130 Years of Family Serving Family: Miguel Abreu, Camp Courtney, Okinawa

One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 130 years of family serving family

Who he is: Miguel Abreu, branch store manager, Camp Courtney, Okinawa

Years with the Exchange: 16

Exchange connection: Abreu’s wife and brother also worked for the Exchange.

Military connections: Abreu’s father is a retired Air Force colonel. “He enlisted in 1996, and we came to Okinawa in ’96,” Abreu said. “He was here for six years, left for one year, then came back for two more tours. So by that time I had been here for 12 years. When it was time for him to go to his next assignment, I was already an adult, so I decided to stay here.”

Growing up with the Exchange: “Every Saturday morning, that’s where we were. There were a bunch of us kids sitting on the floor, watching cartoons. My father bought us our first Nintendo 64 there. The Exchange was anything and everything—there wasn’t a lot to do so we got excited every time we got to go to the Exchange.”

Before the Exchange: Abreu worked for the USO in Okinawa.

“I was raised in the military community and because I didn’t know any better when I was young, I didn’t understand what our service members were going though, because it was just another day for me. But when I started working for the USO, my eyes opened immediately— and more so after I joined the Exchange.

Coming to the Exchange: “Working with the USO definitely helped, because I’d always been involved in the military community. The Exchange happened during the transition period when my father was leaving and the USO wasn’t offering a sponsorship [a program that would have allowed the young Abreu to remain in Okinawa without his parents].

“At that time, the Exchange was building a new BX at Kadena Air Base. And the Exchange was offering sponsorships. I did join the Exchange because I needed a sponsorship at the time, but it was funny how everything led further into the Exchange.

“I was working three part-time jobs including the Exchange, and then I started to apply for full-time, supervisor positions. I got promoted to supervisor, full time, and got accepted into the Retail Management Academy (RMA) all at the same time.”

The big Kadena: “The Kadena Exchange is one of the largest in the world and the awesome part was, I got to be a part of its opening. I got to start in the old store, the store I grew up with. And then a couple of months later we opened the new store. So I got all my training done in the old store and then came to the new store. The grand opening was just amazing. There were so many people there.”

Moving up and down Okinawa: After starting as a PowerZone associate at Kadena, Abreu was promoted to PowerZone supervisor at Camp Foster. He later became a shift manager at Foster’s Butler Express, then went back to Kadena as a sales area manager. A stint as assistant store manager at Kadena’s Olympic Express followed.

“I was only at Olympic Express for a short time, and while I was there, I went TDY to help build the Camp Humphreys Exchange. A bunch of us were over there for one or two months. And as soon as I came back from Korea, I moved over to the Courtney Express.”

He then returned to the Butler Express, where he was assistant store manager, before making his current stop at Camp Courtney as a store manager.

The Exchange as a gathering place: “My favorite location was the Courtney Express. You want to talk about regulars? It was the same retired Veterans every morning. You could count on them to be there at the same time. Back then, I worked the 5 a.m. shift, so on my way to work, a lot of the Veterans would be exercising in the morning. They’d walk from their homes to get their daily exercise, but they’d come in, get their same cup of coffee, get their same snacks—and then you could count on them to be back later in the day, at the same time, every day. I’d never worked at a location where you had regulars so often that you knew exactly what to order and what food to have ready for everybody.”

Family Serving Family: “When I was at the USO, we were still a big part of people’s lives when they needed to contact their families. If it was their first time away from home and they didn’t know what to do, they’d come to the USO and ask, ‘What can you tell me, what can you help me with? What’s going on with this island?’ We were a big source of information.

“When I crossed over to the Exchange, it became a question of how I could get shoppers what they’re missing from home. The more I worked for the Exchange and the more I talked to people, I was like, ‘Man, I’ve felt the same way as these people—but this is their first time. If they need something, I’ll say, ‘Let me contact the buying team, let me see what we can do to help people requesting merchandise that they have never been without in their whole life.’ Being able to at least try to provide them with what they need or what they’re missing—that’s always been the best part of this job. And we’re able to show them things they didn’t know as well.”