By Luke Waack
Assistant editor

For almost as long as Soldiers and service members have been deploying overseas, civilian workers have been going with them to provide stateside comforts as close to the front lines as possible.

The tradition continues today, and several Fort Leonard Wood AAFES and Family, Morale, Welfare and Recreation workers have gone the distance for the troops.

Jim Figg, FMWR, Community Recreation Division chief departed Fort Leonard Wood on April 4, 2009 and returned Oct. 4.

He went to Iraq for several reasons.

“Supporting Soldiers has been something I have done and thoroughly enjoyed for my entire MWR career,” the 29-year MWR veteran said. “But I wanted to experience and share working with deployed Soldiers. Additionally, the need for MWR personnel to work downrange is ongoing, and I couldn’t ask (others) to volunteer if I wasn’t willing to do it myself.”

This was his first deployment, and Figg was based near the Al Faw Palace, on Victory Base Camp, Baghdad.

“While it was a very trying and challenging experience, it was also very rewarding to see Soldiers have the opportunity to get a brief respite from the rigors of deployment and have some time to relax and have some fun,” Figg said.

For half of the deployment, the MWR director worked 12 hours a day, seven days a week.

“When entertainers were in country, it was not uncommon to work 16 to 20 hours per day, but it was well worth the effort, as the Soldiers loved to have the entertainers visit and perform,” Figg said. “Once the entertainers came into (the) country, it was our job to escort the talent, make all logistical coordination, and assist the entertainers so they could maximize their time with Soldiers. I also served as the military liaison for AAFES, American Forces Network, Stars & Stripes, Red Cross, education centers, and accepted and distributed all donations.

 Army, Air Force Exchange Service employees also serve vital roles in troop support in Iraq and Afghanistan. Michael Newsome, current Starbuck’s manager, deployed in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, with no prior military experience.

“I went to Camp Phoenix, Afghanistan. I was there for eight months, then they pulled me home for a job promotion to open Starbucks,” Newsome said.

He served as a Post Exchange manager for a store that served more than 7,000 troops, close to the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, Newsome said.

Newsome shares his deployment experience with his workers at Fort Leonard Wood, and occasionally sees his overseas customers here, he said.

“I have Soldiers come into Starbucks, and they will look up and say, ‘Oh my God, weren’t you at Camp Phoenix?’ and we will stand and talk. You can be 6,000 miles away and see a Soldier you waited on over there,” Newsome said.

Other AAFES associates have become interested in serving overseas, after hearing about his experience, Newsome said.

“People stop you and ask you, ‘what’s it like, is it like it is on TV?’” Newsome said. “Don’t watch TV, it’s one’s own opinion, once you get there. You just make the best of it. The Soldiers pull you to the (way of thinking) that if they can do it, I can do it.”

Newsome’s is just one of many great AAFES stories, said Ray Emils, Fort Leonard Wood AAFES general manager.

“Here’s a guy who had never been on a military base in his entire life. Now he’s running one of the top Starbucks in all of the military,” Emils said. “And that I think is in large part due to his deployment experience.”

AAFES and its employees downrange provide critical support, Emils said.

“By a (service member) being able to go back to his or her base and have some of the comforts of home, it is a great morale booster and it’s a force multiplier for commanders in the field,” Emils said.

Another post AAFES employee has deployed multiple times and has no reservations about going forward again to serve the troops, she said.

“I went to Kuwait twice and I went to Iraq once,” said Liz Adkins. “Would I do it again? You ‘betcha’ — in a heartbeat.”

Breakout

All civilian deployments are subject to approval by a person’s chain of command

AAFES employees should visit www.AAFES.com to volunteer

FMWR volunteers should call Joe Pottoni, FMWR deployment specialist, 703.681.7226

Dept. of Army civilians can apply for overseas positions at www.cpol.army.mil and typically have return rights to their previous post.