Scott Bonner’s family has a long military history. Both his grandfathers served in the Navy, and met on a ship during World War II. His father served in the Navy, for four years during the Vietnam War. A cousin served in the Army.
But Bonner, the Mid Central regional vice president who is retiring this month after nearly 30 years with the Exchange, didn’t grow up as a military brat. He was too young when his dad was in the Navy.
Growing up, he considered joining the military and he’d thought airplanes were cool. So in 1990, he enlisted in the Air Force. One of his earliest assignments was Rhine-Main Air Base in Germany, where he first experienced the Exchange’s comforts of home.
After an assignment in San Vito, Italy, Bonner went to RAF Lakenheath in England. Even though he was about to separate from the Air Force, he needed a letter of approval from his supervisor before he could take a second job. He took the letter to the Human Resources office at the Lakenheath BX.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to see what kind of great job they can give me,’” he said. “The only positions available for external candidates at the time were food service workers.
“I was an intermittent Anthony’s Pizza food service worker at $5 and change an hour. And that’s where I started.”
That was in 1997, kicking off an Exchange career that will end with his retirement Feb. 13.
Every job matters
Bonner had to work in food for six months before he could look for a retail position. When his time was up, he got a job as a cashier at the Mildenhall BX. Then he had his eye on a floor associate job in Outdoor Living.
“I knew it was coming open and I wanted to make sure I got it,” he said. “I went out and got these books on plants and books on patios and read all about outdoor living because I wanted to make sure that I knew the job. And then the interview was about two seconds. We didn’t talk anything about plants or patios, but I got the job.”
A warehouse-worker job at the same store was next, followed by a job as a Class Six reorder assistant. Then came the opportunity for a management job, as a shift manager at the Class Six.
“And I thought, ‘Wow, I’ve made it here,’” Bonner said. “Then I realized that shift managers do a lot of stuff. It was a 24-hour store and we had an unreliable night shift manager. I worked 3 p.m. to midnight and he had midnight to 9 a.m. Often, he didn’t show up, and I hadn’t realized that when he didn’t show up, I’d be doing a double shift.”
Bonner said he learned a lot from Sachiko Toy, the Mildenhall BXTRA’s manager.
“She was driven and motivated,” he said. “She must have been 60 years old and I was this 20-something- kid who couldn’t keep up. She would be everywhere. She’d be up on ladders stocking these ridiculously high shelves. She’d be in the stock room, ripping down boxes, chucking them on carts and getting the merchandise out there. And she’d treat her people well so that they would give their best.”
He recalled one lesson from Toy, who called Bonner “Stretch” because of his 6-foot-6 height.
“One day, she said, ‘Hey, Stretch, come here,’” he said. “I thought, ‘Oh, we’re going to lunch.’ So we went out into the mall, but we didn’t turn toward the food court. She went straight to the janitor’s closet and she got a mop and said, ‘You clean that bathroom, I’ll clean this bathroom.’ That was really humbling for me.
“But I thought, ‘If I’m going to do this, I’m going to give it 110% and I’m going to clean it.’ I realized at that time that everything we do matters. Every job matters, every person matters, and everything we do matters because it’s all about people. It’s all about taking care of our customer and taking care of our associates. And so I kept that with me.”
Coming back to America
Bonner progressed rapidly, working his way up to sales and merchandise manager at Lakenheath and a brief stint as temporary store manager. But his stepson was about to enter high school, and Bonner and his wife wanted him to attend school in the U.S.
Bonner knew a position was about to open at the Hanscom AFB Exchange, not far from his hometown of Townsend, Massachusetts. He had let HR know of his interest, but the position was slow to open, so Bonner and his family made a decision.
“Few people know this, but I separated from the Exchange and I moved myself and my four kids and wife back to Massachusetts, not far from my mother,” Bonner said. “Two weeks after I got there, HR called and said, ‘Hey, the Hanscom main store manager job is opening up. Would you be interested in applying for it?’ It was good that I got to come back to the Exchange because I really didn’t want to leave.”
By that time, Bonner had lived overseas for 15 years. But he soon got a refresher course in the Northeastern United States. When the Hanscom general manager deployed, Bonner became acting GM.
In 2008, Bonner was assigned to a dual GM position at the Edwards AFB Exchange in Southern California, more than 2,900 miles away from Hanscom.
Bonner built a relationship with the Edwards command team, getting to know chief master sergeants well enough that they’d invite him to their housing area, where they’d play cornhole.
Getting real
In October 2009, after just under a year as Edwards GM, Bonner moved to Real Estate as a strategic business concept manager.
“It was considered a field position, not a headquarters position, because it’s basically a field perspective of what we’re doing in in our Expresses and main stores,” Bonner said. “In my work history, I don’t have any headquarters jobs, but I was in the headquarters building for four years in Real Estate.”
