With an Hour’s Notice, Kuwait Exchange Associate Sets up Rodeo for Marines Returning From Afghanistan

On Aug. 28, when Jessica Mack learned that members of the 24^th Marine Expeditionary Unit would be landing in Kuwait after leaving Afghanistan, with only the possessions that would fit in their backpacks, she wasted no time.

Jessica Mack serves members of the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit who arrived in Kuwait from Afghanistan.

“These Marines were on this base when I first got to Kuwait,” said Mack, an operations squad supervisor who deployed to Ahmed Al Jaber Air Base in April. “So I have a bond with most of the guys who came in. And a few of the Marines we lost, I actually knew.”

With an hour’s notice on the 28^th, she prepared a two-person rodeo (a temporary store that serves troops in remote locations) and opened it to serve those who serve—and who had served with Marines who had made the ultimate sacrifice, including the heroes who were killed in the Aug. 26 suicide bombing at the Kabul airport.

“We got the word on Saturday morning that the first planes with some of those coming back were arriving,” said Robert Baker, general manager of the Kuwait/Jordan Exchanges. “They asked Jessica if she could open up because they didn’t have anything except for the shirts on their backs.”

Mack and Baker got the rodeo up and running at al Jaber, where there was an existing building that already had some merchandise.

As Mack and Baker served the Marines, there was a mutual, expression of gratitude.

“As they were going through the line, Jessica was ringing them up and I was bagging,” Baker said. “We were thanking all of them for what they were doing and they were thanking us for what we were doing. Every single one of them.”

The thank-yous were often emotional.

“Some of them were in tears because we opened up especially for this unit,” Mack said.

Mack, who grew up in a military family, understood what the Marines required.

“They needed that special time for just them and their buddies to just come in and grab food, drinks, toiletries, anything that they needed,” Mack said. “I went over there about an hour before we opened, just to make sure everything was stocked and that there were things that I know that they like, like energy drinks and shampoos. I made a special area for that.”

Some of the Marines wanted to see a copy of a daily paper to read about those who were killed in Kabul. Others didn’t want to know. Because Mack doesn’t usually open on Saturdays, she doesn’t get the paper on that day, but she told those interested where they could find it on base. She also let them know that the information was already on social media.

“I understood,” she said. “They need their time to grieve and process everything, because they didn’t have that time when they were still over there after it happened.”