NIB — Military Resale Program Interview: Thomas Milks

Assistant Vice President of Channel Management and Resale for the National Industries for the Blind

New Career, New Purpose —

Thomas Milks took more than two decades of experience as a Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) executive to National Industries for the Blind (NIB) and the AbilityOne Program. However, he did not venture too far from goals he successfully pursued throughout his career in the federal government. Today, Milks works with commissaries and exchanges through NIB's multi-million-dollar Military Resale program. In this exclusive interview with EandC News, Milks discusses how continuing to work with commissaries and exchanges in his current role as assistant vice president of Channel Management and Resale for NIB is helping to employ people who are blind/vision impaired, accomplishing this goal through the AbilityOne Program. ...

DeCA Interview: Joseph H. Jeu

Defense Commissary Agency Director and Chief Executive Officer

Toward a New DeCA Model: 'The Commissary Benefit 2020' —

Since becoming director and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) on Jan. 3, 2011, Joseph H. Jeu has taken the reigns of the nearly $6 billion agency and steered it through arguably the largest reorganization in DeCA's history. The agency has emerged leaner, more efficient than ever, and ready to embrace the challenges of the future with exciting new programs and technology.

In this exclusive interview with E and C News, which took place in early March, Jeu reflects on the past year at DeCA's helm, and talks about exciting new DeCA initiatives that have begun to reshape the commissary model for the next decade. ...

AAFES BEER: Wider Choices

The beer category continues to be a strong one for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES). Although the exchange service's overall dollar sales and unit sales for its five beer subcategories decreased slightly during calendar year 2011, several new products — including high-end items — made their debut on store shelves during 2011, or will soon be introduced to pique interest, especially during the always busy summer beverage period.

Category activity was significantly impacted by deployments, and several store closures. A 17.4-percent rise in sales of craft beers, however, did mitigate some of the influence of these factors. David “Kye” Corn, senior beverage buyer responsible for beer in the exchange service's Sales Directorate (SD), reported that cumulative sales of the five subcategories — premium light, imports, premium regular, craft and “all other” — were $204.65 million during calendar year 2011, a 1.5-percent dip from the $207.84 million tallied during prior year. ...

TACTICAL EYEWEAR: Eye Protection's Enduring Message:

Col. David Hilber, USA, Doctor of Optometry, Occupational and Environmental Medicine Portfolio Executive Officer, U.S. Army Public Health Command

Col. David Hilber: “The primary message that we want to convey is the importance of highlighting military combat eye protection and the APEL (Authorized Protective Eyewear List) as the only approved safety eyewear for deployment and training purposes. In the Post and Base exchanges (PX and BX), and other places where it's being sold, it's important to keep them separate from the other products. At Aberdeen PG, Md., they are set on their own stand, they have the APEL poster listed. That's great stuff, and that needs to be reinforced and continued.

It's also important — and I don't know to what extent it is being done — to provide a full selection of the eyewear. If the user is issued one item in RFI (Rapid Fielding Initiative), and for whatever reason, he doesn't like it, he should be able to purchase his own eyewear at the PX, BX, Marine Corps Exchange (MCX) or Navy Exchange (MCX).” ...