DeCA Vision Spring 2008 Vol. 17, No. 3 - Commissaries.com

Ain’t we got fun?
Caroline Williams
Corporate communications
Each May, the Defense Commissary Agency and
a coalition of industry partners, who are part of
the American Logistics Association’s Consumer
Awareness Team, hold a competition among
installation single service member programs to see
who can get the most service members into their
respective commissaries for educational tours.
“Commissary Awareness Month is a really fun
way for us to connect with young service members
and teach them about the commissary benefit,” said
Rick Page, DeCA’s chief operating officer, “Program
coordinators work with commissary store directors to
offer tours that include food-eating challenges, and
games like turkey bowling and shopping cart races.”
All programs registered to participate earn
commissary gift certificates. They go on to compete
for “bonus bucks” in first, second and third prizes
within four categories: Army’s Better Opportunities
for Single Soldiers; Single Marine; Air Force’s First
Term Airmen; and Navy Liberty. First Term Airmen
centers participate through sponsorship of their
respective family support centers.
During 2007, the Fort Polk, La., Better
Opportunities for Single Soldiers program won
first place for Army with a whopping 1,214 service
members touring the commissary, while Fort
Eustis, Va., took second and Fort Jackson, S.C.,
third.
For the Single Marine program, Marine
Corps Air Station Miramar, Calif., won
first place. Second place went to the program
at Marine Corps Air Station New River,
N.C., and third place to Marine Corps Base
Quantico, Va.
One First Term Airmen and two Navy
Liberty programs participated in Commissary
Awareness Month. The Naval Station Great
Lakes, Ill., Liberty program took first place and
This Marine at New River Commissary, N.C.,
encourages colleagues chipping potatoes instead
of golf balls to either hit him or achieve a “basketin-one.”
Winning second place in last year’s
Commissary Awareness Month contest, hundreds
of members of the Single Marine Program at
New River participated in early-morning aerobics
followed by store tours and games such as toilet
paper tossing and hamburger cooking. DeCA photo
18 decavision!Spring 2008
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outreachpros
Commissary Awareness Month
informs, rewards military members
Sheppard Commissary, Texas, storeworker Goldie
Kocher, wearing a blue vest, ensures members of the
First Term Airmen Program know the answer to the
en route quiz in the “Great Commissary Race” during
Commissary Awareness Month. DeCA photo: Mike Cox
Naval Air Station Whidbey Island, Wash., took
second. Sheppard Air Force Base, Texas, earned
first place, posting more than 1,500 single airmen
commissary tours.
The BOSS programs at Fort Huachuca, Ariz.,
and Fort Myer, Va., earned honorable mention for
their efforts.
All cash prizes and commissary gift certificates
are provided by the Consumer Awareness Team,
whose members also judge the entries based on
originality, presentation and number of service
member tours.