Caylee Baker is pictured above with her team from Kabul. She is in the first row, second from the left.
Town of Marana Police Officer Caylee Baker has returned to the Marana Police Department after a year of deployment with the Army National Guard.
Officer Baker served as a Town of Marana Officer for three years until she was deployed to Kabul, Afghanistan in September 2018. There, she served as a military police soldier performing garrison work, a form of civilian police work or field work in the environment which she was deployed. Her unit was primarily responsible for the personal security of a four-star general onsite, but she also worked on NATO installation and her unit worked alongside a handful of security teams from other countries, including Germany, Georgia, Italy, and Afghanistan.
Officer Baker has always wanted to be involved in police work, having seen both sides of policing, helping citizens and enforcing laws. She grew up in a military family—her grandfather served in WW2, her father in Vietnam, and two brothers in Iraq. She technically volunteered for her position with the Army National Guard when she offered to fill an open slot for deployment in another unit, and she still serves today—one weekend a month, and two weeks in the summer, unless there’s an activation. Members of the Army National Guard can be activated state-side in cases of flooding, fires, and other crises, or can be activated federally to serve overseas.
The overall goal of the Army National Guard is to eliminate terrorism and protect the homelands, but Officer Baker’s own goals as a soldier are a bit more personal. Her oldest brother got out as a sergeant, and now Officer Baker competes with her siblings to see who can get to the rank of Staff Sergeant first. While there’s no sibling rivalry to be had in the Marana Police Department, Officer Baker is looking forward to getting her feet wet again. She aims to complete Crisis Intervention Training, join the Honor Guard, and complete DUI training to enrich her education as a police officer.
When she returned from Afghanistan in August 2019, Officer Baker knew she wanted to continue her work with the Marana Police Department, “My favorite part about working here is the citizens and getting to interact with them on a daily basis. Some of the friendliest people live in Marana.” We think she’s absolutely right.
