Air Force spouse Katherine Warren has 20 years of experience in retail but couldn’t get enough hours at a name-brand chain, so the Exchange was her solution.
“A friend said ‘You should come over here. It’s so much better.’” said Warren, an Air Force spouse and supervisor of furniture, toys and the outdoor living area at Tinker AFB, Okla. “I made the leap of faith to come here, and I love it.”
As the Nation honors heroes during National Veterans and Military Families Month, the Exchange continues to march toward its goal of hiring 50,000 Veterans and military spouses by the end of 2020.
“We strive to be the employer of choice for military spouses and Veterans,” said Executive Vice President/Chief Human Resources Officer Leigh Roop. “Our core value is family serving family.”
At the Exchange, 85% of associates have a direct connection to the military. Nearly 12% of the workforce is made up of Veterans and 22% of associates are military spouses.
Since 2013, the Exchange has hired nearly 42,500 military spouses and Veterans. The Exchange’s target fits with DoD priorities as the Army recently announced that spouse employment is one of its top quality-of-life goals.
The Exchange’s Associate Transfer Program lets military spouses continue their Exchange career, retain benefits and build toward retirement when their families make a permanent change-of-station move.
Warren, who started her Exchange career three months ago, said she has also worked at other big-box retailers.
“The corporate world is not the same,” said Warren, who works the 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. or 10:45 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. shifts at Tinker’s Exchange and is usually off Sunday and Monday. “I have morning time with the kids, get them ready for school. At night I’m able to do homework with them. In previous jobs, there were times I was working until 10 at night.”
For Patty Dula, who retired from the Navy Reserves, military connections are one of the best parts of her job as inventory control associate at the NAS Fort Worth JRB’s Exchange.
While filling in at a register recently, Dula assisted a World War II Veteran who was wearing a Kaneohe Bay Hawaii shirt. Dula had also been assigned there during her time in the Reserves.
“Where else do you get to meet a gentleman who served on Iwo Jima,” Dula said. “It’s an honor to say I’ve met a few of the great ones. Now it’s the Vietnam Veterans, and we get to say thank you. A lot of them do appreciate it.”
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