During his early naval training, Barrie completed service on HMA Ships, and, which included service in the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation, and a 23-day tour of duty in Vietnam. Postings to the Britannia Royal Naval College at Dartmouth and followed. Barrie served at sea as part of the commissioning crew of, which included a seven-month tour of duty in Vietnam, during 1969. He also served as Commanding Officer from 1969 to 1970, Operations and Navigating Officer on, and, Executive Officer on, and later as Commanding Officer from 1983 to 1984. In 1990 to 1991, Barrie held an appointment as Defence Adviser, New Delhi, India. Following this post, he was promoted commodore and served as Director RAN Surface Warfare School and Commanding Officer from 1991 to 1992. He was appointed Deputy Maritime Commander and Chief of Staff at Maritime Headquarters in Sydney from 1992 to 1995, for which he was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia in 1994. On promotion to rear admiral, Barrie served as Deputy Chief of Naval Staff, before being appointed Vice Chief of the Defence Force with the rank of vice admiral in March 1997. The following year, Barrie was advanced to Officer of the Order of Australia in recognition of his "distinguished service" in the latter two postings. Barrie was promoted to admiral, and assumed the post of Chief of the Defence Force on 4 July 1998. He held this position until his retirement, and for his "eminent service to the Australian Defence Force" was further advanced to Companion of the Order of Australia in 2001 and awarded the Distinguished Service Order by the government of Singapore. As CDF, Barrie became involved in the "Children Overboard Affair" of 2001, a high-level political controversy which occurred during the Australian federal election campaign. Barrie was the last Australian Government official to publicly support Prime Minister John Howard's assertion that refugees had thrown their children overboard from their sinking vessel. Barrie retired on 3 July 2002, and was succeeded as CDF by General Peter Cosgrove. A graduate of the Britannia Royal Naval College, Barrie completed through part-time study a Bachelor of Arts with majors in International Relations and Politics in 1983 and was conferred a Master of Business Administration in 1996 by Deakin University. He was made a Commander of the Legion of Merit by the United States in 2003.
