MFE Gives San Antonio Military Brats Deployment Experience

The Exchange's Leah Johnson, Marc Floyd, Sabina Brink, Katrina Kirkwood, Roland Guerra, Alison Clement and Cleveland Sykes told military brats all about how MFES really do carry out the mission, "We go where you go."

Associates at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland built a lifelong emotional connection and created memories June 14 by helping give military children in San Antonio a first-hand look at what their parents experience while deployed.

MFEs play significant roles in enhancing the morale, readiness and mission effectiveness of troops.

About 120 children ages 5 to 15 rotated through a mobile field Exchange set up at “Camp Victory” at Lackland AFB. Operation JET simulated an installation in the Middle East or Southwest Asia.

“They thought the MFE was really cool, especially how we’re able to deploy an MFE within 48 hours’ request or need,” said Alison Clement, sales & merchandise manager at the Lackland Exchange.

“When they saw our logo, ‘We go where you go,’ one of the kids said, ‘You really do follow our parents everywhere.’”

A welcome-home party

Associates from the Waco Distribution Center set up the MFE for the event. The Exchange provided banners for the MFE and handouts for the children’s parents about the Veterans online shopping benefit.

Then, Clement said, “we welcomed the kids home from Camp Victory with a party thanking them for their service.”

An annual project by the 502nd Family and Readiness Center, Operation JET (Junior Expeditionary Team) educates military brats on the deployment process, starting first at a recruitment center where they get their own identification cards and uniform T-shirts before they deploy.

They undergo the same military exercises that their deployed parents perform.

Exchange History FunFact

April 2003

The real Camp Victory in Baghdad, 2005.

The month the real Camp Victory opened in Iraq.

During Operation Iraqi Freedom in the mid-2000s, Camp Victory was the primary U.S. military installation at Baghdad International Airport, where AAFES opened stores, concessionaires and name-brand restaurants.

Other military camps in the complex included Camps Liberty, Striker and Slayer. Camp Victory was handed back to the Iraqis in 2011.

In the Exchange History Flickr Album, see and read about how the Exchange supported troops in Afghanistan and Iraq.