Meet the New Chief: Exchange Welcomes Chief Master Sgt. Rich Martinez as Senior Enlisted Advisor

Team Exchange has a new Wingman as Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Richard Martinez assumes the Exchange’s senior enlisted advisor position.

Martinez, who has served in the Air Force for 26 years, joins the Exchange from his most recent assignment as the Senior Enlisted Advisor for the Joint Communications Support Element at MacDill Air Force Base.

As Exchange senior enlisted advisor, Martinez is the liaison between Exchange leadership and active-duty service members; National Guard members; Reservists; family members; retirees; and Veterans. Among his duties will be visits to Exchange stores worldwide, where he will meet with command groups to share information about the Exchange benefit and hear feedback on how the organization can further strengthen its support of critical military Quality-of-Life programs.

“The Exchange is an important benefit. We help retain military members and families through the hard-earned benefits we are honored to provide those who serve and have served,” said Martinez.

Martinez was familiar with the Exchange from a young age. His father served 20 years as a combat medic, and his grandfather spent 22 years in the Army before serving as an JROTC instructor for another 20 years.

So how does an Army brat end up an Airman?

“There’s an old joke that Army and Marine Corps parents make the best Air Force recruiters,” Martinez said.

Recalling some of his time spent in Germany as a child living on an Army post, he remembered visiting an Air Force installation and comparing the amenities. “It was like going to Oz.”

He remembers the Exchange in Germany, too.

“One of my earliest memories of the importance of the Exchange was at Robinson Barracks. It was a real treat to get to shop at the PX and get a sandwich from the Burger King. We had an Anthony’s Pizza in the housing area, too,” Martinez said. “Those really stuck in my mind.”

After high school, Martinez declined a full scholarship to a military school as he was not interested in the field they wanted him to study (nursing), so he enrolled at University of Texas-San Antonio and joined the ROTC.

“I knew the military was something that I was interested in, and I was a broke and hungry college student, so I saw the military as a way to pay for college and as a job opportunity,” he said. “My dad said, ‘You’d do great in the Army, but go see an Air Force recruiter.’”

Acing an assessment exam allowed Martinez to enter the Air Force as an Airman in 1998, working as a computer, networking, switching and cryptographic systems apprentice at Hill Air Force Base in Utah, and he has spent most of his career in the communications field. His career has included two deployments: the first to Kuwait as part of Operation SOUTHERN WATCH and then to Saudi Arabia with Operation ENDURING FREEDOM.

“From growing up an Army brat through my time in service, everywhere I’ve been, there’s been an Exchange, including my deployments,” Martinez said. “At Ali Al Salem [in Kuwait], it was barely a building, I think it was made of 2-by-4s, but to be able to get some batteries and a Gatorade, things you couldn’t get from Supply, was a big deal.

“At Prince Sultan Air Base [in Saudi Arabia], that was a huge facility. You could get whatever you needed just like you could at a CONUS Exchange.”

Education has been an important part of Martinez’s formation. He holds four degrees: a Master of Business Administration, a Bachelor of Science in management/computer information systems, an Associate of Applied Science in electronic systems technology and an Associate of Applied Science in instructor of technology and military science. He also holds multiple teaching certificates and spent four years as a professional military education instructor at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam.

Having just joined the Exchange, Martinez says he’s still in “absorbing mode,” learning as much as he can about and from the directorates and senior leaders. He attended the Retail, Food and Services Managers Conference in March and accompanied retiring Senior Enlisted Advisor Chief Master Sgt. Kevin Osby on a site visit to Fort Bliss.

“The thing that attracted me the most was seeing the passion the associates have—and the passion the shoppers have back for the Exchange,” Martinez said. “You have multiple generations working at the Exchange. It’s phenomenal.”

Martinez noticed that the passion starts at the top.

“Director/CEO Tom Shull cares so deeply about taking care of the associates,” he said. “I spent a lot of my education learning how to create cultures for people—profits are quarterly, but people are forever. I want to continue that culture in my time with the Exchange.”

Martinez is excited to step into the role of senior enlisted advisor following Osby’s four years.

“Twenty-six years in, this is probably my last assignment,” he said. “I couldn’t think of a better place to end my time in uniform than with the Exchange.”