126 Years of Family Serving Family – Jerry Mills, Fort Knox

One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 126 years of family serving family

What’s in a name(tape)? If you or someone you know were in the military in the past 25 years, there’s a chance that Jerry Mills made the name tapes you wore on your uniforms. He’s a foreman at the Exchange Name Tape Plant at Fort Knox, which makes the name tapes that the Exchange sells to service members in all branches of service.

But crafting name tapes wasn’t Mills’ first job at the Exchange. He’s been serving customers at Fort Knox for 45 years.

“I started working as a temporary hire in the main store stockroom at Christmas,” said Mills. “I was still living with my parents, and I wanted a car and had to pay for it and the insurance. Then I was hired full time at a gas station. I worked at three Exchange gas stations for 22 years, then switched to the Name Tape Plant because all the service/filling stations were closing.”

But his favorite job (so far) is making name tapes. Thousands of service men and women have worn uniforms with his handiwork on them, including possibly his son, who served in the Army for 11 years.

“Whenever I’m out in public and I see someone in uniform, I look at their name tapes to see if they are made correctly,” said Mills. “It makes me proud to see.”

One of the people he’s met during his career is Gen. Bruce Casella, who was the Exchange commander at the time.

“He visited when I got my 30-year award,” Mills said. “He was here for another function, but he came by to meet me and he gave me his coin.”

And to Mills, associates aren’t just team members—they’re family.

“A few years ago, a fellow associate was down on his luck really bad, so three of us went out and bought a Thanksgiving meal for him and his family,” said Mills. “We look out for everybody; you never know when someone will return that favor back to you.”