeditionary Air Mobility Squadron. So at the at the IUD Airbase there in Qatar, we did all the – we supported the aerial port, the passenger terminal, the cargo maintenance, and basically loading and unloading all the airplanes going to going to Iraq, going to Afghanistan. So again, very busy squadron, never had a day off, didn’t need a day off because it was just a very busy year. Came back to Virginia, and then spent two years at the Pentagon, working on the Air Staff, went to the Marine Corps War College for a year in Quantico, Virginia. Came back to the Pentagon worked on the Joint Staff for one year before I got selected to be a Vice Wing Commander back in Tacoma, Washington. By this time, it was Joint Base Lewis-McChord. And that’s where we were from 2012 to 2014 when I retired.

Speaker 1: Yeah. Awesome. Um great. Tracking it back a little. So, did you have any doubts about joining the Air Force at first? I know, we’ve talked about – you, you had a scholarship to UCLA. Right?

Speaker 2: Yeah. You know, I was, you know, grew up in a, in a small town in northern California called Linden. And, you know, there weren’t a lot of kids from my high school even going to college, much less going to a service academy. So it was a very different path for me to take. did have the full ride scholarship, academic scholarship to go UCLA. But for me, you know, the, the opportunity to go to go to the Air Force Academy and, you know, study and graduate with no debt was pretty attractive. And, honestly, you know, it was a it’s a five year commitment. So I thought, you know, it’s, it’s five years you get your education paid for. I honestly did not grow up wanting to be a pilot or dreaming of being a pilot. That was something that grew on me while I was at the academy. When I went there, I thought I was going to be aeronautical engineer. And then quickly realized I didn’t like college math. So that’s when I became a history and political science. Major. So yeah, so it was 17 years old and off. I went to the Air Force Academy. In 86.

Speaker 1: Yeah, that’s awesome. So where- out of all the places places you’ve been stationed, where were you stationed the longest?

Speaker 2: Well, I mean, the longest in time duration was in Tucson. So that was from summer of 1994 until the fall of 1998. So almost four years. Plus the time, you know, in Mississippi, so I was in that squadron, almost five years. I did a lot of flying. And of course, Tucson when I was in Tucson, that’s where I met your mom. Yep. So fond memories of Arizona.

Speaker 1: Yeah, of course. Yeah. Where internationally do you think you spent like, the most time overseas?

Speaker 2: Well, one of the things you know, that, you know, as I was able to look back on my career, getting ready for my retirement, your mom said to count all the different places I’ve been in the world and countries and, you know, it was well over 90 different countries that I’ve been to. So I’ve had an opportunity, you know, in the Air Force, thankfully, because of my, my job as a, as an airline pilot, to go to lots of different countries. You know, I’ve been all over Asia. I’ve been to Africa, obviously, the Middle East, Europe. So, you know, I consider myself very fortunate that I got to spend and visit and see some of those places. Obviously, sometimes you’re just passing through it. You know, you’re not there as a tourist, you’re not there on vacation. But, you know, I did get to spend the most quality time in Northern Italy, outside of Aviano air base there and in the town of Aviano and the town of Camigliano. And, you know, with our schedule, we had enough time off to actually get to know the people and see some of the sights in that area, not just Italy, but Austria, Germany, France. So, you know, that was that was a great, you know, looking back that was the country I spent the most time, but probably the most unique place I ever went was to the South Pole. So as you remember, in Washington, in Washington, we got the support the Operation Deep Freeze, which is supporting the National Science Foundation flying missions out of New Zealand, down to McMurdo Station in Antarctica. And I actually had a chance to fly down to Antarctica and then stay over and fly on a – on a specially equipped C 130. That has skis on the bottom, and fly from McMurdo to the South Pole Station. Yeah. And, you know, take my hero picture and jump back on the plane and fly back. So yeah, so when I say I’ve been all over the world, I’m all over the world.

Speaker 1: Oh yeah. That’s wild. 90 different countries. That’s insane. Yeah. Where do you think was your – your favorite place to be stationed?

