Jeffrey Barrie

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Jeffrey Barrie (January 6,1945 - March 8, 2007)

Born in Baltimore, Maryland, his family moved to Westchester, NY in 1952. After graduating from The Citadel in Charleston, S.C., he began a twenty year career in the United States Army. After serving first in Germany and then two years in Viet Nam, Jeff went on to a Masters in Russian Studies, preparation for the assignment that was to change his life: In 1980 he joined the US Embassy as a Military Attaché. In the next three years he would visit over seventy cities in the USSR, learning to speak fluent Russian and developing a fascination with the culture that would shape the rest of his life. Jeff's retirement from the Army as a Lt. Colonel in 1983 coincided with the emergence of perestroika. Jeff returned to Moscow as a private citizen and for the rest of his career acted as a consultant to American and Canadian companies entering the Russian market and Russian firms eager for U.S. sales. While acting as the U.S. sales representative for Sukoi acrobatic aircraft, he was interviewed by 60 Minutes about Russia's chaotic conversion to a market economy.

He wrote:

"My view of the world as an American teenager had the United States in the role of super hero, successfully defending it against a changing cast of super villains. The Soviet Union, and Russia particularly, remained Super Villain Number One for most of my life.

I donned my first uniform in a personal war against that threat at eight (cub scouts), joined the Ground Observer Corps at fourteen, the Civil Air Patrol the following year, then four years at The Citadel Military College, and finally into the U. S. Army. There, I volunteered for service on the East German Border facing Soviet tank divisions, paratrooper school, a second year in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division, and training as a Russian Specialist. He spent half of my twenty year career studying everything about Russia and The Soviet Union, from language schools, universities, institutes, the Pentagon’s National Intelligence Center, and from the heart of Moscow itself.

I moved to Moscow in 1980, assuming the duties of “military observer,” as Embaasy attache. When I returned to Moscow in the mid-1980’s as a businessman, the remaining vestiges of those stereotypes were swept away.

Meanwhile, the Soviet Union collapsed under its own weight, and over the past sixteen years Russia has reemerged as a world power in its own right. I was fortunate to be a witness to, and participant in much of that evolution.

When working in the Washington Intelligence Community with access to top levels of government secrets, I had less information about the world than we would today via the Internet. That “classified” information had to be politically correct and support decades old foreign policy objectives. It had to confirm the stereotypes".

1941: Born in Baltimore, Maryland 1952: Moved to Yonkers, New York 1958: Graduated from Roosevelt High School and entered The Citadel, Charleston SC 1962: Half year in Tufts Dental School (not exciting enough) and back to the Citadel 1963: Graduated from The Citadel and entered the US Army Transportation Corps 1964: Platoon leader, Bamberg, Germany 1965: Platoon leader, Ludwigsburg, Germnay 1966: Detachment Commander, Pleiku, Vietnam 1967: Captain’s Course, Fort Eustis, Virginia 1968: Company Commander, 101st Airborne Division, Phu Bai, Vietnam 1969: Defense Language Institute, Monterey, California 1970: Fordham University, Bronx, New York 1971: US Army Institute for East European and Soviet Studies, Garmisch, Germany 1973: Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA), Washington, DC 1976: Commander, South Atlantic Outport, Charleston, South Carolina 1978: Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island 1979: Defense Attache Office, DIA, Washington, DC 1980: Army Attaché, US Embassy Moscow, Soviet Union (three years) 1983: Retired at Bayonne Military Ocean Terminal, as Lieutenant Colonel 1984: Satra Corporation, New York / London / Moscow 1986: Mosaic Project Manager, University of Arizona MIS Department, Tucson, Arizona 1988: Phargo Toronto (AlphaGraphics Printshops master franchiser for Soviet Union) 1989: Phargo Moscow (to open AlphaGraphics Printshop franchise) 1989: Pompano Air Center, Sukhoi sport aircraft exports (through 1996), Moscow 1990: Satra Aerospace, Moscow (first western aerospace business center) 1991: Trace Moscow, Trace Worldwide, Moscow (aerospace trading) 1997: Senior Aviation Advisor, Price Waterhouse, Moscow 1998: Manufacturers Representative, Scott Health and Safety, Moscow 1998: Advisor to Russian Party of Pensioners 1999: Moscow Representative, Relavis Corp 2001: HandEra (Palm licensee) distributor, Russia 2002: Moscow Representative, Ardexus Corp 2002: Business development consultant to Columbian Chemicals Company 2006: Established SaleWays Russia 2007: March 8, Died while enroute to his Moscow home in a taxi accident.