After graduating from high school, Darrin Alexander spent time in Japan playing semi-professional baseball before returning to Florida to both assist his sick mother and begin his degree.
“While working on that, I was in the process of trying to commission into the Army, but some medical issues derailed my plans,” he recalled. “I stopped with law enforcement intelligence, gained my Master of Business Administration, and found my way into the Palace Acquire program (PAQ).”
The PAQ is a full-time training initiative which provides two to four years of formal on-the-job training to develop recent graduates into skilled federal employees with the Air Force Civilian Service.
After four years in civilian law enforcement intelligence in Florida, Alexander decided to change his path in life, following his love of music and starting his own business in Houston to establish his dream. At the time, he didn’t have a solid plan other than waiting to see what happened.
“Admittedly, that was probably the worst time to do that; my wife was pregnant, I had my MBA but no job, just savings and a business that wasn’t taking off,” he recalled. “It was a bad decision, although it did end up working out. I was in the hospital for most of June into August 2017, then as I got out hospital, my wife went to Japan to spend time with her parents.”
It was immediately after that when Hurricane Harvey tore through Houston, destroying their home and all their possessions.
“I was in the process of starting my business when the hurricane hit as I was just getting back on my feet,” said Alexander. It was a bad time, and very much a case of everything that could go wrong, did. All I had left were the clothes on my back, with no idea what I was going to do. I had nothing left.”
His family was the motivation he needed to turn his life around after losing everything they had to the hurricane.
“I had a child coming into the world and I just kept thinking, ‘How am I going to take care of my wife and daughter if I’m in a shelter right now?’” he said. “I knew I needed to figure something out, so I tried to do a lot of different things, applying for a bunch of different jobs while doing everything I could.
“I got very lucky, and after finding my way to San Antonio, had a chance meeting with folks in the security career field. I didn’t know much about information protection at the time but figured I’d apply and see how it went. Surprisingly, things started working in my favor after that. I began competing for positions within that career field, and here I am today!”
Alexander’s turning point came at the end of that year after meeting some people in the security career field. Having recently earned his MBA, he was eligible for PAQ. In October 2017, he began an internship at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana, with the 2nd Bomb Wing Information Protection Office.
“You work at different levels,” he explained. “I began at the wing level before working at HQ Air Force Global Strike Command for a while, then back to the 2nd Bomb Wing at Barksdale AFB, where I outplaced. From there, I went to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where I worked in the Global Hawk (RQ-48) program office under the Intelligence Surveillance Reconnaissance Special Operation Forces Directorate.
“Despite the workload, I had a blast before working U.S. Air Force and Foreign Military Sales projects. One of the most noteworthy items was leading the security efforts to deliver Japan’s first RQ-4B Global Hawk, which is a high-altitude, unmanned surveillance aircraft.”
His career has since gone from strength-to-strength, and in June 2024, he became the 100th Air Refueling Wing’s Chief of Information Protection at RAF Mildenhall.
“I serve as an advisor to three wing commanders on all security administrative matters, including Insider Threat, Controlled Unclassified Information, and Personnel and Industrial Security. As the chief of information protection at RAF Mildenhall, I’m responsible for the 100th ARW, 352nd Special Operations Wing, 501st Combat Support Wing and multiple tenant units. I’ve built the best team in USAFE, and together we’re responsible for more than 45 units, conducting various compliance measures across multiple security disciplines,” he said.
The information protection staff ensure commanders are made aware of any issues and trends they find.
“From an operational standpoint, and the partners we work with, such as the 352nd SOW, if we’re not properly protecting classified information then we run into issues that could harm the warfighter or aircraft,” Alexander explained.
Eight years after starting at Barksdale, and with a lot of hard work throughout that time, he won the 2025 U.S. Air Forces in Europe-Air Forces Africa-level Security Award for Excellence and is now competing at Air Force-level.
His accomplishments throughout 2025 include mentoring and recruiting personnel to the career field across three wings and multiple tenant units throughout Europe. Alexander single-handedly established repeatable processes for multiple security disciplines under the IP umbrella, achieving full program effectiveness within eight months, changing the status of all programs from red to green. He also earned three critical professional certifications in Intelligence and Security Administration.
Additionally, he eliminated a 3,000-item clearance backlog, directly boosting mission readiness, and created a centralized Information Protection SharePoint, which provides unified resources for all assigned and tenant units. His security plan for the USAFE commander-led leadership conference was hailed as a benchmark of excellence as he coordinated with multiple agencies at Headquarters USAFE and the 100th ARW.
Outside of work, Alexander enjoys spending quality time with his family, traveling as much as they can, and working out in the gym. On top of all that, he still finds time for playing instruments and music production.
“Workwise, we’re excelling,” he said. “My team is awesome and works hard. Even though we’re assessed green, we’re always looking for ways to improve even more. I’ve begun automating many of our processes and have demonstrated automation capabilities to our security assistants.
“The future is bright for the 100th ARW’s IP office.”