There is little about Phillip Butler’s appearance to suggest a man who has lived by what he calls the “warrior spirit.” Dressed in a sweatshirt, jeans and sneakers, Butler wears his snowy white hair closely cut and sometimes walks with a cane. He speaks softly and enjoys a mostly quiet life in Monterey.
But a warrior is what he was, and what he continues to be.
As a child, he faced down abuse that would ruin others. As a teen, he found the resolve to be a father figure for an essentially orphaned little sister – and still ace his studies. As a soldier, he survived his plane’s crash and 2,855 dark days and often solitary nights as a prisoner of war. Now a senior citizen, he regularly takes on one of his fiercest challenges yet: United States military policy.
