Photo By Sgt. Rachaelanne Voss | U.S. Marine Corps 1st Lt. Stephanie A. Baer, a communication strategy and operations...... read more read more
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MARINE CORPS BASE CAMP LEJEUNE, NC – U.S. Marine Corps Capt. Stephanie Baer, a Communication Strategy and Operations officer with II Marine Expeditionary Force, was awarded the Information Officer of the Year Award for outstanding performance in the information occupational field at the Marine Corps Association’s Information Awards Dinner on April 20, 2023.
The annual Information Awards recognizes individuals and units chosen from information communities including Intelligence, Command, Control, Communications and Computers, Cyber, Psychological Operations, Space, Electromagnetic Spectrum Operations, Communication Strategy and Operations, and Civil Affairs.
“Marines have a clear view of what Information Advantage is, they know how to leverage the power of information to give them a warfighting advantage,” said Gen. David H. Berger, 38th Commandant of the Marine Corps. “They know how to employ it. Marines, you are our warfighting advantage. The future is in your hands, and everything is possible so tonight we hand out awards, tomorrow-warfighting.”
Baer, a native of Omaha, Nebraska, first enlisted in the Marine Corps in 2009. After her first enlistment, she took a five-year hiatus to work as a firefighter, train service dogs for women affected by military sexual trauma, and worked as a professional bodyguard. She went to Officer Candidate School in September 2018, and commissioned as an officer in the Marine Corps.
“Capt. Baer is fierce, tenacious in accomplishing the mission, and loyal to the Marines and Sailors she leads,” said Col. Nicholas Davis, Director of II Marine Expeditionary Force Training.
Col. Davis says Capt. Baer is able to see complex problems in an unconventional manner and apply effective strategies to building teams of effective problem solvers in a time constrained environment.
“My favorite memory of Capt. Baer was the myriad of times that I would send her to countries on short notice and she would only ask how much time she had to accomplish the missions assigned,” said Col. Davis. “She never balked or complained when the timelines were constrained, and she delivered effective messages for the operational forces to use.”
As a COMMSTRAT officer, Capt. Baer feels that she has been able to have a greater impact on the information environment than many of the other occupations within the information community.
“I knew that I’d be working in small, dynamic teams with Marines and that I would have the ability to truly get to know my Marines and get to work shoulder to shoulder with them,” Baer said. “I also knew that my job would be unique as an officer, and I would be afforded opportunities that other careers don’t get. There are some niche parts of being a COMMSTRAT officer that I really enjoy.”
She says that what she enjoys most about the job is the variety, and getting to work with and see every part of the Marine Corps.
“The thing I enjoy most out of this job is that it’s so different,” said Baer. “Every day is completely different. Every deployment, every opportunity, and I love the fact that our job, even in a non-deployed setting, is still utilized fairly the same way.”
Baer says the job provides her with many unique opportunities that many in the Marine Corps never get to experience.
“As a COMMSTRAT officer I’d say the most memorable experience so far was being on an Italian aircraft carrier with U.S. Marines, Italian Navy and Italian Marines, off the coast of Norway, in the middle of the Arctic Ocean, seeing the northern lights and telling that story,” said Baer. “Some people never get to see the northern lights and I got to see it in such a memorable way. It was amazing.”
Baer said after she found out she won the award, she felt humbled to have the opportunity to represent the COMMSTRAT community.
“The key to being successful in my job, or any job, is being a team player,” said Baer. “No one is successful without understanding how all the different warfighting functions and staff sections all work together to achieve a common objective. If I didn’t have good rapport with the operations, the G-3, or any of the other sections then there was no way I was going to be successful in my job. No single section can accomplish their job without the others.”
Capt. Baer is the first COMMSTRAT officer to be the recipient the Information Officer of the Year Award.
“Be humble and be someone that someone wants to work with,” said Baer. “The rest of it will come. The rest are skills that anybody can learn.”
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| Date Taken: | 05.03.2023 |
| Date Posted: | 05.08.2023 10:31 |
| Story ID: | 444043 |
| Location: | CAMP LEJEUNE, NORTH CAROLINA, US |
| Web Views: | 379 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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