Col. Rankin was selected in July 2025 to serve as the Chief of Staff for the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency (DPAA). In support of the Director, DPAA, he is responsible for coordinating strategic planning efforts and administrative actions to achieve the agency’s goal of providing families and the nation with the fullest possible accounting of missing personnel from past conflicts. Col. Rankin entered the Air Force in 2005 as a graduate of the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Virginia Military Institute and has served as a combat systems operator and pilot in positions of increasing responsibility at Yokota Air Base, Japan, Travis Air Force Base, California, Joint-Base San Antonio-Randolph, Texas, Joint-Base McGuire-Dix-Lakehurst, New Jersey, and Poggio Renatico Air Base, Italy. As a KC-10 pilot, Col. Rankin deploying numerous times in support of Operations Iraqi Freedom, Enduring Freedom, and Inherent Resolve. In New Jersey, Col. Rankin commanded the 32d Air Refueling Squadron, where he was responsible for the training, scheduling, and employment of 32 combat-ready crews and 25 KC-10A aircraft while also designing and driving the subsequent KC-10A fleet divestment plan for Air Mobility Command. Following squadron command, Col. Rankin served as the NATO Allied Air Command Airlift Coordination Center Chief, where he was responsible for all Alliance joint and combined airlift training and operations in response to non-Article 5 and Article 5 crises. Prior to his current position, the colonel was a graduate student at the Eisenhower School for National Security and Resource Strategy at National Defense University, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.