During Operations Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, hundreds of Exchange associates exemplified the “We go where you go” mission by deploying to support troops in Southwest Asia.
Few of them were like Lena Haddix, who deployed 21 years ago this month—at 72 years old.
And then did it again the next year.
“I don’t think I was what they were expecting,” Haddix, a great-grandmother who first deployed in December 2004 to Camp Doha, Kuwait, told the Exchange Post in 2005. Haddix, who by 2005 had been a military wife for nearly 30 years, voluntarily left her home station at the Fort Sill PX for a six-month deployment in support of the Exchange’s morale facilities in Kuwait.
“Anything there was to do, I did,” she said. “From 7:30 a.m. until at least 8:30 p.m., I ran registers and helped customers—just whatever needed to be done.”
Even with the 13-hour days, Haddix was able to mark her 73rd birthday while deployed to Kuwait. “We had a big party on May 14.”
At the end of her six-month deployment, she decided to re-up for another six months.
“I’m going north,” she told the Exchange Post about her decision to go to Iraq.
During a brief R&R break in her hometown of Lawton, Oklahoma, Haddix made the most of her time with her five children, eight grandchildren, three great-grandchildren, two dogs and one bird. And then on July 5, she reported for duty at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq.
“I love the people out here,” Haddix said of the troops and her Exchange teammates. “They give me hugs and talk to me about their thoughts and fears. One Soldier told me he thought God sent me.”
Haddix eventually returned to Fort Sill, where she retired after more than 40 years of service—at age 85. Lawton TV station KSWO covered her 40th anniversary celebration in 2014, reporting that she first started working for the Exchange in September 1974 in Panama. Three years later she joined the team at Fort Sill where, except for her deployments, she spent the rest of her career.
Haddix passed away in 2024 at age 92—on July 4. KSWO wasn’t the only media outlet to cover her during her lifetime. According to her online obituary, “She was interviewed by Katie Couric, featured in AARP magazine, on FOX News and mentioned by [radio commentator] Paul Harvey” during her deployments.
Sources: Exchange Post archives, KSWO-TV, Whinery-Huddleston Funeral Service
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