Bonner traveled to the field several times, but his main learning experience was at HQ.
“You learn how the Exchange gets things done,” he said. “I learned how RE works, how Logistics works, how MD works. I was privileged to go to a lot of meetings learn a lot of different things.
“I was part of the rollout when we branded as the Exchange. It was during the time that the Tinker BX became the first branded Exchange. I was the guy behind the curtain, the guy who was analyzing, saying we spent this much on this fixture or this much on that equipment and we got this much return on that equipment. I was generating all that in the background.”
Bonner’s next step was his biggest PCS in a career of long-distance moves.
Across the Pacific
In June 2013, Bonner moved back to retail as Pacific Region retail chief. He was impressed by what he found.
“I came to Okinawa and met Japanese local nationals who work for us, and that workforce is just relentless,” he said. “They take care of our customers day in and day out and they’re so committed to doing what they do.”
About a year after arriving in Japan, he became the Camp Foster main store manager. About a year later, he was sent to Korea, where he became Korea Southern Exchange general manager. It wasn’t his first time in the country.
“In 2013 or 2014, I went to visit the general manager at Camp Humphreys,” Bonner said. “He was showing me around on these muddy roads. I remember it being muddy and bumpy and rice paddies and bricks. He said, ‘This is going to be great.’ And I was thinking to myself, ‘I don’t know what’s going to happen here, but OK, I’ll believe you when I see it.’
“So fast forward to 2016 and I’m GM at the Korea Southern Exchange with these great people and this amazing culture.”
Thanksgiving Miracle
Bonner had been at Korea Southern about a year when he was appointed region chief, staying in Korea because so much was happening at Humphreys.
That included what Bonner calls “The Thanksgiving Miracle.”
In spring 2017, the Eighth Army commanding general asked the Exchange to open a new Humphreys main store, mall and food court in time for the holidays—four months earlier than planned. Humphreys was undergoing big growth: U.S. forces from USAG Yongsan and areas north of Seoul were relocating there, more than doubling the population. The Exchange made fulfilling the request a priority.
“I’ve never seen such a concerted effort worldwide,” Bonner said. “We had volunteers coming from all over the organization descending upon Humphreys to make sure that facility was open on time. It opened Nov. 20, 2017, three days before Thanksgiving. It was a beautiful thing to see how our organization came together to make that happen.”
The next year, Bonner became Humphreys GM. The growth and changes continued. While he was GM, Humphreys opened four more mini malls, a dental clinic and a dual food court. During the relocation of personnel from Yongsan, the Exchange closed 62 direct-run operations and opened 46.
Amid all the activity, Typhoon Lingling struck South Korea. The storm severely damaged the Korea Distribution Center, with 60 mph winds tearing the roof off a 5,600-square-foot section of the building.
“Everybody had to get a plan together to open the DC at Humphreys earlier than planned and that was no small feat,” he said. “They really had to move mountains, and the U.S. Forces Korea team had to help out but we got that distribution center open early.”
In late 2019, Bonner became vice president for Korea and Hawaii. It was only a couple of months before he faced his biggest challenge as a VP.
The COVID era
In February 2020, two months after he became a VP, Bonner was summoned to a meeting with Maj. Gen. Stephen C. Williams, U.S. Forces Korea chief of staff, about a virus that was going around. Within a couple of weeks, Bonner said, there was a COVID outbreak in Daegu, home to Camp Walker.
“Commanders were just trying to maintain readiness,” Bonner said. “Because you’ve got North Korea on the border, right on your doorstep. And so they were worried about readiness and were all about protecting the force.”
Social-distancing measures in stores followed. Food courts closed. Customers could only come inside stores for essential items.
Retirement plans
Bonner was regional vice president in PAC for three years—covering a huge area of responsibility that also includes Hawaii, Kwajalein and American Samoa. But for most of his time in the position, he couldn’t travel because of COVID restrictions.
And then he traveled a long distance—back to the States. In December 2022, Bonner was named to his current position, Mid Central regional vice president.
In retirement, Bonner will continue to work, but in a different way. And with more room to take it easy.
“I have a ‘honey do’ list about 3 miles long. That will probably take priority but I’m going to keep my options open,” he said. “I plan to downshift, see where life takes us. My wife and I want to do a little bit of traveling, so we’ll see where that goes.”
For Bonner, this is a natural transition from nearly 30 years with his Exchange family.
“In order for us to have the expectation that our associates are going to take care of our customers like they’re family, we have to make sure that the associates’ families are taken care of,” he said. “I know a lot of our associates are connected to the military like I am. And I know it means a lot to them to serve their fellow family members.
“I couldn’t be prouder of having nearly 36 years of either being active duty or working with the Exchange. To me, it’s all service to our country. We’ve got to take care of each other.”
If you’d like to wish Scott Bonner well on his retirement journey, please comment on this story.
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