Lieutenant Colonel (Lt. Col.) Phylinthia Givens:

Lt. Col. Givens was born and raised in Little Rock, Arkansas. She graduated from Little Rock Central High School in 1984 and earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in January 1992. Lieutenant Colonel Givens graduated in May 2018 from Webster University, George Herbert Walker School of Business & Technology with a Masters of Arts Degree in Management and Leadership.

On November 11, 1986, Lt. Col. Givens enlisted in the Arkansas Air National Guard as a traditional Guardsman. She completed Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas and attended Technical Training School at Sheppard AFB, TX. She graduated in July 1987.

Her first assignment was as a Financial Specialist in the 189th Airlift Wing, Arkansas Air National Guard at Little Rock Air Force Base, Arkansas. In June 1997, Lt. Col. Givens graduated from the Academy of Military Science in Knoxville, Tennessee., where she was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant in the Arkansas Air National Guard, at this time she transitioned from a Financial Specialist to the Budget Officer in the Finance office. In February 2005, Lt. Col. Givens was assigned as the Chief Military Equal Opportunity (MEO) Officer for the 189th Airlift Wing. To obtain the Air Force Specialty Code for MEO, she attended the Consolidated Base Personnel Officer School at Keesler AFB, Mississippi and the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute at Patrick AFB, Florida.

In June 2011, Lt. Col. Givens was assigned to the position of Inspector General of Dispute Resolutions for the 189th Airlift Wing, Arkansas Air National Guard. She was the first African American Female Officer in the 189th Airlift Wing assigned to this position. While assigned to that position, Lt. Col. Givens completed the Inspector General Course in Alexandria, Virginia. In August 2011, Lt. Col. Givens was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel. She became the first African American Female Officer in the Arkansas Air National Guard to obtain that rank.

In June 2017, Lt. Col. Givens was assigned as the Wing Inspector General at the 188th Air Wing, Arkansas Air National Guard in Fort Smith. She was the first African American Female Officer assigned to this position in the 188th Air Wing. In 2020, she was assigned to the Strategic Plans and Programming Office for Air Force at Joint Forces Arkansas Headquarters, Camp Joseph T. Robinson. In January 2022, Lt. Col. Givens was assigned as the Air Detachment Commander for the National Guard Marksmanship Unit at Camp Robinson.

Lt. Col. Givens’ military education includes Squadron Officer School, Air Command and Staff College, and the U.S. Air Force Air War College.