Retiring Europe/SWA Commander Col. Donnie Nowlin Looks Back on ‘Fascinating’ 3 Years With the Exchange

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In August 2021, when Col. Donnie “Don” Nowlin joined the Exchange as Europe/Southwest Asia/Africa Region commander, he told the Exchange Post, “This is the start of an incredible journey.”

Asked how that journey has been after nearly three years, Nowlin replied: “If I had to sum it up in one word: fascinating.

“You don’t know, until you get to peek behind the curtain, how decisions are made and why decisions are made,” Nowlin continued. “Understanding the calculus and the variables that go into the decision-making process is absolutely fascinating.”

As the region’s commander, Nowlin is responsible for nearly 4,300 associates in 25 countries across three continents, in more than 1,400 facilities that support half a million customers. He has provided a connection between military communities and Exchange associates.

That responsibility and connection are drawing to a close as Nowlin prepares to retire from the Army this summer. He says his job has involved educating military leaders and others about why the Exchange can or cannot do certain things in the region, with each country having its own laws and regulations. And he’s learned a few things himself, which plays into educating others.

“I didn’t know we did school meals before I became commander,” Nowlin said. “I didn’t know the Exchange had a bakery or does water production. It was eye-opening. I use that as a showcase when people want to know about what we do. If I can get something from [Bakery Plant Manager] Mathias Baum or [Bakery Production Manager] Klaus Schlosser, I’ll take a group over there in a heartbeat and open their eyes wider to the fact that the Exchange is more than just a store.”

Col. Don Nowlin (left), Exchange Europe/Southwest Asia commander, listens as Mathias Baum, Gruenstadt bakery manager, explains the different bakery processes during a tour in 2021. (U.S. Army photo)

Experiencing the Exchange—then and now

A native of Ackerman, Mississippi, Nowlin began his military career as a Navy Airman, but spent most of his career in the Army, where he has served for more than 27 years. Since starting his military career as a second lieutenant in the Ordnance Corps, Nowlin deployed multiple times, including to Kosovo, Iraq and Afghanistan. He was deployed to Saudi Arabia just before he joined the Exchange and moved to Germany.

His experience has allowed him to see the Exchange from multiple perspectives.

“I’ve been in place where there was no AAFES support,” Nowlin said. “The locals would come up and sell their wares, but we were so remote that we didn’t have Exchange support. So when we would go to a place that had it, it was like ‘The Wizard of Oz,’ where the first half was in black and white and the second half was in color. There were places that were tiny dots on the map, but they felt so much bigger, and life was so much better, because AAFES was there.”

He also remembers the simple comfort of being able to buy a bag of Freedom’s Choice Sour Cherry candy when he was deployed to Afghanistan. And he found a connection between the present-day Exchange and his deployment to Kosovo.

“I was stationed in Germany when I was a lieutenant,” he said. “We were the first ones into Kosovo in 1999. When we went into Bondsteel, there was nothing there. It was literally two fields. I was there when they built the store that’s there. Where our office is now at Camp Bondsteel literally used to be the room where I slept when they build the sea huts there. So there’s a little bit of sentimental attachment.”

Army Col. Don Nowlin, Commander of the Exchange’s Europe, Southwest Asia and Africa Region, greets a Veteran on Vietnam War Veterans Day 2024.

What’s next

One of Nowlin’s goals when he joined the Exchange was to see as much of Europe as possible with his wife and teenage daughter. They accomplished that, with trips to Italy, Greece, Poland, Hungary, Croatia, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and Egypt. His wife and daughter also visited the United Kingdom but he was unable to accompany them.

“Now we’re working on the list of ‘OK, we’ve been to some places where we really wanted to go—what opportunities have presented themselves?’,” Nowlin said. “My wife wants to go to Norway to see the Northern Lights around Thanksgiving. I’ll be officially retired by that point. My daughter’s in between school years, and she’s going to Greece with one her friends in July. Later that month, we’re going to Paris for the Olympics. There’s just so much opportunity to do things like that, you can’t pass it up.”

Nowlin says his family enjoys Europe so much, they plan to stay there for a few years after he retires. Other than a brief tour when he was a Cadet, his wife had never been to the continent until he became commander.

“After a couple of months of her being here, she decided that she was going to get a job here, so that when I retire, I can be her dependent and stay longer,” he said. “I’m going to do all those things she has done for the past 22 years. We bought a house about an hour away in the Mosel Valley that’s kind of a getaway/vacation house. I’ll do some renovations there. I have hobbies that will keep me busy. I like repairing watches, so I’ll pick up an old vintage watch and repair it. I also plan to do volunteer work. I’ll go to the USO and give back.”

He will take an increased affection and appreciation for the Exchange with him.

“The Exchange is 100% family serving family, whether you wore the uniform, you’re married to the uniform, you’re a son or daughter of the uniform,” he said. “But even if you’re among the associates who have no connection to the uniform, you’re still part of the family.

“I would go out on a limb and say this is the best job I’ve ever had,” he adds. “It’s the only job where I haven’t had a single day where I woke up dreading coming into work. I’ve always looked forward to coming into work and working with folks like [EVP/COO and former Europe/SWA SVP] Marla Randolph and [Europe/SWA SVP] Stephanie Burns and [Europe Regional VP] Michele Weisshaar and any of the 4,000 people in this region. If I thought I could continue doing this for another 10 or 15 years, I would. But I’m going out on top.”

 

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