Tornado Sirens Take on New Meaning for General Manager

Gregory Templeton began his career at the Exchange as a food service worker at Tinker AFB 14 years ago. A native of Oklahoma, his father spent 29 years in the Oklahoma Air National Guard. Templeton is used to hearing tornado sirens, although they have new meaning since deployment with the Exchange to Iraq.

“They had tornado sirens over there (in Iraq) the same as you hear here, but over there it meant a bomb was coming,” he said.

During his 10 months in Iraq Templeton witnessed first-hand the importance of our core value Family Serving Family. From the long lines of military members at the base Burger King to the movie theater housed in a former palace of Saddam Hussein, Templeton said his mission was “to bring them a little taste of home.”

Templeton learned how to lead associates from different cultures. His most memorable event: towing the associate bus out of Iraqi mud with a 10k forklift.

Now a general manager, Templeton currently splits his time between Redstone Arsenal, Columbus AFB and Camp McCain. He enjoys his leadership role just as much as working with customers.

“My job is people,” Templeton said. “My job is to motivate, inspire and make people productive – and rewarding them. My job is to build a team.”