129 Years of Family Serving Family: Monica Leatch, HQ

One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 129 years of family serving family

Who she is: Monica Leatch, Contracting Officer/Category Manager, Food Service Concessions, Corporate Procurement

Years with the Exchange: Leatch will celebrate her 25^th anniversary at the Exchange on Dec. 6

Military connections: Leatch’s father served in the Army and was a Vietnam Veteran—but that took place before she was born. “We didn’t have the luxury of being military brats,” she said. “I didn’t get the Exchange experience until I started working here.”

Exchange connections: “I’ve had a few cousins working for the Exchange,” she says. “I’ve tried to get my kids to join but—[laughs]. Hopefully, when my son gets older, he’ll still be interested. My daughter will say, ‘Mom, I can’t see how you can sit at a desk for eight hours, working.’ I tell her all the time, ‘It’s more so that I enjoy what I do.’ ”

What brought her to the Exchange: “My dad would not let me join the military. He was dead-set on none of his kids or grandkids being service members, because he suffered from PTSD. I put the word out to my cousins that I wanted to join the military. We all were thinking about joining, but only one actually did.

“Another cousin said, ‘I actually work at the Exchange. They’re doing a job-hiring event next week.’ I got hired on the spot: Since I couldn’t join the military, I did the next best thing, which is working for the Exchange.”

Where she’s worked: Leatch started out working in a Dallas-area catalog building (CAPP)  that was several miles from headquarters. “I was doing customer relations,” she said. “Then I moved to the catalog side of the house, and stayed there a couple of years.” She then moved to the Sales (now Merchandising) Directorate as a Procurement Tech, where she spent about seven years before returning to catalog. “At that point, it was all online ordering. Instead of paginating orders for the catalog book, I was paginating, so to speak, for online—making sure the imagery was right, doing copywriting. That led me to contracting, where I am now, in the Procurement side of the house. I’ve been here since 2009.”

What she likes about her job: “I can see the results. When I started off, I was doing contracts for expense items and expense services. Retail makes the money; contracting saves the money.

“I did contracts for the systems we use, like the fingerprinting system. When someone is new to the Exchange, or contractors are being vetted, or when people come on base, fingerprinting machines are needed. If someone needed a subscription to a website to do their job; if a PX/BX needed janitorial services after hours;  negotiating hotel agreements for conventions that AAFES associates attended; bike assembly services–I handled a variety of support service contracts.

“So I can see what I’m doing being utilized within the company. Now that I’m doing food, the name-brand and non-name-brand food concessions, the big-name restaurants and mom-and-pops that are on the base, in the food court. I’ve done contracts for food trucks worldwide. Any time there’s a food contract, I was part of the team that helped get it in place.”

Dreams of deployment: Leatch hasn’t deployed or traveled for her job, but she wants to when the time is right. “I do plan on deploying or moving on to one of the OCONUS contracting offices in the future. But family first. I have to make sure that my kids are good first. They’re not at a point right now where I can uproot them. But I do have that in my goals, to prepare myself for working in an overseas office, in contracting.”

Family heritage: Leatch’s father was half Native American (photos of her honoring him lead off our 2024 Native American Heritage Month Flickr album). “I’m one of those people who believes in the spirit of things,” she says. “I touch on the Native American heritage a lot, because I don’t think it gets highlighted enough. It’s important for me to stay connected to my roots, even if I’m only a percentage. To know what people experienced before me, prepared me for the future. Although things evolve and things change, being genuine to your heritage and being genuine to your roots keeps you grounded.”

Why she’s stayed for 25 years: “I’m really glad to play a part in helping the troops. Making sure that they have what they need when they need it. When I worked on the retail side of the house, I saw how mobile field Exchanges were put up in remote areas, and it gave me a lot of pride that even though my dad wouldn’t let me join, I still had some part in supporting the military. Because freedom ain’t free. That’s what keeps me here.

Family Serving Family: “It means community. It means that not only do we have a job to do, but we can also take pride in the job. Because we’re not just helping the troops, we’re helping their families as well. It’s more than just a job. It’s more than just a company. We are a family within a family within a family. It’s not just work, it’s bigger than that.”