Biography

Jason T. Phillips was born in Atlantic City, NJ. A graduate of Villanova University, he was commissioned in 1995 as a Navy Supply Corps Officer.

Phillips reported to his first assignment which was Naval Station Guantanamo Bay, Cuba in March of 1996. He served as the Logistics and Housing Officer. In October of 1997, Phillips reported to the USS Fort McHenry (LSD-43) stationed in Sasebo, Japan as the Assistant Supply Officer and directly ran divisions responsible for personnel pay, command finances and disbursements, the ship store, and the ship post office. In December 1999, Phillips reported to the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Newport, Rhode Island as a Writing Instructor as well as Leadership and Ethics Instructor. While working as an Instructor on Navy Base Newport, RI, Phillips got his Masters degree in Writing and Literature from the University of Rhode Island.

In 2002, Phillips began his Education Doctoral Degree from Johnson & Wales University and focused his doctoral research on service-learning, campus-community partnerships. Phillips next assignment as an Officer in the Navy was with Navy Recruiting Command New England. He served as a Reserve Officer recruiter from 2003 through 2006 and was the “Officer Recruiter of the Year” for New England in 2005. In 2006 Phillips reported to the Navy Air Reserve command in Brunswick, ME where he served as the Resources Officer and Reserve Programs Director. In January 2007, Phillips achieved his Ed.D. degree and immediately following his dissertation defense, began a fifteen month set of orders as an Individual Augmentee (IA) to Afghanistan. While serving in Afghanistan, due to his civilian educational expertise in educational partnerships, he was assigned as the Senior Academic Advisor to develop, implement, and operate the “Senior Command and Staff Course” (SCSC) in Kabul, Afghanistan, a nine month program designed to educate Afghan colonels and generals in strategic level thinking. His work with the SCSC would become the foundation of Afghanistan’s National Defense University. In October 2009, Phillips left active duty and returned to Newport, RI as an Instructor while also serving as the Executive Officer of a Navy Reserve Unit which provides support for NATO. In December 2012, Phillips joined a Navy Reserve Unit which supports all Naval Forces within Japan where he planned, organized, and facilitated Japanese Language and Culture classes to enhance operational readiness of the Unit.  

In March 2014, Phillips was recalled to active duty to serve within the Center on Irregular Warfare and Armed Groups (CIWAG) within the U.S. Naval War College where he created the Civil-Military Educational Partnership Program (CMEPP) to establish a network of educational partnerships to include international partners in Afghanistan, Kenya, and Somalia, U.S. operators serving overseas, as well as civilian and military academics in order to achieve diverse dialogue and gain insight into narrative strategies which either promote or prevent violent extremism. Phillips continued to work on CMEPP until he retired from the Navy Reserve in May 2017.  Phillips currently works as an Instructor on Navy Base Newport, teaches a Japanese Language and Culture class for NEIT, and volunteers for two veteran advocacy organizations: Fairways for Warriors and the Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America.