From Struggling Student to Missile Defense Expert: Otero College Alumnus Chris Baker’s Journey of Perseverance and Service

Description: Chris Baker a pilot of a UH-60A helicopter in the rice patties of South Korea near the DMZ.

From Academic Probation to Missile Defense – Chris Baker’s Journey from OJC to a Life of Service and Success

La Junta, CO — When Chris G. Baker enrolled at Otero Junior College (now Otero College) in 1980, he never imagined that the small rural campus in La Junta would one day serve as the launching pad for a life of global service, military achievement, and technological innovation.

Today, Baker is a retired U.S. Army officer with a master’s degree from the University of Colorado Springs. He has flown helicopters in America and Asia and a fighter aircraft in Europe and now works as a contractor for the nation’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) — where he helps develop the advanced systems that defend America by, as he says, “taking out a missile with a missile.”

But his story didn’t start with confidence or success. It began with struggle.

“I didn’t have a stellar high school transcript,” Baker recalled. “CU and CSU both turned me down when I first applied as a senior. My SAT scores were low, and I barely scraped by my first quarter at OJC. I was even placed on academic probation.”

After his second quarter, where he dropped nearly all his classes and earned two D’s, Baker thought college wasn’t for him. “As I boarded a plane to the oil fields of Montana and North Dakota, I thought I would never return to college,” he said.

What he found instead was perspective.

Chris Baker’s son, a US Marine, and Chris on the USS ESSEX.

“The people I met in the oil fields were a rough lot,” he explained. “Many were trying to forget their pasts. Some were students earning money to go back to school. Being there showed me that I still had a chance, if I worked for it.”
That summer, Baker made a decision. He bought a dictionary, a book on how to study, and began reading every chance he got. He even befriended a cable repairman who happened to be an English professor. Their long conversations about Catch-22 and Virgil sparked something in him. “I began to believe that with self-control and discipline, I could turn my life around,” he said.

When he called OJC to ask if he could return, the answer was simple: Yes.

Back on campus in the fall of 1981, Baker committed himself to his studies. His effort paid off, he made the Dean’s List twice, completed his Associate of Arts degree in 1982, and even took 24 credit hours his final quarter while working at a veterinary clinic.

That same year, he attended ROTC Basic Camp, transferred to the University of Southern Colorado (Pueblo), and within two years was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. He went on to complete flight school and fly five different helicopter types during a 24-year military career, including assignments across Asia, Europe, and Africa.

“My final flight was in the backseat of an F-16D over Venice, Italy,” he said. “I could never have imagined that life when I was that struggling student at OJC.”

Now 63, Baker looks back on his journey with deep gratitude. “OJC gave me a second, and even a third, chance,” he said. “The people there believed in me when I didn’t believe in myself.”

He hopes his story inspires current and future Otero students who may feel unsure about their path.

“If I can do it, anyone can,” he said. “OJC changed my life, and it can change yours too.”

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