page_title: Carey Baker
section_title: Military service
hierarchical_section_title: Carey Baker / Military service
caption_attribution_description: English: Speaker pro-tempore Rep. Lindsay Harrington, R-Punta Gorda, left, and Senate President pro-tempore Alex Diaz de la Portilla, R-Miami, pose for a leadership portrait during the opening joint session of the 2004 Legislature March 2, 2004.
context_page_description: Carey Baker is an American politician currently serving as the Property Appraiser for Lake County, Florida. He is a former Republican member of the Florida Legislature. Baker served as the State Representative for the 25th District of the Florida House of Representatives from 2000–2004 and served as the State Senator for the 20th District of the Florida Senate from 2004–2010.
  Baker is also the owner of the A.W. Peterson Gun Shop and a retired First Sergeant in the Florida Army National Guard. He was the first state or federal elected official to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom while also holding elected office.
context_section_description: Baker joined the Florida Army National Guard while still in high school.
  In 2003, while a member of the Florida House of Representatives, Baker was deployed to Iraq as part of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Baker served as First Sergeant of Alpha Company, 2nd Battalion, 124th Infantry Regiment, which was assigned to protect a logistic base near Balad. The area, north of Baghdad, is located in the Sunni Triangle, one of the most dangerous areas in Iraq. During his deployment, Baker faced numerous close calls: in one instance, a mortar round hit a bus full of soldiers. The base Baker was stationed at was under constant attack by mortar fire and rocket fire. On his last day of deployment, a missile landed in the camp but did not explode.
  He was the first state or federal elected official to serve in Operation Iraqi Freedom while also holding elected office. Baker's colleagues in the House tied a yellow ribbon around his chair on the House floor, which remained in place until he returned. In 2004, the Florida Legislature unanimously passed House Bill 1757, the Carey Baker Freedom Flag Act. This act amended Florida law to require that every classroom in any public K-20 educational institution must display the American flag on a daily basis. The flag must be made in the United States and must be properly displayed in accordance with United States Code. The law mandated that the required flags be displayed in each classroom no later than August 1, 2005.
  In 2007, Baker was part of a thirteen-member team of Florida Army National Guardsmen sent to train soldiers from former Soviet Union satellite countries.
  During his military career, Baker graduated from numerous military courses and schools, including the U.S. Army Jungle Operation School and the U.S. Army Pathfinder School. He retired in 2013, after serving over thirty-one years and attaining the rank of First Sergeant.
caption: March 2, 2004:  Baker, who recently returned from National Guard duty in Iraq, salutes Gov. Jeb Bush on the House floor after presenting him an American flag flown in Iraq. (photo by Mark Foley)
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