129 Years of Family Serving Family: Annie Bush, Patrick Space Force Base

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

Who she is: Annie Bush, Patrick Space Force Base Exchange assistant store manager

Years with the Exchange: 35

Military connections: Bush’s husband retired as a senior master sergeant after 32 years in the Air Force. They have three girls. Her youngest daughter joined the Air Force and holds the rank of staff sergeant. Her father worked as a chef, a Department of Defense civilian role, in the dining facility on Camp Lejeune. Two of her sisters married Marines. Her nephew joined the Army and served for six years.

What brought her to the Exchange: Shortly after marrying, Bush and her husband were stationed at Shaw Air Force Base for three years, then PCS’d to Kadena Air Base in Okinawa.

“I became familiar with the Army & Air Force Exchange Service there in Okinawa. I applied for a position that worked best with my schedule. I had a young baby. I preferred to work evenings. They were able to work with me. I worked 5 to 9 or 5 to 10. We didn’t want to put her in day care at the time.”

Her Exchange career: Bush has held many roles, starting as an associate at a pizza store on Camp Foster, Okinawa. As her family moved on orders, she continued her career with the Exchange. On Kadena, she worked as a supervisor for Baskin-Robbins and managed one of the restaurants at the BX food court. At Patrick Air Force Base (now Space Force Base), she worked at the furniture store and in the PowerZone. When her family received orders to go back to Kadena, she took a temporary position in the main store. She later became a secretary and a computer operator. When her family PCS’d to Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany, she worked as a department manager. Her family later PCS’d to Asheville, North Carolina, where she worked at as a store manager at Fashion Bug while her husband worked at a federal building. Three years later, her family PCS’d to Patrick Space Force Base in 2005, where she has been since.

Learning for life: Learning has been essential to Bush’s growth. At Kadena, her manager encouraged her to read training manuals.

“My manager there wanted me to take some of the books. There wasn’t LEX at that time. There was a little book series about how to manage and supervise, and I read them.

“After closing that position, a computer operator position came up. I was asked if I’d like to be a computer operator. I accepted and was promoted. I didn’t know anything about computers, so I needed classes. They said, ‘OK, we’ll pay for your classes.’ The system was in another building and in that building, there were two big, huge machines. You had to open the door and pull out these big disks, and they were huge. Every day, you had to pull that disk out and put in a new disk. That’s how our sales were recorded.

“At Spangdahlem, I went TDY to Stuttgart and Grafenwoehr. I was on the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Everything was new. We were learning how to respond, how to assist the associate when something came up, acting as mediators, what’s considered an EEO case. There were a lot of us, and we were from everywhere. We were all just learning.”

While working as a department manager at Spangdahlem, she took an opportunity to learn more.

“I met Bob White (now Eastern Region Senior Vice President) and I said, ‘I want to be trained by the pros at headquarters.’ Later, they came to the store, talked with my manager, and asked how I’d like to enjoy bright, sandy beaches. I said, ‘Florida?’ ‘No, Italy.’ ‘Italy? Yes!’

“At the time, we were opening new facilities in Aviano, Italy, and I was able to go TDY. It was a huge facility. There was a large food court. The store was just a big cement, square facility. All the fixtures needed to be put together. We were  unboxing merchandise, assisting with the floor sets and positioning  the fixtures . I was assigned to  softlines, giftware and jewelry. They didn’t really have anyone keen on jewelry, but I was familiar with it. I set up the counter there.”

Memorable moments: Bush said her Exchange career, along with her husband’s service, granted her opportunities to travel and make memories.

“In Aviano, we took a day off and spent the whole day in Venice. We had a great time. The hotel was nice. They gave me the largest room in the hotel. The hotel crew just loaded me up with treats to take back to Spangdahlem. We rode on the gondolas. They were playing music and singing. The way they spoke Italian was really nice. It was just beautiful.

“In Okinawa, my husband and I won two trips. The first one was our honeymoon. The non-commissioned officers’ club held a Halloween celebration with a costume contest. They wanted people to participate and dress up, so my husband and I did. We did a skit and the crowd was just cheering us on. Everyone was screaming, crying and laughing. We won a trip to Hong Kong, paid in full! They picked us up from the airport in a Rolls Royce. We had tailor-made suits and stayed in a nice hotel. We went to Stanley Market, took a boat and went shopping. The second time, we ended up going to Taipei, Taiwan.”

Family Serving Family: “Every transfer, I’d try to get back in with the Exchange family if I could. I just enjoy being here, working and assisting the military. I like seeing the men and the women, them bringing in their young ones. I see myself in the young people.

“The spouses, I always encourage them to move up if they’d like and tell them this is one of the best organizations you can work for. The door is always open.”