SCOTT AIR FORCE BASE, Ill. -- Friends and family
turned out to welcome home Air Mobility Command’s vice commander after
flying the final flight of his 33-year career May 6.
“I am ready to fly, but not to retire,” said Lt. Gen. John Baker
prior to taking off from McConnell AFB, Kan.
After refueling a F-16 Fighting Falcon and a KC-135 Stratotanker, the
general and his all-McConnell crew landed here.
They were met by General Baker’s wife, Judi, who enlisted the help
of the Scott AFB fire department to marshal the general’s aircraft in
to park. The fire department used two large tanker trucks to create a
water archway for the general to guide the aircraft through. Mrs. Baker
personally marshaled in the aircraft, a job normally performed by a crew
chief.
General Baker’s crew consisted of Maj. Timothy Vituszynski, Capt.
Nate Drewry, Staff Sgt. Scott Teague, and Senior Airman Cleigh Robbins,
members of the 349th Air Refueling Squadron.
“I am going to miss it a lot,” General Baker said as he spoke of
his final flight, “especially the people I work with in the air and on
the ground.”
General Baker began his Air Force career in 1972 after graduating
with a bachelor’s degree in aerospace engineering from the University
of Oklahoma. He received his commission through the Reserve Officer’s
Training Corps, and began pilot training at Webb AFB, Texas, the same
year.
“I have never had a bad flying assignment and would fly anything
the Air Force would let me,” said General Baker.
And he did. He has more than 2,800 flight hours in the F-4 Phantom
II, F-15 Eagle, KC-135R and OV-10 Bronco.
“I have been more places and seen more things than I ever thought
possible. It has been an adventure,” he said.
That adventure took the Bakers all over the world, including
assignments in Texas, Florida, Virginia, Washington, D.C., Turkey, and
South Korea, to name a few. Among other duties, he has served as a
squadron commander, group commander and wing commander before finishing
his career as the AMC vice commander.
“It doesn’t get any better than this,” he said. “I’m happy
and proud to be in AMC. The Air Force has become expeditionary; AMC is
the heart of it, and the men and women are the blood that keeps it
going.”
After getting drenched by a fire hose from his wife, a tradition for
pilots making their final flight with a unit, General Baker offered some
advice to those who continue to serve.
“Work hard in the job you are in,” he said. “Be a dedicated and
professional Airman. We can have all the technology in the world, but
without hardworking men and women, it won’t do us any good.”