CAPTAIN Gary (Yuri) Tabach, United States Navy (Ret.)
CAPT Yuri Tabach was born in Moscow, USSR and lived there until 1976, at 14 years of age his family immigrated to Philadelphia, PA, United States. Upon graduation from Temple University School of Pharmacy in 1985, he was commissioned an Ensign in the U.S. Navy. CAPT Tabach holds the distinction as being the first Soviet born citizen to be commissioned an officer in the Armed Forces of the United States. His professional history:
• 1991: Assigned to the Department of State as an Assistant/Adviser to US Ambassador and Special Presidential Envoy to the former Soviet Union.
• 1992: Earned an MBA from Jacksonville University.
• 1992 to 1994: Served in the US Embassy, Moscow as a member of the Prisoner of War (POW)
Missing in Action (MIA) Commission.
• 1995: Appointed as Course Director, Uniformed University of the Health Sciences, DoD.
• 1997 to 1998: Served as a Chief Military Information Officer, United Nations Military Observer
Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG). In this capacity his team successfully negotiated the hostage release
of UNOMIG personnel.
• 1998 to 2000: Served as a Mission Commander in the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)