A decade’s worth of war materials must be moved from Afghanistan and U.S. Air Force Maj. Blaine Baker is on the ground to help ensure timely and proper equipment delivery and retrograde for our warfighters; which remains the top priority for our command.
Baker is the USTRANSCOM liaison officer serving a six month deployment to Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
A liaison officer, or LNO, is a USTRANSCOM officer who is responsible to advise, and assist partner commands or units in order to ensure continuous and uninterrupted strategic transportation.
“From my position here at United States Forces-Afghanistan, I work to ensure transportation unity-of-effort throughout Afghanistan,” said Baker.
The LNO performs several critical functions to USTRANSCOM: monitor, coordinate, advise, and assist. The primary customer is USCENTCOM, the supported (COCOM) combatant command, who executes transportation through (USFOR-A) U.S. Forces-Afghanistan and components.
“The favorite part of my job is seeing the actual results of the incredibly hard work of everyone back at USTRANSCOM,” said Baker.
When not deployed, Baker serves as a Joint Mobility Operations Officer in the TCJ-3, Operations and Plans-East Division.
“This deployment has been a special opportunity to work closely with USTRANSCOM customers,” Baker added, “it has been gratifying to witness first-hand the outstanding support that USTRANSCOM provides to its partners every day, and in turn the incredible accomplishments of those we support.”
LNOs perform several critical functions that are consistent across the full range of military operations. The extent to which these functions are performed depends on the mission, as well as the charter established by the sending organization commander.
-30-
