Alpha Tau Omega - Florida State University

VIKING VIKING a t o f s u . c o m THE ATΩ WHO GREW WINGS MA JOR JAMES BARLOW '92 TALKS SERVICE, FAMILY, AND CHANGING THE WORLD "I had never known that kind of relationship where people truly care about you. That was a new experience that carried me into my Air Force career." Major James Barlow '92 is a first- generation college graduate. "I started working at 13 to save money for tuition," he shared. "I knew nothing about the Greek system, but my friends were doing something called rush. I joined in, and while we received a couple of offers, we really liked ATΩ. On the last night, I accepted a bid and found my place with the men who became my dearest friends during college and throughout the rest of my life." ATΩ was James' first introduction to the bond of brotherhood; he had essentially been on his own since high school. "I had never known that kind of relationship where people truly care about you. at was a new experience that carried me into my Air Force career." James pursued his childhood dream of being a fighter pilot by joining the ROTC while at Florida State. His first assignment after graduation was in Alaska, but he returned to the ATΩ chapter house during his breaks. "I remember sitting on the back porch and crying after losing 26 members of my squadron in a crash," he recalled. "Jeff Hartley '92 came out, hugged me, and said 'It's going to be alright. is is what you signed up for. You're going to be fine. We're here for you.' I'll never forget that." After getting some much-needed rest with brothers, James returned, serving as a fighter pilot in Afghanistan and as an instructor at various Air Force bases. While in combat, James noticed a significant gap—there weren't enough air strike controllers (JTACs). After 18 months of research, he discovered a bottleneck in training due to a lack of air support was limiting fielding qualified JTACs and resulting in the loss of American lives. He proposed a solution. "I asked the Air Force to advertise a service contract and outsource the training," James explained. "I brought it up to headquarters, but they couldn't risk the budget, so I incorporated the company myself." James procured civilian airplanes and planned to install live weapons and military radios—necessary modifications that turned out to be illegal at the time. He worked with the FAA, got the highest arms license available, and continued building the company for the next six years, all while on active duty. James retired from the Air Force in 2014 and six weeks later received the first-ever contract in an industry that didn't exist until he invented it. "I went on to buy more aircraft, hire teams of people, and changed the way the free world trains Air Strike controllers." In 2020, Blue Air Training won a $6.4 billion multi-award contract and merged with a Canadian company called Top Aces in 2022. "Together we have a total of 143 fighter jets, and if our private company was a country, we'd rank 18 in the top 141 air forces of the world." Today, Blue Air Training has trained nearly every JTAC in the U.S., Canada, Germany, the UK, and Australia and has saved taxpayers over $1 billion. In January 2018, James was thrown a life- altering curve ball when he was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and told he had eight months to live. "Two days later, I bought tickets and flew down to Tampa to spend time with Damien Burdick '92 and Jason Clark '92." James underwent treatment and continued to live with his diagnosis through his retirement in January 2024. In February 2024, James received the incredible news that his cancer was undetectable. "I'm still here! And I've sold the company, giving away $5 million to key employees in the process." James remains one of Florida State's most successful and prestigious alumni. He was awarded the Seminole 100 Business award five times and took the No. 1 spot twice in a row. He will have a classroom named after him in the new business school and will be inducted into the FSU College of Business Alumni Hall of Fame this October. He has served on the Board of Governors since 2018. James is married to Gretchen and has two sons, Ben and Trent, who also served in the Air Force. He lives in Tampa and spends his time shooting or competing in fishing tournaments across Florida on his sport fishing yacht. (He frequently welcomes his ATΩ brothers on the boat.) If you want to hear more about James' fascinating life story, check out his biography, e Boy Who Grew Wings, which reached No. 2 on e Wall Street Journal bestseller list. If you'd like to get in touch, you can send him an email at chefandgretch@gmail.com.

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