Silver Star. Three combat tours. Still leading.
Enlisted at 17. Three combat tours — two in Iraq, then Sangin, Afghanistan as a squad leader with Company K, 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines. Awarded the Silver Star for a six-hour fight on 8 January 2011. Later a Marine Corps Drill Instructor. Now the founder of Smart Fed Supply.
Gallantry in action.
On 8 January 2011 in Sangin, Helmand Province, Sergeant McCulloch's 21-Marine squad was ambushed from three machine-gun positions by a numerically superior force. He led the counter-attack, took point, destroyed an enemy fighting position with an AT-4, called in close air support and indirect fire, and was wounded in the leg while deliberately drawing fire to reunite his squad — withdrawing only when ammunition ran critically low. For that six-hour engagement he was awarded the Silver Star, the nation's third-highest decoration for valor in combat.
It was his third combat tour — two in Iraq before Sangin — on a deployment that cost 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines more dead and wounded than any other Marine battalion of the Afghan war. He had enlisted at 17 and was meritoriously promoted; his first sergeant called him "the future of the Corps." He then served as a Marine Corps Drill Instructor at MCRD San Diego, where the Silver Star was presented on 10 February 2012, and was medically retired in 2013. Per his service record he also holds two Purple Hearts and two Combat Action Ribbons. The Marine who once carried a rifle for his country is now building a company to supply the ones who still do.
- RecipientPhilip A. McCulloch Jr., Sergeant, USMC (former)
- Silver StarGallantry in action — Sangin, Helmand Province, Afghanistan, 8 January 2011 (public record)
- The fight21-Marine squad · ambush from three machine-gun positions · six hours · took point · AT-4 · air and indirect fire called in
- ToursThree combat tours — two in Iraq, then Afghanistan (Sangin, 2010–11)
- UnitSquad Leader, Company K · 3rd Battalion, 5th Marines ('Darkhorse')
- LaterDrill Instructor, Co. M, 3rd Recruit Training Bn., MCRD San Diego · medically retired 2013
- PresentedSilver Star by Brig. Gen. Daniel D. Yoo, MCRD San Diego, 10 Feb 2012
- AlsoTwo Purple Hearts · two Combat Action Ribbons — per his service record provided to the company
From Sangin to the supply line
What the record says about the man
The third-highest U.S. decoration for valor in combat, awarded in the President's name. Public record: Military Times Hall of Valor #204812.
Two combat tours in Iraq before Afghanistan. Sangin was the third — and the one the Corps remembers.
When three machine guns opened up on his 21-Marine squad, the squad leader went first, then called in the aircraft. That is leading from the front.
3/5's 2010–11 Sangin deployment took more dead and wounded than any other Marine battalion of the Afghan war. He was a 21-year-old squad leader in it.
Wounded in action — in Sangin, deliberately drawing fire so his squad could regroup — and kept leading. Per his service record, twice.
Selected to make Marines at MCRD San Diego — the Corps trusts its standards to very few. He was one of them.
Signed up before he could vote, meritoriously promoted, a squad leader in a war zone by 21. His squad's name for him: 'Prodigy.'
Built an interstate motor carrier from a Texas ranch town — oversized steel, aerospace components, government loads. The unglamorous side of getting things there.
Forming a federal supply company to serve the warfighter he used to be — reliable, compliant, delivered.