Lackland Exchange Shows Holiday Spirit During Annual BMT Shopping Extravaganza

Nearly 2,700 Basic Military Trainees at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland got the opportunity to shop for gifts and send greetings to loved ones at the Exchange annual BMT Shopping Extravaganza.

The Lackland BX offers this dedicated shopping day every December for the trainees, who usually aren’t allowed to leave their dormitories. Trainees from the 737^th Training Support Squadron arrive by bus in staggered flights at the store, where they’re greeted by festively attired associates and can have their photos taken with Santa Claus and/or the Grinch as well as buy gifts.

Lackland General Manager Mikel Hunter said that the event not only gives the trainees a day to shop, it also introduces many of them to the Exchange.

“This is my second year doing this,” Hunter said. “It just amazes me each year when  I see these young trainees come of their buses into our store. They’ve never experienced the store, so they don’t even know what to expect. So when they came off the bus today and I saw the first group, they were saying things like, ‘Wow, they have Apple products.’ It just shows how important the Exchange is for our military members.”

Hunter said the Lackland team started planning for the event two months ago. “We want to make sure we provide the most exceptional experience to our customers from the time they come off that bus so they know what to expect through their entire military career,” he said.

The Exchange Corporate Communication team hosted two live Facebook streams, spanning six hours, that allowed the trainees to send greetings to spouses, parents and other family members and friends back home. In the comments section, loved ones could respond to seeing a trainee to onscreen, or ask the Corporate Comm team to try to locate a trainee to appear on the live stream. (You can watch recordings of the streams here and here.)

“This event is awesome,” said Kenneth Michael McFarlin, a trainee who had just said hi to his girlfriend and his family on Facebook Live. “With us being in basic training, we have obstacles we have to jump over every single day, and not having our phones or our family to talk to—something like this is very relieving for all of us. A day like this means the world to us.”

Col. Will Cooper, commander of the 737^th Training Wing, called the event a welcome distraction for the trainees.

“It’s hard enough to decide to come into the Air Force,” Cooper said. “And they come down into Basic Military Training, into the unknown. It’s especially hard during the holidays. … When they start to doubt themselves, they know they can come to something like this, raise their morale a little bit, maybe contact some family members through Facebook Live. It’s amazing and we appreciate it.”

Trainees flocked to buy greeting cards, toted hand carts filled with items from the store’s souvenir section, carried stuffed animals through the store and more during the event. Groups of trainees sang carols along with Santa, led by our Jim Terry Group Vendor Partner  Bambi Singleton (and “conducted” by the Grinch).

“This teaches them how important the Exchange is, and how typical it is for it to be a part of their lives,” said Cooper, a military brat whose mother worked at an Exchange—and who briefly worked at one himself. “I think it’s great because it establishes that relationship early on. And because of the emotional tie to doing this right now, I think it will carry forward through the career.”

When the trainees were done shopping, they were bused to the BMT Pfingston Reception Center at Lackland, where scores of volunteers—many from ROTC programs at San Antonio high schools—wrapped gifts for a wall-to-wall crowd of appreciative trainees. Other volunteers helped the trainees send the gifts to the recipients via our concession partner UPS.

South Central Region Vice President Antonio Porter attended the event. Madeline Salazar, general manager of the JBSA-Fort Sam Houston Exchange, was also on hand at the event and even helped find trainees that live-stream viewers had asked about.

Col. Billy Wilson Jr., commander of Air Force and Space Force Basic Military Training at Joint Base San Antonio, underscored the importance of the event both for morale and for informing the trainees about the Exchange.

“Today has been awesome,” said Wilson, who also attended the 2023 BMT event. “It’s been awesome for me and the trainees. This gives them that sense of connection with home but also provides a sense of care: ‘I’m going to serve my country, but this is a small way that I can stay connected to my family and let them know that I miss them, I love them, and I’m thinking about them.’

“This teaches them that the Exchange will be a normal part of their time in the service,” he added. “That it is a resource that’s available to them and serve their needs. I have been fortunate enough to be in the service for over 30 years, and at every location, there have been AAFES services, whether it was in Balad, Iraq, or even in Shindand, Afghanistan, where there was a small Exchange that we needed to get some of the comforts of home.”

To view a Flickr album from the BMT Shopping Extravaganza, click here.