LtCol. Paul E. Damphousse
Lieutenant Colonel Damphousse currently serves as the Chief Engineer for the Communications Functional Integration Office of the National Security Space Office. Lieutenant Colonel Damphousse was born in Melrose, Massachusetts and raised in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He attended the University of Arizona on a NROTC scholarship graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Business and Public Administration in 1989. In August 1990, Second Lieutenant Damphousse completed the Basic School in Quantico, Virginia. In January 1991, he began flight training in Pensacola, Florida and Corpus Christi, Texas and was designated a Naval Aviator in July 1992. In May 1993, he was assigned to Marine Heavy Helicopter Squadron (HMH)-462 at Marine Corps Air Station (MCAS) Tustin and was designated an Aircraft Commander in the CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter in August 1994. During his time with HMH-462, Captain Damphousse completed a six-month deployment to Okinawa, Japan as part of the Unit Deployment Program. He also participated in two shipboard deployments to the Western Pacific and Persian Gulf with the 13th and 15th Marine Expeditionary Units aboard the USS Peleliu (LHA-5). In May 1998, Captain Damphousse reported to Headquarters, Third Marine Aircraft Wing (3d MAW) at MCAS El Toro, California. There he served as the Aviation Safety Officer and participated in the movement of 3d MAW to its new home at MCAS Miramar, California. In October 1998, Captain Damphousse was reassigned to the Wolfpack of HMH-466 where he served as Quality Assurance Officer. In June 1999, Major Damphousse reported to the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, California. Graduating in December 2001 with a Master of Science degree in Astronautical Engineering, he was assigned to the Operations Directorate (J32) of US Space Command in Colorado Springs. There he served as Space Control and Special Technical Operations action officer and was involved in planning for Operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom. Maj Damphousse reported to HMH-361 in December 2003 as the squadron operations officer and deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) II. Promoted to his present rank in September 2005, Lieutenant Colonel Damphousse served as the Director of Safety and Standardization for Marine Aircraft Group (MAG) 16 (Reinforced) between combat deployments. In February 2006 he deployed to Iraq as the Operations Officer for MAG-16 (Rein) in support of OIF 05-07. In this capacity he was responsible for planning and overseeing the daily operations of all Marine aircraft in the OIF theater of operations.