One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 131 years of family serving family
Who he is: Charles “Chuck” Walmsley, facility manager, Yuma Proving Ground Express
Years at the Exchange: Walmsley has 10 years of service with the Exchange, all at the Yuma Express, starting as a shift supervisor and working his way up.
“After moving to the area so our family could be closer to my wife’s parents, I started looking for jobs and interviewed here,” Walmsley said. “I was like ‘Oh, it’s kind of cool.’ It’s on an Army post, and there are people jumping out of airplanes all around, so that’s different. [I] didn’t know how long it would last, and now here we are 10 years later.”
Military connections: Both of Walmsley’s grandfathers and his father served in the Army. His maternal grandfather served during World War II and his paternal grandfather served in World War I as a field baker. His paternal grandfather was recalled during World War II to train the next generation of field bakers.
“It’s hard to think of needing a field baker today with MREs and stuff., but he actually had to know how to bake bread in the field,” Walmsley said. “He then eventually worked at Pillsbury after his service.”
Souvenir shirt designs: Yuma Proving Ground is an isolated installation in one of the hottest deserts in the United States about 25 miles northeast of Yuma, Arizona, the closest city. This means the military community relies heavily on this Express for goods and essentials.
“I don’t have a main Exchange down the road,” he said. “There is very little for the people here on post, and that gives me a lot of challenges.”
Outside of the essentials, the community still had a niche scarcity: T-shirts.
Walmsley has made a unique impact by designing souvenir shirts that celebrate the spirit of the Yuma Proving Ground community. Working with vendor Smith-Southwestern, Walmsley creates designs inspired by the installation’s role as the largest free-fall school in the U.S. military, incorporating mottos from all service branches.
“It’s really cool to me to see people wear them [the shirts] back into the store or even more so, in town, seeing somebody wearing a shirt or a hat with my embroidery on it,” he said.
Family Serving Family: “There’s a sitcom called ‘Cheers’ from the ‘80s, and the theme song said, ‘You want to go where everybody knows your name and they’re always glad you came.’ I joke around that we’re like ‘Cheers,’ because everybody comes in, knows all of us by name. It’s a small base, so we see the same people every day in many cases, and we’re also in such a niche market within the Special Forces.
“I’ve been here long enough to see people PCS away for a couple of years, and PCS back here again. And so they walk in, and you kind of do that thing where you look up and make eye contact. You’re like, ‘Hey, you’re you’ and ‘Yeah, you’re you.’ It’s like a family reunion almost. You’re watching people’s kids grow up because they’re bringing them in here three or four times a week because their mom’s coming in to get her Red Bull that she needs to survive the day. And so you’re watching these babies grow up and then the next thing you know, they’re toddlers walking around.
“You’re sad when they PCS, and then you’re excited if you see them come back again.”
Share your thoughts!