125 Years of Family Serving Family – Daphany Horne, Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling

One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 125 years of family serving family

When Daphany Horne visited Germany’s Spangdahlem Air Base Exchange in 1989 as a military spouse in search of a part-time job, it marked the beginning of an unexpected career.

Daphany Horne (left), manager of the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling Express, receives an award from General Manager Stephanie Wilson. Horne was honored recently for 30 years of service to the Exchange.

Daphany, who is now the manager of the Joint Base Anacostia-Bolling Express, was honored recently for 30 years of service to the Exchange. She received a COO challenge coin during a ceremony at the JBAB main Exchange. She is an example of the Exchange’s commitment to hiring Veterans and military spouses.

“I love this job,” she said. “At the Express, you have a chance to get really close with your customers, and I have an awesome team. We’re all one family.”

She started her Exchange career as a cashier at the Spangdahlem Express while her husband, now-retired Army Sgt. 1^st Class Al Horne Jr., was stationed in Germany. As his duty stations changed over the years, she moved into new positions at other Exchange locations.

Military spouses are a force multiplier for the Exchange. Spouses like Daphany can grow their careers while retaining benefits and working toward retirement. The Exchange is committed to hiring heroes—more than 47,000 Veterans and military spouses have been hired since 2013.

Over the years, Daphany has held management positions at Exchanges in Germany and Texas. In 2000, after her husband was assigned to the Pentagon, Horne became a shift manager at the Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall Exchange’s Military Clothing store and was later promoted to store manager.

She served on the Exchange teams at Joint Base Andrews, Fort Belvoir and Walter Reed Army Medical Center before becoming the JBAB Express manager in 2017.

From 2012-2013, Daphany deployed to Kuwait where she managed the Ali Al Salem branch store—an experience she considers a career highlight.

“We worked well with command,” she said. “We worked well with our customers. My team could pretty much run the store by themselves. It was an experience that I’ll never forget.”

With no plans to retire soon, she hopes to deploy again in the future.

“The Exchange is all about supporting our service members,” Daphany said. “It’s an honor to be out there in the field and to have the experience of bringing the Exchange to Warfighters.”