One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 130 years of family serving family
Who he is: Brandon Deramee, Help Desk Support IV/Local Security Officer, Exchange HQ
Years at the Exchange: 13
Exchange connections: Brandon’s brother, Corey, is an c-Comm business technician. His mother, Jamie, retired from the Exchange in 2024 after 22 years.
Military connections: Brandon’s great-grandfather, Henry Jackson Birdwell Jr., was a Navy medic who served stateside near the end of World War II. Brandon’s uncle, Robert Joseph Deramee, was a Navy Senior Petty Officer during the late 1970s.
What brought him to the Exchange: “I’d heard about the Exchange way before I started. My mom started working here in fall 2002. It was my senior year in high school. When I lost a job, my mom told me, ‘You should try applying here.’ I was able to get on, and that’s how I started.
“I started in the MILITARY STAR call center as a temp, so I wasn’t sure if I was going to stay here long term. After a few months, a regular part-time role became available, and I applied and got on. A year later, there was a full-time role, and I’ve been full-time ever since.
Why he’s stayed: “The opportunity and the security. I knew that this would probably be somewhere I could stay for a while. When my daughter was born, I needed something with more security like the Exchange.”
What he does: “I’m part of the IT onsite workplace services solution team. We’re responsible for handling all PC equipment at headquarters. We issue equipment such as monitors, computers, printers, mice, keyboards, and accessories. We also do a lot of troubleshooting—when people have issues with their computers and peripherals, we troubleshoot.
“We work as an escalation team for the help desk. If an associate calls 3800 to open a ticket with the help desk and the agent can’t resolve the issue, the ticket is escalated to my team.”
What led to his interest in IT: “Since I was young, I’ve always been really good with technology. But when I graduated high school, it wasn’t my initial career choice. I was looking into the medicine field, but that ended up not panning out. And then when I was working at other jobs, they’d put me on IT stuff. Even though I wasn’t in an IT role, they would always come to me with IT stuff because I just knew things.
“When I came on board at the Exchange, when I was in the call center, they would always come to me for help with IT stuff because they knew I knew how to fix people’s problems. I knew being at the call center wasn’t my long-term goal. I just used that as a platform to get my foot in the door. I moved around the call center for a little bit but then I was able to get in IT and I’ve been there ever since.”
The secret to being a good troubleshooter: “It’s not really a secret. It bothers me when I can’t figure out an answer to something, and if I don’t know how to figure it out, I’ll research and keep trying to mess with it until I figure out how to fix it. Until the work’s complete, I can’t move on from it. When we get an escalated ticket, I’m not going to close it out until I know for sure everything is working for associates. Sometimes I rely on other people, but a lot of times it’s just more research. Google is your best friend. I found out AI can be my best friend sometimes too.”
Family serving family: “I have family who work here and worked here, but even though they’re my immediate family, I feel like the Exchange as a whole is my family. The Exchange has had my back since I’ve been here. It’s important to me that people look out for you here, even though they may not be your bloodline. I’ve met a lot of great people and a lot of people who looked out for me in my career. Without them, I probably would not have stayed as long as I’ve stayed. It’s just been my family away from home. Being here with the Exchange family helps make my job easier for me to contribute to the Exchange mission, which is to make life easier for our Military families.”
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