#FlashbackFriday: Key Moments for Women in Exchange History

As Women’s History Month draws to a close, Flashback Friday takes a look back at key moments for women at the Exchange.

Although it is difficult to track when women first started working for post exchanges, their history goes back at least to the early 1920s and probably beyond.

In the July 1955 first edition of the Exchange Service News (which became the Exchange Post two months later), six associates were singled out for long service awards. Three of them were women: Lilymae Smith of Fort Sam Houston and Marian E. Mieschberger of the U.S. Military Academy, who had been with the Exchange for 33 years, and Rachel N. Dallas of the Baltimore Regional Office, who had been with the organization 34 years, taking her back to 1921.

In 1982, Rosalie LaFleur became the first woman in Exchange history to be promoted to senior vice president. when she became chief of the Western Distribution Region. In July 1984, the Western and Eastern Distribution Regions merged into the AAFES Distribution Center, where she remained chief until her retirement in 1986. She began her Exchange career in October 1955, as a snack-bar manager at Fairchild Air Force Base in Washington.

In the present day, the Exchange has two female executive vice presidents, three female senior vice presidents and 21 female vice presidents. More than 62% of associates are women.

Here are some other female firsts:

In this 2004 photo, Maj. Gen. Kathryn Frost is shown helping open a mobile field exchange in Haiti during her tenure as Exchange commander.

First female commander: Maj. Gen. Kathryn Frost, who led the Exchange from August 2002 to April 2005. Frost directed Exchange support for troops during Operation Iraqi Freedom and oversaw the continued service in Operation Enduring Freedom. As Brig. Gen. Kathryn Carlson, she also served the Exchange from September 1996 to July 1998, when she was deputy commanding general. In 1998, she married U.S. Rep. Martin Frost. When she retired in 2005, she was the highest-ranking woman in the Army.

First female chief operating officer: Marilyn Iverson, shown talking to managers about Exchange operations in a circa-2005 photo. Iverson was named COO—the Exchange’s highest civilian rank at the time—Dec. 30, 2002, and remained in the position till she retired in 2006 after 35 years with the Exchange. Iverson began her Exchange career in 1971 as a procurement clerk in the Ohio Valley Exchange Region and steadily rose in the ranks to become COO.

First women to deploy to a war zone: Nancy Poore and Karen Patrick, who deployed to Kuwait during Operation Desert Shield/Storm in 1990 and 1991. Karen Patrick is now Karen Stack, pictured, Executive Vice President and Chief Logistics Officer. Both worked at the PX in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia. Poore, who was the store manager in Dhahran, retired in 1995 after 26 years with the Exchange. She died July 29, 2021, at age 77.

First Black female commander: Brig. Gen. Toreaser Steele, who took over as interim commander in 2005 after Maj. Gen. Frost retired.  She had been vice commander since July 2002.

First associate to receive the Defense of Freedom Award for being wounded in the line of duty: Sarah Latona, who received the award, the civilian equivalent of the Purple Heart, in early 2005. On Oct. 9, 2004, Latona suffered multiple wounds when a bus she was driving through the Iraqi desert was destroyed in a massive explosion. Latona is still with the Exchange as Military Clothing store manager at Mountain Home Air Force Base in Idaho.