Major Darren Rhyne

Darren Rhyne is an active duty Major in the U.S. Air Force. He is currently Professor of Systems Engineering Management at the Defense Acquisition University (DAU), Fort Belvoir, VA. He is certified Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (DAWIA) Level 2 in Program Management and Level 3 in two of the three Systems Planning, Research, Development, and Engineering (SPRDE) areas--Systems Engineering and Science & Technology (S&T) Management. His 19-year Air Force career has included space assignments in the Space Based Infrared System Program Office at Space and Missile Systems Center (1992-96); Space Technology Planning Directorate at Headquarters Air Force Research Laboratory (1999-2002); Space S&T Program Element Monitor at the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Science, Technology, and Engineering (2002-05); and Space S&T Lead at the National Security Space Office (2005-08). Major Rhyne also served as an Intelligence Support Officer at the 352d Special Operations Group, RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom, from late 1996-99. He was deployed from DAU to Kabul, Afghanistan, February 2010 to February 2011, as the Chief of Local Acquisitions in the Security Assistance Office - Afghanistan as part of Operation Enduring Freedom. His first of four articles about his experiences in Kabul was recently published in the May/June 2011 edition of Defense AT&L Magazine (http://www.dau.mil/pubscats/ATL%20Docs/May-June11/Rhyne.pdf). Major Rhyne holds a BS in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in History from North Carolina State University (1991) and an MS in International Relations with concentration in National Security from Troy University (2005). The entire 64-page issue of Defense AT&L Magazine in which my article appears can be accessed at www.dau.mil/pubscats/Pages/DefenseAtl.aspx. There's also a good article in there about contracting practices to support the counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan.