15 Years Later, Vivid Memories Remain from Serving Downrange Warfighters
Since the 9/11 terror attacks, more than 4,500 associates have deployed voluntarily to Southwest Asia and the Middle East to serve troops fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. They returned home with amazing tales of the sights, smells and dangers in lands most Americans only saw on TV.
From Ground Zero to Iraq
Steve Williams weathers one of Iraq’s horrible sandstorms during his deployment.
Take Steve Williams, for example. As then-manager of Brooklyn’s Fort Hamilton Exchange, Williams engineered the set-up of mobile exchanges at the World Trade Center and elsewhere in New York to serve thousands of first responders. He then headed off to Southwest Asia and then served in Iraq in 2006-2007 as Southern Iraq general manager.
“Our associates can step up and accomplish any task,” he said. “You can’t assume that they are too young, too old or that they don’t have enough experience. I worked with associates in their early 20s to their early 80s. A 78-year-old lady ran the operations on a base in Iraq where she endured all the attacks and indirect fire.”
Nearly 13 years later, Williams, manager of HQ’s HR Training Center, helped close Exchange facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan in 2012-2013 as the United States began withdrawing troops. Several have reopened to serve troops and other Americans serving as advisors to Afghan and Iraqi forces. (Read Steve William’s Exchange Post story from 2013).
‘The happiness we brought Soldiers’
For Larry Reimann, now senior loss prevention operations manager at HQ, he deployed to Oman then to Afghanistan in 2001 to help open AAFES’ first store in the country: a Kandahar tent the size of a typical suburban family room back in America. His fondest memory is “the happiness we brought the Soldiers, Airmen and Sailors when we opened the store,” Reimann said.
From 2007-2008, he covered Afghanistan, Iraq, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
But the early days weren’t so easy, with communications so lacking that reaching families back home proved nearly impossible.
“We also had manual cash registers, freight books, and two locations worked out of a cigar boxes until we could get them each a register,” Reimann said. “We only had one to three associates per site, so upon completing my audits, I’d roll up my sleeves and stock shelves.”
Ralph Henderson, center, who helped open the first AAFES store in Afghanistan, stands with Director/CEO Tom Shull and Senior Enlisted Advisor Master Sgt. Sean Applegate.
‘A humbling experience’
Ralph Henderson, Express manager at Fort Meade, Va., helped Reimann and since-retired Billy Hullender open the Kandahar tent. During his deployments to Afghanistan, Pakistan and Baghdad, he worked as manager, receiver, cashier, stocker, and command liaison.
“For me, it was a very humbling experience being out there and seeing first-hand what the men and women in uniform go through,” Henderson said. “I would recommend to any associate or manager that has the chance to deploy to do so as it is a very rewarding experience.” (Read Ralph Henderson’s Exchange Post story from 2002).
Red Bull and cheers
Phil Capshaw, now general manager at Hanscom AFB, Mass., teaching an Afghan boy how to shake hands the American way.
Phil Capshaw, now general manager at Hanscom AFB, Mass., first operated a store the size of a postage stamp in Uzbekistan, but, unlike the makeshift tent that preceded it, came with walls, concrete floors and a ton of Red Bull.
“We had an outstanding team of local national workers who knew our standards and took the business very seriously,” he said. “We had a TV hooked up to a satellite dish so we could show the news. I remember seeing a bunch of Soldiers huddled around the TV on the day that Saddam Hussein was captured.
“We all cheered together at the news and the troops celebrated with Red Bull.”
Two months later, Capshaw wound up managing a tent in Kandahar much bigger than the original tent and then a facility built by National Guard members after fire destroyed the tent. He fondly recalled the wooden boardwalk, where troops gathered at a Green Beans coffee store, gift shops, Burger King, Subway and Pizza Hut. He then moved to a facility in Mosul, Iraq.
“The store was close to standards we set in the rest of the world: a clean, bright and inviting place to shop,” Capshaw said. “It provided our troops a place to get away for a bit from the war and just look around and shop. Our mission has never been clearer to me than when deployed.”
‘A sign from above’
Paula Gunderson opened the main store at Bagram AB on Christmas Eve 2002.
For Paula Gunderson, a fond memory was opening the new store at Afghanistan’s Bagram AB on Christmas Eve 2002 before military leaders, 500 happy troops and U.S. news organizations. Santa cut the ceremonial ribbon. (Read Paula Gunderson’s Exchange Post story from 2002).
“It started snowing, which was a really nice sign from above that it was the right thing to do,” said Gunderson, who since then has opened Freedom Crossing at Fort Bliss and Fort Hood’s shopping mall.
But one incident that sticks in her mind was when the Kandahar tent burned, leaving only ashes and sardine cans. A Soldier began to cry, “My BX is gone. What am I going to do?”
“Things like this really make you realize the impact of what we do down range has on the troops,” said Gunderson, now a region vice president in CONUS. “I remember how much it meant to the sand-covered Soldiers when they would come back inside the wire. We were their small piece of home and we offered friendly faces, someone to talk to, a smile and something familiar.”
Sustaining commitments
Kevin Beason, left, rear, stands with his teammates at a PX in Iraq, mid-2000s.
Meanwhile, Kevin Beason, who manages the distribution center in Germersheim, Germany, dug ditches, carried bags, operated cash registers, coordinated travel, stocked shelves, coordinated convoys, drove trucks, and managed stores and areas from Cardez to Cuervo.
“We sustained commitments regardless of locations, logistics or earnings—it’s all about service,” Beason said. “Nothing is more gratifying than to see the smiles on warriors who have just been served. We have no idea where they’ve been; All we know is for that moment, in that place for that visit, we have the precious honor to satisfy their needs.
“Nothing else matters.”
