Pride of the Pack: Staff Sergeant Phillip Brooks

  • Published
  • By Staff Sgt. Alice Moore
  • 8th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
KUNSAN AIR BASE, Republic of Korea --  Staff Sergeant Phillip Brooks from the 8th Fighter Wing was selected as the 8th Fighter Wing's Pride of the Pack for the week of Aug. 1. Each week the 8th Fighter Wing commander recognizes one member of the Wolf Pack by awarding them with a Pride of the Pack certificate for their stellar commitment to excellence and superior mission accomplishment. Here are some of Sergeant Brooks' highlights. 

Rank and full name: Staff Sgt. Phillip D. Brooks
Unit: 8th Fighter Wing Legal Office 
Duty Title: Assistant NCOIC, General and Civil Law
What is your job in a nutshell?: Paralegal
Hometown: Norwalk, Ohio
Previous Base: Keesler AFB, Miss. and a two-year tour at Kunsan AB 
Follow-on: Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio
Hobbies: Art
Favorite music: Country
Last good movie: Ghost Rider
Best thing you've done here: Managed the A-Cubed Program 

Letter from commander: 
I recommend Staff Sgt. Phillip Brooks, 8 FW/JA, for the Pride of the Pack Award. Since December 2005, Sergeant Brooks has been a dynamic member of the Wolf Pack team. He served as a military justice paralegal for one year, and will have served as a civil law paralegal for one year before leaving. During his tenure at Kunsan AB, Sergeant Brooks has made solid contributions to both the Legal Office and the Wolf Pack community. 

Sergeant  Brooks' initiative and leadership have resulted in many successes for the Legal Office and the wing as a whole. As a civil law paralegal, Sergeant Brooks assists with managing our legal assistance and civil law program, which includes compiling and managing legal assistance reports, the preparation and execution of wills, and drafting legal memorandums on Reports of Survey, Freedom of Information Act requests, Line of Duty determinations and Private Organization issues. He performs complete and accurate legal research into court decisions, legal publications, statutes, and related sources in order to prepare spot-on draft legal reviews. Sergeant Brooks also provides base-wide briefings to newcomers and the First Term Airman's Center on Ethics, Law of Armed Conflict, Claims and various legal assistance subjects. 

As a military justice paralegal, SSgt Brooks ensured nonjudicial punishment (NJP), administrative discharge actions, summary, special, general court-martial proceedings, and records were correct and complete in technical, clerical, and administrative details. He coordinated with attorneys, group commanders, unit commanders and first sergeants on the propriety and legality of NJP actions, prepared statistical reports and briefings for wing commander and higher headquarters, and examined all G-series orders for accuracy and completeness. 

Sergeant Brooks also maintained court dockets, ensured support for judges, witnesses, bailiffs and court reporters, coordinated witness funding with higher headquarters, arranged travel and processed orders and payment vouchers for prosecution and defense witnesses. Sergeant Brooks has many additional duties to include primary Client Support Administrator, ADPE equipment custodian, OPSEC monitor, computer security (COMPUSEC), Vehicle Control Officer (VCO), Unit Internet Information Manager (UIIM), STE III phone monitor, Land Mobile Radio (LMR)/Net manager, Resource, Recovery, and Recycling Program (RRRP) manager, and building custodian. 

During Sergeant Brooks' tenure at Kunsan he has provided 137 powers of attorney, performed 375 notaries, witnessed 80+ will executions and served more than 320 clients, saving Airmen more than $140 thousand in services. Sergeant Brooks provided outstanding support to a Safety Investigation Board (SIB) as the reporter transcribing over 20+ hours of interviews totaling 13 tapes and 150 pages of transcription. Sergeant Brooks' technical skills are unmatched. He has become the resident expert on legal reviews for administrative discharges, documents ultimately reviewed by the Wing Commander. His first legal review drafts are impeccable. He meticulously managed 22 discharge actions ranging from homosexual conduct to drug abuse with 82% being processed within metric. He guaranteed swift justice for 90 Article 15s with 89% being processed within Air Force goals. Sergeant Brooks also served as the paralegal on two fully litigated general-courts martial. Sergeant Brooks augmented the Contamination Control Area (CCA) as an augmentee, briefing and assisting the incoming contaminated Airman on proper equipment removal procedures to ensure there was no cross-contamination. He was singled out as "Leader of the Pack" during Kunsan's Operational Readiness Inspection (ORI) and contributed to the wing's "Excellent" rating.

Despite his full duty schedule, Sergeant Brooks makes the time to improve the lives of other Wolf Pack members. For example, he managed the A-Cubed program working over 300 hours to ensure the safety of Wolf Pack Members. This often keeps him in the office long after the majority of my office has gone home. As an Honor Guard member, Sergeant Brooks has worked change of command details and monthly wing promotion ceremonies. He has also volunteered his time at the base post office, visiting the Korean orphanage, and doing chores at the Sisters of the Poor. Sergeant Brooks was selected to represent 8 FW at the Korean-American Friendship Association Banquet in Seoul and the Korean Friendship Tour sponsored by the Korean Minister of Defense. Sergeant Brooks handles coordination of all office member's going away to include finding out where it will be held and ensuring all plaques are made and accurate. 

Sergeant Brooks embodies the true spirit of the "Pride of the Pack" award. His actions, attitude and professionalism have served to keep our office afloat amid substantial changes in the JAG Corps, the Air Force and even here at the Wolf Pack. By demonstrating dynamic professionalism, both on and off duty, he has truly proved himself worthy of being recognized as a Pride of the Pack recipient.