Col. D. Landon Phillips is the Commander, 501st Combat Support Wing., U.S. Air Forces Europe, headquartered at Royal Air Force Fairford, United Kingdom. He is responsible for eight installations located in the United Kingdom and Norway, serving a community of more than 14,000 military service members, civilians, and local nationals. The wing provides agile combat support to enable Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance; Global Strike; and Command and Control missions for U.S. and NATO operations.
Col. Phillips was commissioned through ROTC in 1999 upon graduation from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He served as a Mission Support Group Commander and in a variety of base-level Civil Engineer and major command staff assignments to include Squadron, Detachment, Flight, and Company Commander assignments in garrison and deployed. He has deployed twice to Iraq, three times to Afghanistan and completed a short tour at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey. Prior to his current position, he was the Headquarters United States Air Forces in Europe, United Kingdom Division Chief.
EDUCATION
1999 Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering, University of Tennessee
2000 Aerospace Basic Course (In Residence), Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.
2003 Master of Science Degree in Environmental and Engineering Management, Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
2005 Explosive Ordnance Disposal School, NAVSCHOLEOD, Eglin AFB, Fla.
2006 Squadron Officer School (In Residence), Maxwell AFB, Ala.
2010 Air Command and Staff College (Correspondence), Maxwell AFB, Ala.
2013 Air War College (Correspondence), Maxwell AFB, Ala.
2014 Distinguished Graduate, Air Command and Staff College (In Residence), Maxwell AFB, Ala.
2017 Distinguished Graduate, U.S. Naval War College (In Residence), Newport, R.I.
2017 Graduate Certificate, Ethics and Emerging Military Technology, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, R.I.
2021 Middle East and South Asia Regional Course, Alan L. Freed Associates, Inc, Washington, DC
2022 Enterprise Leadership Seminar, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, NC
ASSIGNMENTS
1. January 2000–August 2001, Programming Engineer, 42nd Civil Engineer Squadron, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
2. August 2001–April 2003, AFIT Student, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
3. April 2003–July 2004, Readiness Officer, Incirlik AB, Turkey
4. July 2004–April 2005, Student, Naval School Explosive Ordnance Disposal, Eglin AFB, Fla.
5. April 2005–July 2008, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Flight Commander, 60th Civil Engineer Squadron, Travis AFB, Calif.
6. July 2008–May 2011, Commander, Detachment 63, HQ ACC, Indian Head, Md.
7. May 2011–June 2012, Explosive Ordnance Disposal Program Director, HQ USAF/A7CXR, Pentagon, Va.
8. June 2012–July 2013, Air Force Congressional Budget Liaison for MILCON, Military Family Housing, BRAC, SAF/FMBL, Pentagon, Va.
9. July 2013–July 2014, Student, Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
10. July 2014–July 2016, Commander, 31st Civil Engineer Squadron, Aviano AB, Italy
11. July 2016–June 2017, Student, U.S. Naval War College, Newport, R.I.
12. June 2017–June 2019, Commander, 21st Civil Engineer Squadron, Peterson AFB, Colo.
13. July 2019–July 2020, Programs Integration Section Chief, Combined Joint Engineer Branch, Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan
14. July 2020–Jul 2022, Commander, 48th Mission Support Group, RAF Lakenheath, England
15. July 2022–Jul 2023, United Kingdom Division Chief, Logistics, Engineering and Force Protection Directorate, Headquarters United States Air Forces in Europe, RAF Wyton, England
16. July 2023–Present, Commander, 501st Combat Support Wing, RAF Fairford, England
MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS
Legion of Merit Medal
Bronze Star Medal with two oak leaf clusters
Defense Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters
Meritorious Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters
Commendation Medal
Army Commendation Medal
Achievement Medal
Combat Action Medal
Army Combat Action Badge
Meritorious Unit Award with three oak leaf clusters
Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with three oak leaf clusters
Army Meritorious Unit Commendation
Cross of Merit of the Minister of Defense of the Czech Republic
Czech Republic Service Abroad Medal
EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION
Second Lieutenant Dec. 18, 1999
First Lieutenant Dec. 18, 2002
Captain Dec. 18, 2004
Major Oct. 1, 2009
Lieutenant Colonel Jan. 1, 2014
Colonel Jan. 1, 2020
(CURRENT AS OF JULY 2023)