Col. Timothy LaBarge, a Tupper Lake resident, earns general's star

Related Media

Col. Timothy LaBarge

NEWBURGH, NY (04/01/2016)(readMedia)-- New York Air National Guard Col. Timothy LaBarge, a Tupper Lake resident, will be promoted to brigadier general (one-star) during a ceremony Saturday at Stewart Air National Guard Base in Newburgh.

Labarge, a 32-year veteran of the Air Force and the Air National Guard, is currently the commander of the 105th Airlift Wing, a unit which flies the C-17 Globemaster III cargo plane around the world. Previously he served as the commander of the 109th Airlift Wing at Stratton Air National Guard Base in Scotia. That unit flies the LC-130 ski-equipped aircraft which are used to supply science research stations in Antarctica and Greenland.

LaBarge, a graduate of St. Lawrence University in Canton, joined the Air Force in 1983 and was commissioned through the Officer Training School program. Colonel LaBarge is a command pilot with experience flying the T-37, T-38, C-5, C-17, C-130 and LC-130 and has flown combat and combat support missions in Operations Desert Shield / Desert Storm, Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom as well as polar airlift missions in support of Operation Deep Freeze in Antarctica.

He is a graduate of the Air Force Squadron Officers School, Air Force Command and General Staff School, the Air War College, the Joint Forces Staff College and received a Master of Arts in Military Studies/Strategic Leadership from the American Military University.

He previously served in the 105th Airlift wing from 1992 to 2006 as a C-5 instructor and evaluator pilot, a squadron operations officer, the Chief of Standardization and Evaluation and the Chief of the Wing Command Post before moving into positions at Air Force Headquarters and New York Air National Guard Headquarters.

He also served as the New York Air National Guard Director of Staff, and was the principal advisor to the Adjutant General on a broad range of matters concerning the U.S. Air Force and Air National Guard.

As commander of the 105th Airlift Wing, LaBarge oversees a wing of over 1,330 personnel with an annual payroll of $97 million, operating nine C-17 Globemaster III aircraft in support of Air Force missions worldwide, with a total local area economic impact of over $186 million and has coordinating responsibilities for a US Marine Corps Reserve tenant unit of 660 USMC personnel with 14 KC-130T assigned aircraft.

LaBarge's awards include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, the Air Medal, Aerial Achievement Medal the Air Force Commendation Medal , the Combat Readiness Medal the National Defense Service Medal, the Southwest Asia Service Medal two bronze stars , the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal ,the Air Force Expeditionary Service Ribbon, the Antarctic Service Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Kuwait Liberation Medal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the Kuwait Liberation Medal Government of Kuwait.

LaBarge and his wife Petra have two daughters Lyndsay and Emily, a grand-daughter Tayler and a grandson TJ.