Family Serving Family: Realizing How Much the Exchange is Part of the Military Family
Mia Zierlein and her father, Edward, have served the best customers in the world for more than 55 years, the quintessential examples of “Family Serving Family.”
Mia Zierlein’s family has served the best customers in the world for more than 55 years.
Her father, Edward joined the Exchange family in 1965 after his Navy career ended, starting at Hamilton AFB, Calif., and ending at Bergstrom AFB, Texas, including a tour in Vietnam.
“It was during this time in Vietnam that he realized just how much a part of the military family the Exchange really is when the local base commander came looking for my father at his quarters in Saigon to ensure he was okay and escort him to the safety of the military compound,” said Zierlein, a senior business analyst at HQ in Dallas.
“The reality of the support my father provided daily and the military family concept were not really clear to me until my ninth-grade year when I attended a Department of Defense school in Germany. ‘Family serving family’ were just words with no meaning to me. It was those high school years in Germany, the time spent blending with the military families in a foreign country, that truly gave meaning to the words. They treated us family and embraced us one of their own.”
The connections with military dependents, the teamwork and camaraderie during those years caused Zierlein to join the Exchange family herself in 1999 and carry out her father’s mission. She started at Grafenwoehr’s Taco Bell before becoming a manager. In 2002, she was one of the first associates to deploy to Southwest Asia to set up one of hundreds of retail facilities to serve American troops fighting in Afghanistan.
“Like my father, I have found working for the Exchange and supporting our military very satisfying,” Zierlein said. “Overseas and in contingency operations, the military really lets us know that we truly are part of their family because we go where they go and make sure they have that piece of home in harsh environments.
“During my deployments, the military has always welcomed me into the fold and made me feel really appreciated for my support to them. No other retail organization in the world would—or is willing to—put themselves in harm’s way to support our men and women in uniform.”
Meanwhile, her husband, Thomas Conlon, retired from the Army as a lieutenant colonel and how works at the Dallas HQ in HR policy. The Conlon family’s service totals to 230 years.
