Exploring AAFES with Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Luis Reyes

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Luis Reyes Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Luis Reyes is the Senior Enlisted Advisor for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (Exchange) headquartered in Dallas, Texas. In this capacity, he serves as the focal point for communications between Exchange leadership and Army and Air Force active duty, Guard, Reserve, family members and retired patrons. He travels to Army and Air Force installations worldwide to present updates on Exchange activities and provides feedback on issues affecting customers. The Exchange is a non-appropriated fund entity of the Department of Defense. Established in 1895, the Exchange today is the 61st largest retail organization in the U.S. With annual revenue of $8.6 billion, the Exchange employs approximately 35,000 associates, including military personnel. In 2017, the Exchange produced $376 million in earnings, all reinvested into the military community.

Luis Reyes- Experience in the Air Force

Luis has been serving for 21 years.  He is in communication career field and started off in Oklahoma City as a Tactical Telephone Switch, then to Camp Humphreys in same type of job, next to Aviano Air Base where he worked in a comm center.  Luis also did a couple of Embassy tours in Turkey working in comms and then headed to Spain. Everything in his whole career has dealt with communication.

“It has adapted, with cyber and the whole landscape of the internet has drastically changed.” – Luis Reyes

We Go Where You Go

At AAFES, Luis is the focal point between the civilian leadership and the customer base. From active duty to veterans, he is there to provide feedback that he gets from the field.  Luis works at command fields to make sure they have what they need to serve the greatest military in the world. From online services, to hiring employees with military connections AAFES is there to take care of its customers wherever they are.

“When you’re overseas, you want that taste of home and AAFES brings that.” – Luis Reyes

Employees Volunteer to Deploy and Serve

Luis is most proud of the 4,500 members from the Exchange that have deployed to go down range.  These are volunteers and they want to be there to serve and take care of the customers. 85% of AAFES  employees have a military connection.

“Every time I hear that I get goosebumps, I get excited to know that they want to be there to serve and take care of our service members.” – Luis Reyes

To hear more from Luis Reyes and how AAFES serves our military community, download this episode.

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Luis Reyes links:

LinkedIn

Exchange Website

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Sponsor

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