Sami Lynn Phillips
U.S. Navy 1978 – 2020
Retired Navy Chief Petty Officer Sami Lynn Phillips was born on Oct. 29, 1960, in Elgin, Illinois. After her June 1978 graduation from Palatine High School in Palatine, IL, she joined the Navy Delayed Enlistment Program and turned eighteen during bootcamp at Recruit Training Center in Orlando, Florida. After graduation, she attended Basic Electricity and Electronics School at Naval Training Center (NTC) Orlando. Feeling “lost as a goose in a hailstorm,” intensive night study was required. She successfully graduated just in time for Christmas leave. She then reported to the Navy Gunner’s Mate “A” School at NTC Great Lakes, IL, as one of seven women in her class. She discovered this school was much easier and soon found herself as one of three women from her class with orders to Naval Air Facility, Atsugi, Japan. She arrived in Japan in May 1979 where her duties in the Weapons Department included the training and scheduling of the explosive ordnance drivers as well as being part of the Air Terminal staff logistics team.
Marriage and a young son soon followed. When transfer time came, the career counselor was very clear that there was no guarantee that she and her husband would be stationed together or even close together. (Co-location for spouses just was not a thing!) To keep her family together, Sami opted out of her contract and spent the next 19 years being the dutiful military wife. She traveled the world with her husband and son(s): Adak, Alaska; Great Lakes, IL (twice); Millington, TN; and Nairobi, Kenya.
After his retirement, they settled down in Millington where Sami attended Concorde Career School to be certified as a Dental Assistant. Once she passed her state licensing test and was certified as a Registered Dental Assistant, she performed her externship at the Naval Branch Health and Dental Clinic onboard Naval Support Activity (NSA) Mid-South in Millington.
When a contract position opened, the Branch Director hired her on the spot! Sami was invited by one of her co-workers to join them in the local reserve unit. After explaining that they spent their drill weekends basically doing the same job they did during the week, Sami was all in. So, two weeks before 9/11, Sami joined the Navy Reserves.
Over the next twelve plus years she never missed the standard two-week annual training and sometimes drilled two weekends a month to provide dental support for various units or activities. She was in her element and proud to be serving her country once again! While attached to the Navy Reserve Unit at the Naval Hospital at Camp LeJeune, North Carolina, she supported the summer surge of recruits at RTC Great Lakes, IL. In 2005, she spent two and a half weeks on a humanitarian mission to Cameroon, West Africa. While mobilized to the Navy Personnel Command (NPC) from 2006 until 2007, she was selected as the April 2007 Sailor of the Month. In 2012, Sami worked with the Air Force to provide community dental care in Kaual, Hawaii. She was hired as a civilian Navy Reserve Medical Program Manager at NPC PERs-9 in Millington from 2007 until 2025. Her final assignment came in 2013 when she received orders to NAVCAS, N-135, at NPC PERS-00C onboard NSA Mid-South in Millington. She also spent 120 days on Active Duty for Special Works at the Navy Reserve Casualty Unit (NAVCAS). While there, she had the chance to visit the Federal Port Mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. The care and dignity provided by the staff to fallen service members was very impressive. Although a heart-breaking job, Sami firmly believes that we must do our best to ensure our service members and their families are taken care of in the best way possible.
In 2017, Sami was selected for CPO. She was thrilled, though amazed, that they selected “an old girl like her.’ She was twenty years older than the youngest chief selectee. She was immensely proud to be “pinned” in the presence of her husband, three sons, and other family members, coworkers and friends. Chief Phillips retired from the Navy Reserves on Feb. 1, 2020.
For her service to our country, she was awarded three Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals, a Meritorious Unit Commendation, four Navy Reserve Meritorious Service Medals, a National Defense Service Medal, a Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, a Navy Recruiting Service Medal, an Armed Forces Reserve Medal with “M” device and hourglass attachment, a Pistol Marksmanship Ribbon, and the Career Counselor Badge.
Sami is a member of the Tipton County Museum and the Tipton County Veterans Council. She is the secretary for the Military Women Across the Nation, Memphis Belles Unit 151, and is an active volunteer with the Tipton County Paws and Claws Rescue organization. Sami and her husband, David, were married in November 2020. She is blessed with three amazing sons who have followed her example of “service before self.” Rick is a retired Navy CPO; Matthew is an active-duty Coast Guard Lieutenant Commander; and Nicholas is a federal Information Technology Specialist, and six wonderful grandchildren: Becca, Lydia, Benjamin, Fisher, Gwendolynn, and Evan. Sami was nominated for Veteran of the Month by her good friend Linda Coffield, the March 2022 Veteran of the Month.