JOINT BASE LEWIS MCCHORD, Wash. – Today is a homecoming for one Soldier and a farewell for another as he returns to his home region.
Colonel Phil Lamb, who attended Mann Middle School and Lakes High School up to his senior year in Lakewood, Washington, took command of Joint Base Lewis-McChord this morning in a ceremony at Watkins Field on Lewis Main. Lamb takes command from Col. Skye Duncan.
Duncan, a native of southwest Idaho, moves on to his next assignment as the active-duty senior advisor to the Idaho Adjutant General at Gowen Field, Boise, Idaho, after serving as commander since July 19, 2019.
“I’m most proud of the team we had at JBLM,” Duncan said. “Our team produced a strong readiness platform here and made it a vibrant city. Every directorate kept this city humming. And the people at JBLM didn’t do it just because it was their job – they did it because it was their passion.
“This place has been amazing, and I will look back and fondly remember all of the people – Army and Air Force – I was lucky enough to work with here.”
As commander, Lamb manages JBLM’s day-to-day installation operations on behalf of the Army and Air Force senior warfighting commanders here.
“The ability to return to JBLM after being here for middle school and high school is dream come true for me,” Lamb said. “I feel I’ve come full circle – it was an opportunity I just couldn’t pass up.”
Lamb is the son of a career Army officer. After graduating from high school in Germany, he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in sports medicine from Creighton University, Nebraska, in 1999, was a distinguished military graduate and was commissioned as a second lieutenant as an Army aviator.
Lamb is an Army helicopter master aviator, qualified in the Bell OH-58 Kiowa, AH-64 Apache and Eurocopter UH-72 Lakota.
In 2008, Lamb was selected for the Office of the Secretary of Defense Joint Chiefs of Staff fellowship and received his master’s degree in public policy management from Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., in 2009.
His Pentagon utilization tour included service as the deputy legislative assistant to the 17th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, followed by service in the Headquarters, United States Department of the Army G-3/5/7 aviation directorate.
After his first Pentagon tour, Lamb was stationed in Germany as a battalion and brigade operations officer. Subsequently, he returned to the Pentagon and joined the staff for the 38th and 39th Army Chiefs of Staff.
Additionally, he worked in the joint staff, J-8 as the director of the Future Vertical Lift Joint Capabilities and Integration Cell.
Before his assignment to JBLM, he served as the senior aviation trainer at the Joint Multi-National Readiness Center in Hohenfels, Germany.
“After more than a decade of being a consumer of joint basing, I’m looking forward to being a provider,” Lamb said. “The installation has changed drastically since I was here before – and a change for the better. The opportunity to succeed at readiness and resilience at JBLM is not like anywhere else in the Department of Defense.”
Social Sharing