Speaker 2: Well, I think because of all the stuff that I mentioned before, about the length of time and that time to get to know the people and really appreciate the culture. You know, big fan of Northern Italy. But, you know, even, you know, Germany, England, I mean, again, lots of different experiences, you know, spent a month in Tokyo, and, yeah, that was an adventure driving on the wrong side of the road, not being able to understand the sign. So, you know, part of it is kind of pushing your comfort zone, and you know, trying to experience the culture.

Speaker 1: Yeah. That’s awesome. So these next two questions are pretty similar. Um, how did – How did being overseas for long periods of time affect your home life? And how did it – just like being in the military impact you as a father?

Speaker 2: Yeah, well, I mean, a couple of things. So the – the – on the home life who by you know, get a much different answer from your mom, than you would from me, you know. Because for me, I was doing my job. Like I said, I get the phone call and, you know, 12 hours later, I, you know, I may have to be at work, you know, flying a mission, going to Germany going to wherever, to support what was going on for Operation Enduring Freedom and then Operation Iraqi Freedom, so that, that period of time was obviously very busy for that for all the people in the US military. And, you know, I’m proud that I was able to serve during that period, but it was very demanding. Very difficult schedule to maintain. And, you know, thankfully, we had that year in Montgomery where, you know, we were able to really spend a lot of quality time as a family. Before you know, we went to Florida and again, you know, the deployments are difficult. But honestly, I think if you asked your mom, she said – she would have – she would prefer – or she did prefer the defined, even though they were longer. But if I was gone for a defined period of time, like let’s say 60 days or 90 days, but she knew there was a beginning and there was an end instead of the on-call, “Where are you going? I don’t know. How long are you going to be gone? I don’t know.” Very difficult for her to plan. Very, very challenging obviously trying to raise you know, young kids. So that was that was the hard part, and for me as as a father it was difficult because I knew that there wasn’t really much I could do to help her out when I was gone. So you know she had friends family other people there to support her, but yeah, it was it was a challenge, and then I think for you know, as a father you know, missing missing the holidays, missing Christmases, those types of things. That’s tough. The only, I guess solace, in a way was that you guys were so young. Yeah. That, you know, by the time I finished my year in Qatar, you know, that was, you know, 2008 So, you know, you were five, and you know, Maggie was three. So you know, you guys were really, you know, kind of too young, I think to really remember much of that. Yeah. And then, you know, most of the rest of the time I had been home. So I think the fact that you guys were younger, helped. And, you know, I couldn’t imagine down the road being gone, like, as you were older and missing all the different activities going on. So. So I think the timing worked out.

Speaker 1: Yeah. That’s great. So, I know you talked a bit about these earlier, but could you describe with a little bit more detail your experiences and involvement with Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom?

Speaker 2: Yeah, so Operation Enduring Freedom. That was the Afghanistan operation where we, you know, remove the Taliban from – from Afghanistan and the support, there was primarily again, flying cargo missions and flying people, cargo supplies, in and out of Afghanistan. In the beginning, it was pretty treacherous, because, you know, the runway was not in great shape. And it was, you know, parts of it would be shut down. We were flying in on night vision goggles. So there’s a lot of mountainous terrain around Bagram Airbase. So, but definitely very challenging missions, challenging environment with the night vision goggles. I can tell you, there’s not a lot of infrastructure in Afghanistan. So, you know, it – you know, pretty much a lot of the stuff that they use had to be flown in on airplanes or brought in by truck. It’s a landlocked country. So it’s definitely a very, very demanding very challenging environment. halfway around the world. Yeah. Iraqi Freedom, I had, you know, less support in the, you know, some support in the beginning of the operation shortly after they, you know, the fall of Baghdad and then, like I said, went back later and was able to fly from Turkey. We flew supplied missions into, into northern Iraq, but just a few things, like just not for me personally, but for the C 17. So, on the first night of Operation Enduring Freedom, when US bombers were dropping bombs in Afghanistan, there were see seven teams from Charleston, you know. Friends of mine were were doing high altitude air drop missions, dropping humanitarian supplies to the people of Afghanistan. So that was that was pretty cool. That was several missions that flew in the beginning of the operation. We also had the operation where we inserted the the Marines, south of Kandahar. And, and that was how they took down the Kandahar Airfield or took control of Kandahar Airfield. And that was sort of the beginning of us using the night vision goggles and using some of those tactics. And then we also for Operation Iraqi Freedom, the C-17s did a large air drop mission into northern Iraq. Yeah. So that was another part again. You know, I didn’t fly those missions, but I know people who did and was part of the, you know, overall support network for what was going on. So you know, a lot of a lot of firsts. A lot of never-been-done-before. The C 17 is still a fairly new airplane at the time, and it really proved its capabilities and flexibility in spades during the during those operations.

