‘I’m Even Prouder to See What Our Troops Really Do’
The Cincu team is Stephanie Vasquez, Jessy Macabeo (not pictured), Camelia Ireland, Christine Marquis-Huff, Waqqas “Kaz” Khalid, Masar Dauti and Ionunt Mihalache, led by Balkans Exchange General Manager Mike Sitrin.
Thanks to 15 years in the Air Force, Exchange associate and Tech Sgt. Stephanie Vasquez feels right at home among U.S. Soldiers in remote Cincu, Romania.
To deliver a taste of home to Soldiers participating in Saber Guardian 17, the U.S. Army Europe-led multinational military exercise in the Black Sea region this summer, Vasquez and six Exchange teammates staffed a 53-foot-long mobile field exchange (MFE), packed from floor to ceiling with cold drinks, microwavable meals, tuna, beef jerky, snacks, shampoo, deodorant and toothpaste.
“It’s great to serve the troops and see their faces in the morning and talk to them,” said Vasquez, an Air Force Reservist. “I’m at home with them here. The Exchange means a lot to them. When they can get Mountain Dew and Gatorade that taste like Mountain Dew and Gatorade—not something from other countries—that, to them, is awesome. It means a lot to them.”
Just 72 hours after the trailer arrived in Cincu in June, the Exchange team had it stocked and ready to welcome the first shoppers. That first day, more than 500 Soldiers came through. Since then, 800 to 1,000 shoppers have entered the store each day.
We wake up, we stock in the morning, we clean everything. We stock the MFE all day long to keep it filled.
— Jessy Macabeo, merchandising assistant
No matter the conditions, day in and day out, the seven associates stock the trailer, serve customers at the registers and handle IT challenges. The associates live as the troops do—sleeping in tents, washing in communal showers and eating MREs.
The team’s resiliency and eagerness to serve Soldiers exemplify the Exchange’s core value of “family serving family.”
“We have to get along—there’s no other way,” said Jessy Macabeo, a merchandising assistant at the Exchange Europe/SWA Region headquarters in Sembach, Germany. “We wake up, we stock in the morning, we clean everything. We stock the MFE all day long to keep it filled.”
Macabeo and his teammates were chosen to support the mission in Cincu after volunteering for the Europe Region’s Rapid Response Team, a group that supports contingency missions. Camelia Ireland, Christine Marquis-Huff, Waqqas “Kaz” Khalid, Masar Dauti and Ionunt Mihalache round out the Cincu team, led by Balkans Exchange General Manager Mike Sitrin.
“We have a lot of knowledge,” said Ireland, the store manager who celebrated her 12th anniversary with the Exchange while deployed from Wiesbaden, Germany. “We all come from different countries and have different backgrounds.”
For Khalid, working in Cincu has given him a greater appreciation for Soldiers and their sacrifices.
“It’s surreal to see how the troops really live,” said Khalid, who works at the Kelley Barracks Express, Stuttgart. “I’m proud to be an American, but I’m even prouder to see what our troops really do.”
When the training exercise ends in August, the team will load merchandise back onto trailers and take down the shelving. IT will come from Germany to unhook the registers. LG will pick up the merchandise trailers and MFE to prep them for their next mission. The seven associates will go back to their home Exchanges across Europe, ready to keep serving.
“I’d do this again in a heartbeat,”
