After graduating from Massapequa High School in 1977, Phil attended The Millard Prep School in Bandon, Oregon on a Falcon Foundation Scholarship. He then received an appointment to the United States Air Force Academy. In June of 1982, Phil graduated with a B.S. in International Studies from the Air Force Academy. He was a distinguished military graduate. After attending undergraduate pilot training at Reese Air Force Base in Lubbock, Texas, Phil went on to become a command pilot with 3,900 hours of flying time including combat time as a C-141 airlift pilot during Operations JUST CAUSE and DESERT STORM. During his twenty-eight years on active duty in the United States Air Force, he also had extensive experience in various command, joint, and multinational assignments. His assignments took him all around the globe. He holds Master’s degrees in Economics, Military Studies, Strategic Studies, and Public Administration from Old Dominion University, the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S. Air War College, and Auburn University respectively. He also served on the faculties of the Air Force Academy and the University of Houston, was a term member of the Council on Foreign Relations, has published 97 articles, book reviews, editorials, two books and was currently in the process of working on his third book about his three deployments to Afghanistan.
Three weeks after retiring from the USAF in October 2010, he deployed a third and last time to Kabul as a civilian advisor to the Afghan Ministry of Defense. He was assigned to the NATO training mission at Camp Eggers and taught 30 senior Afghan generals and colonels, how to develop a three-year, $15 billion defense budget. His planned sixteen-month assignment was cut short by one month when he was medically evacuated on January 29th 2012 with a brain tumor. Three days later it was removed at the Walter Reed Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. His initial recovery was so successful and rapid that he was called a medical miracle and continued that reputation with his follow-on treatments at MD Anderson. In December 2012, just 9 months after his diagnosis and surgery, Phil ran the Dallas half marathon with his son, Andrew as well as 5K and 10K races with both Andrew and his daughter Stephanie.
Phil spent his last few months working on his newly founded company Civil-Military (CM) Leadership Seminars, LLC, a service-disabled, veteran owned small business that was set to begin offering seminars on leadership in March 2014. Phil’s passion to write and speak on leadership, strategic planning, transformational change, his Catholic faith, Afghanistan, and military affairs are what led to his founding of CM Leadership Seminars.
Phil battled glioblastoma/brain cancer for 20 months. Many admired his determination and the strength he exhibited. On October 3, 2013, Phil passed away after a strong, hard fought battle with his wife, Anita, and their two children, Andrew and Stephanie at his side.