Speaker 1: Yeah. That’s awesome. Final wrap up question: How do you feel about the the recent decisions made within the, within the US military in terms of like government foreign involvement, etc, seeing as you’ve been retired for about eight, nine years now?

Speaker 2: Yeah. I mean, I – I definitely, you know, understand and support the withdrawal from Afghanistan even though you know, I don’t I don’t like the conditions that their – their people are living in who currently, you know, I didn’t see that what was going on over there, we weren’t solving any problems. In fact, sometimes our presence would attract, you know, attention, negative attention in terms of terrorist attacks and other types of things. So, I think the, the way we did the withdrawal pop, obviously, could have been done better. But, you know, given the circumstances, I mean, I, I know, the lieutenant colonel who was in charge of the last airplane to leave Afghanistan. He was he was part of part of the squadron in Washington. And, you know, just proud of the of the aircrew for, for flying all those missions, getting all those people out of Afghanistan, definitely, you know, a proud moment for a C-17 – you know, veteran, because a lot of those pilots and loadmasters are friends of mine, and people I know, and, you know, they just did a tremendous job executing that – that – that mission to evacuate all those people, US and otherwise, other other citizens out of Afghanistan. So, again, you know, not maybe not the best planning, but in terms of the execution, I think those crews and obviously, that mission was a tremendous success for, for the airlift community. And then, you know, you know, again, that – but those decisions aren’t made by the military, they’re made by our political leaders. And, you know, as far as what’s going on now, in the in the Ukraine, obviously, support all the effort that we’re putting behind the people in the Ukraine to resist the invasion of their country to protect their country. Going back again, you know, I went to the Air Force Academy in 1986. You know, the kind of the height of the Cold War, Ronald Reagan, Soviet Union? You know, the Big Red Machine, so to speak. So, I’ve always, you know, from the beginning, I’ve always been, you know, not a fan of Russia, and the Soviet Union. Very happy, you know, when the wall came down, and the Soviet Union collapsed. I actually got a chance to go to Moscow. When I was part of the Marine Corps War College, and, you know, this was in like 2010, 2011. And, you know, thinking, you know, it’s over. Right, but, you know, the Cold War’s over. Yeah, United States. You know, we did our mission, and, you know, we prevailed, but here we are, you know, 10 years after that. And, obviously, you know, Russia has is just back to its old tricks. So, yeah, that’s a little disappointing that that history is repeating itself. But, you know, we’re, I think we’re doing the right thing supporting the folks in the Ukraine.

Speaker 1: Yeah. All right. That is all the questions I have for you. Thank you so much, Dad.

Biblography:

Daalder, Ivo H., Lindsay, James M. “Nasty, Brutish, and Long: America’s War on Terrorism.” Brookings. December 1, 2001. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/nasty-brutish-and-long-americas-war-on-terrorism/

Owen, Robert C. “The Balkans Air Campaign Study: Part 1.” Airpower Journal. Summer 1997. https://media.defense.gov/2016/Mar/10/2001477396/-1/-1/0/AIRPOWER%20JOUNAL%20SUM%2097.PDF

“Operation Enduring Freedom.” Naval History and Heritage Command. August 7, 2020. https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/middle-east/operation-enduring-freedom.html

“Operation Iraqi Freedom.” Naval History and Heritage Command. November 7, 2022. https://www.history.navy.mil/browse-by-topic/wars-conflicts-and-operations/middle-east/operation-iraqi-freedom.html