Fort Sam Houston Associate’s Children Have Served in Three Military Branches

Deborah Williams, sales & merchandise manager at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, wears three “Badges of Honor” that tell customers and teammates about her military connections.

Deborah Williams, sales & merchandise manager at JBSA-Fort Sam Houston, with Exchange Director/CEO Tom Shull. Note Williams’ three “Badges of Honor” telling shoppers and teammates about her being a mother to children who either are serving or have served in three branches of the military.

All three have “Mom” on them: Air Force Mom, Army Mom and Navy Mom. And Williams has even more connections to the military.

“ ‘Air Force Mom’ is for my daughter, Iman Johnson, who joined the Air Force in 2003, shortly after she left Germany,” said Williams, who began her Exchange career in Germany. “She was in Air Traffic Control, so she completed her service and used the benefits to go to college and finish her degree. She is now the financial aid director at Rasmussen College in Ocala, Fla. She’s done really well for herself.”

‘Army Mom’ is for two sons, Gabriel and Micah Williams. Both are Veterans who have finished their military service.

“Micah graduated from high school in Germany in 2007 and joined the military right in 2008,” she said. “He was destined to go into the military. When he was 16, he came home one day and asked if he could talk to me, and I said, ‘Sure.’ He thought he could follow directions really well and … decided to enlist.”

There is only a 13-month age difference between Micah and Gabriel, who graduated in 2008 and joined the Army in 2009. “They did everything together, playing on the same football team in Hanau, Germany, and more,” Williams said. “Gabriel looked to follow in his brother’s footsteps and join the Army vs. going to college on a football scholarship after graduating high school.”

‘Navy Mom’ is for another son, Priestly.

“He graduated in 1998 and joined the Navy shortly thereafter,” Williams said. “He wanted to join a service where he felt he could use his love of science and his critical-thinking skills. He is a Veteran of the U.S. Navy’s Nuclear Propulsion Program.”

It doesn’t stop there. Williams could also wear a badge that says, “Air Force Grandmother.”

“Kaliyah, my granddaughter, whose mother is Iman, graduated high school in 2022 and joined the Air Force,” Williams said. “She’s now in Basic Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base, and she’s going to be a linguist.”

But wait, there’s still more.

“Last but not least is my son-in-law, Marcus Johnson, Kaliyah’s father,” she said. “He was in the Marines.”

And Williams’ Exchange journey began, in part, because she was an Army wife.

“I was in Germany as an active-duty military spouse,” she said. “Our first duty station was Berlin. We were there when the Berlin Wall came down. My husband at the time, Priestly Williams, was in the First Army Band. At the time, he was a sergeant, and he retired as a master sergeant.”

While she was in Germany, Williams was looking for part-time work, something to do while her kids were at school. She got some advice from her son Priestly, who was working for the Exchange as a cashier.

“He actually made me a little booklet that told me how the Exchange works,” she said. “He made this little manual for his mother, and then I started in a part-time job.”

Since then, Williams has spent 27 years working for the Exchange. She left Germany for Hawaii in 2008, and then left Hawaii for Fort Sam Houston, where she has worked since 2012.

“‘Family serving family’ means so much to me,” she said. “This started as a part-time job but it really became more because you get to see all about family. You see the connections, you see the commitment, you see the bonds, you see the loyalty. I felt so much closer to the Soldiers after my children went into the military, and when they deployed. I have a really emotional connection till the last Soldier comes back from deployment. Having family, loving family—that just embodies the whole connection to the Exchange.”

Although she has never deployed, Williams found many rewards to living and working in Germany.

“I picked up a second language, German,” she said. “My kids have a second language.  They took an immersion course to learn German. I was also able to share my American culture, and I still have a lot of German friends and always will.”

Not that she hasn’t shown an interest in deployment—but her children had other ideas.

“I tried to deploy,” she said. “My sons said, ‘No, Mom—we do the deployment. You’ve done enough.’”