128 Years of Family Serving Family: Belinda Brown, LG Operations Manager III, Dan Daniel Distribution Center
One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 128 years of family serving family.
Who she is: Belinda Brown, LG Operations Manager III, Dan Daniel Distribution Center
Years with the Exchange: 35 years; Brown is retiring in August 2023.
Military and Exchange connections: The father of Brown’s grandchildren, Staff Sgt. Marquis Turner, is in the Air Force Reserve. Her brother-in-law served in the Army and her great nephew is an Airman. Brown’s late husband, Barrington Brown, worked for the Exchange, too.
“I met him through a friend at the Exchange,” she said. “He started with AAFES in 1987 and was an industrial equipment mechanic foreman. He retired after 20 years.”
What she did at first: Her first job with the Exchange was as a materials handler at DDDC. She also worked as a foreman and was later promoted to a management role.
“I stacked boxes, unloaded them on trailers and at that time everything was manual,” she said. “We didn’t have conveyors. We had to use an assembly line method to stack the boxes.”
Family serving family: Brown deployed to Kuwait and Qatar to participate in a contingency inventory change, where she had the opportunity to walk the Kuwait and Iraq border with Karen Stack, now Executive Vice President and Chief Logistics Officer, and Morgan Meeks, now Logistics Vice President.
She also reunited with the father of her grandchildren, who was serving at Al-Udeid Air Base at the time—an example of “family serving family” in action.
“It was nice to see him there,” she said. “It was also great to see Dan Daniel products that had come so far to Kuwait and Afghanistan. What we do at DDDC plays a big role in the world and I was truly impressed by what we do here at the DC.”
What she does now: She retires in August 2023 as the operations manager for DDDC.
“It’s bittersweet. This where I’ve been for the last 35 years, but it’s time to step away and doing something different,” she said.
Life after loss: Brown’s late husband passed away in 2019, cutting her final deployment short and leaving her with two dachshunds. While balancing a busy schedule and grief, she chose to give the dogs to Shawn Randall, an industrial equipment mechanic foreman whom Brown’s late husband had supervised, and Randall’s wife Tondaylayo, an administrative technician at DDDC.
“I was struggling with keeping the dogs and I knew the Randall family had children,” she said. “I know pets are a comfort and calm kids, so I asked them if they would take the dachshunds. I am thankful for the opportunities I’ve had in 35 years to bless other people.”
Her retirement plans: “I’ll taxi the grandkids to and from school, travel and work on several home improvement projects,” Brown said.
Her first travel venture in retirement is on Aug. 20. Brown and her family will take a train to Washington, D.C., to explore the museums and the zoo.
Advice to other associates: Brown’s advice to associates building a career with the Exchange is to find purpose in their work as the Exchange has been more than a place to work for her.
“It’s not just a job—what we do, who we support and what we provide them with is important,” she said. “There is purpose in serving those who serve. You will also meet people and build relationships that will last a lifetime. Most of the people I can call family are from my time at DDDC.”
