Scott Baker, 47th Communications Squadron telecommunications manager, was chosen by wing leadership to be the “XLer” of the week, for the week of April 29, 2019, at Laughlin Air Force Base, Texas.
The “XLer” award, presented by Col. Lee Gentile, 47th Flying Training Wing commander, is given to those who consistently make outstanding contributions to their unit and the Laughlin mission.
Some of Baker’s responsibilities as a node site coordinator were for the network infrastructure on base, including the Defense Information Systems Agency.
A project Baker helped with was taking the base from two 70 megabyte circuits to two 500 megabyte circuits. As a result, the cost drastically decreased and security increased. He enjoyed being a part of a project that made a large number of people’s jobs that much easier.
“It’s always fulfilling professionally to make things happen,” Baker said. “I do as many information technology specialists do, in seeking out ways to improve the customer experience.”
Another project Baker drove was the Base Information Transfer Infrastructure upgrade. According to Baker, he and his team used knowledge, experience and strong support from leadership to rapidly transition to a more stable and robust network platform.
The BITI project management office worked with his team to modernize the IT infrastructure which was due to be replaced because the equipment reached end of life and was no longer supported. He appreciated the challenge this project brought and how he was able to contribute to the success of Laughlin’s mission.
In order to keep communication flowing at here, Baker helped solve a phone outage that affected four groups. He played a part in acquiring more than $50,000 worth of upgrades and restored the outage.
Leadership selected Baker for his efforts in keeping Laughlin in communication and the numerous projects he had a hand in making successful, earning him the “XLer of the week”.