CommunityEditor
03-03-2009, 12:38 AM
SHREVEPORT, La. — While some folks in Afghanistan might seem to be looking for a way out, Darlene Downing thinks she might ask for permission to stay another year.
“I was originally supposed to come back (in February) but I extended, and if they’ll let me, I may extend again,” said Downing, 45, who volunteered to go to the war-torn nation to do there what she does here: Sell goods to troops as an associate of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service.
The former Leesville resident moved to Shreveport about a year ago and resumed work with AAFES, with which she’s worked off and on since she was 18.
“I was born and raised in a military town,” she said. “My father was military. My brother and sister are military, and I married military. Basically, military is all I know.”
But that’s not the only reason she volunteered.
Her 29-year-old daughter is in the military, was in Afghanistan until just about a month before she arrived and may redeploy back near her mom.
“The whole time she was here she was always saying ‘Those AAFES people, they are so sweet.’ Well, somebody helped my baby, so I thought ‘Let me go and look after someone else’s baby.’ ”
She said she felt right at home where she first was deployed — at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
The troops “give you the same love you give them,” she said.
Now, she’s at Camp Phoenix, a smaller, more exposed location in Afghanistan, and she still loves it.
“I’ve only been here a month,” she said. “This camp is a lot smaller than the one I was at, and more family oriented. You know most of the soldiers on a personal basis at a smaller camp. That’s what I really like the most.”
Downing had to prep for her work through two weeks of intensive training and preparation at AAFES Headquarters in Dallas and the Continental United States Replacement Center at Fort Benning, Ga.
Now, she is 7,689 miles from home, selling DVDs and other exchange items to troops half a world away.
“What sells best are the energy drinks, the Monsters,” she said. “That, and video games.”
The exchanges also sell day-to-day health and comfort items such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, snacks, beverages and entertainment goods. The closer they are to the war zone, the more basic the offerings.
“We have been deploying people since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, but we’ve really had people out supporting troops since the end of World War II,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. David Tomiyama, AAFES spokesman. Volunteers “sleep in the same tents and are just as exposed to danger as the troops are.”
One volunteer has been killed in the war on terror, he said.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, Barksdale has sent seven AAFES staffers into the conflict, with four still employed. During the next two months, two more volunteers from the base will deploy to the war zones, Tomiyama said.
To date, more than 4,000 AAFES civilians have deployed to more than 85 post and base exchanges in combat and contingency locations. At this time, there are more than 440 volunteer AAFES associates like Downing deployed in support of operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
“I am really proud of the associates who are doing a magnificent job in deployed locations around the world,” said AAFES commander Maj. Gen. Keith Thurgood. “Some of them are working in very austere conditions, but they are doing tremendous work. Every associate who deploys is a true hero in my eyes.”
Article: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_aafes_afghanistan_030109/
“I was originally supposed to come back (in February) but I extended, and if they’ll let me, I may extend again,” said Downing, 45, who volunteered to go to the war-torn nation to do there what she does here: Sell goods to troops as an associate of the Army and Air Force Exchange Service.
The former Leesville resident moved to Shreveport about a year ago and resumed work with AAFES, with which she’s worked off and on since she was 18.
“I was born and raised in a military town,” she said. “My father was military. My brother and sister are military, and I married military. Basically, military is all I know.”
But that’s not the only reason she volunteered.
Her 29-year-old daughter is in the military, was in Afghanistan until just about a month before she arrived and may redeploy back near her mom.
“The whole time she was here she was always saying ‘Those AAFES people, they are so sweet.’ Well, somebody helped my baby, so I thought ‘Let me go and look after someone else’s baby.’ ”
She said she felt right at home where she first was deployed — at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan.
The troops “give you the same love you give them,” she said.
Now, she’s at Camp Phoenix, a smaller, more exposed location in Afghanistan, and she still loves it.
“I’ve only been here a month,” she said. “This camp is a lot smaller than the one I was at, and more family oriented. You know most of the soldiers on a personal basis at a smaller camp. That’s what I really like the most.”
Downing had to prep for her work through two weeks of intensive training and preparation at AAFES Headquarters in Dallas and the Continental United States Replacement Center at Fort Benning, Ga.
Now, she is 7,689 miles from home, selling DVDs and other exchange items to troops half a world away.
“What sells best are the energy drinks, the Monsters,” she said. “That, and video games.”
The exchanges also sell day-to-day health and comfort items such as soap, shampoo, toothpaste, snacks, beverages and entertainment goods. The closer they are to the war zone, the more basic the offerings.
“We have been deploying people since the start of Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom, but we’ve really had people out supporting troops since the end of World War II,” said U.S. Air Force Capt. David Tomiyama, AAFES spokesman. Volunteers “sleep in the same tents and are just as exposed to danger as the troops are.”
One volunteer has been killed in the war on terror, he said.
Since Sept. 11, 2001, Barksdale has sent seven AAFES staffers into the conflict, with four still employed. During the next two months, two more volunteers from the base will deploy to the war zones, Tomiyama said.
To date, more than 4,000 AAFES civilians have deployed to more than 85 post and base exchanges in combat and contingency locations. At this time, there are more than 440 volunteer AAFES associates like Downing deployed in support of operations Enduring Freedom and Iraqi Freedom.
“I am really proud of the associates who are doing a magnificent job in deployed locations around the world,” said AAFES commander Maj. Gen. Keith Thurgood. “Some of them are working in very austere conditions, but they are doing tremendous work. Every associate who deploys is a true hero in my eyes.”
Article: http://www.airforcetimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_aafes_afghanistan_030109/