Colonel Jim Barger is the Commander, Air Force Manpower Analysis Agency, Joint Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas. He is responsible for providing Air Force leaders at all levels the tools to identify essential manpower required to effectively and efficiently accomplish the Air Force mission. He exercises operational control of eight geographically separated offices and directs analytical efforts to determine manpower requirements, develop programming factors, support the execution of competitive sourcing initiatives, conduct Air Force continuous process improvement engagements, and perform special Headquarters U.S. Air Force studies.
Colonel Barger’s military service began at age 17 when he enlisted into the Navy Reserve as a Hospital Corpsman assigned to the 3rd Battalion, 23rd Marines in New Orleans. He was activated in December 1990 for Operations DESERT SHIELD/DESERT STORM and served as a Hospital Corpsman for the 2nd Light Armored Infantry Battalion along the front line between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. After returning to reserve status, he rose to the rank of Second Class Petty Officer (E-5) before receiving a commission in the U.S. Air Force.
Col. Barger has deployed three times since joining the Air Force. In 2002, he served as the Director, Manpower and Personnel for the Joint Special Operations Air Component (JSOAC/J1) in support of Operation ENDURING FREEDOM; in 2005, he deployed as the PERSCO Flight Commander, 447th Air Expeditionary Group, Baghdad, Iraq in support of Operation IRAQI FREEDOM; and in 2009 he commanded the 717th Air Base Squadron, Ankara, Turkey in support of defense cooperation efforts with the Republic of Turkey.
While in residence at Air Command and Staff College, he served as the biotechnology researcher on the Chief of Staff of the Air Force's Blue Horizons Future Studies team investigating the impacts of accelerating technologies on future U.S. Air Force capabilities. He is the author of the Blue Horizons paper "DNA Targeting: Precision and Certainty in Counterterrorism and Counterinsurgency." Col. Barger has been twice awarded the Air Force's General Benjamin Oliver Davis Jr. Management Engineering Award for outstanding leadership and superior expertise in the competencies of management engineering and analysis, first as an individual in 2013, and again as team deputy in 2017.
EDUCATION
1994 Bachelor of Arts in Biological Sciences, University of New Orleans, New Orleans, La.
2001 Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla.
2001 Squadron Officer School, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
2007 Master of Science in Management, Troy University, Montgomery, Ala.
2007 Air Command and Staff College by correspondence, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
2010 Master of Military Operational Art and Science, Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
2016 Air War College, by correspondence
2022 Enterprise Perspective Seminar, Alan L. Freed Associates
ASSIGNMENTS
- August 1996 – October 1999, Protocol Officer, Air University, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
- October 1999 – August 2001, Squadron Section commander, 16th Supply Squadron, Hurlburt Field, Fla.
- August 2001 – June 2003, Chief of Military Equal Opportunity, 16th Special Operations Wing, Hurlburt Field, Fla.
- July 2003 – November 2005, Chief of Personnel Relocations and Employment, 375th Mission Support Squadron, Scott AFB, Ill.
- November 2005 – June 2006, Squadron Section Commander, 375th Security Forces Squadron, Scott AFB, Ill. (January 2006 – June 2006, Interim Commander, 375th Security Forces Squadron, Scott AFB, Ill.)
- June 2006 – September 2007, Chief, Manpower and Personnel, Air War College, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
- October 2007 – June 2008, Director, Manpower and Personnel, Spaatz Center for Officer Education, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
- June 2008 – August 2009, Operations Officer, 39th Force Support Squadron, Incirlik AB, Turkey. (April 2009 – June 2009, deployed as Commander, 717th Air Base Squadron, Ankara, Turkey.)
- August 2009 – June 2010, Student, Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell AFB, Ala.
- July 2010 – July 2012, Commander, 1st Manpower Requirements Squadron, Randolph AFB, Texas
- August 2012 – October 2014, Chief, Air Force Manpower Requirements Branch, Directorate of Manpower, Organization, and Resources, Deputy Chief of Staff, Manpower, Personnel and Services, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
- November 2014 – June 2015, Chief, Air Force Manpower Plans and Integration Branch, and Course Director, Manpower Staff Officer Course, Directorate of Manpower, Organization, and Resources, Deputy Chief of Staff, Manpower, Personnel and Services, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
- July 2015 – August 2017, Deputy Chief, Force Management and Enterprise Readiness Analysis Division, Directorate of Military Force Management Policy, Deputy Chief of Staff, Manpower, Personnel and Services, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Joint Base Andrews, Md.
- August 2017 – July 2018, Deputy Chief, HR Data, Analytics, and Decision Support Division, Directorate of Plans and Integration, Deputy Chief of Staff, Manpower, Personnel and Services, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Joint Base Andrews, Md.
- July 2018 – June 2020, Chair, Personnel and Training Panel, Directorate of Plans and Integration, Deputy Chief of Staff, Manpower, Personnel and Services, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Pentagon, Washington, D.C.
- June 2020 – present, Commander, Air Force Manpower Analysis Agency, Joint Base San Antonio- Randolph, Texas