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Old 09-20-2003, 03:42 AM
thedrifter thedrifter is offline
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Cool Cavalry Troops Open Mom & Pop Shop They Call CavMart

Cavalry Troops Open Mom & Pop Shop They Call CavMart

By U.S. Army Master Sgt. David Melancon

BAGHDAD, Iraq ? It is not the biggest retail store in Baghdad, but soldiers wearing every unit patch in the city have shopped at Camp Dragoon?s CavMart.

Set up in a former Iraqi army weapons storeroom, the CavMart boasts shelves stocked with heath care items, personal hygiene supplies, batteries, soft drinks and snacks.

And, coming just in time for the holiday shopping season, there will be a Christmas store stocked with traditional Western holiday gifts and decorations coupled with traditional Iraqi crafts and souvenirs, said store manager Master Sgt. Patrick Sanchez, chemical operations NCO, Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment,

The 2nd ACR, based at Fort Polk, La., is attached to the 1st Armored Division for Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Camp Dragoon?s 900-soldier population makes it too small for the Army and Air Force Exchange Service to set up one of own retail outlets, Sanchez said. Instead, the exchange works with units to support smaller, soldier-managed stores in outlying camps. Soldiers run the stores, pick up merchandise and manage the money.

In addition to meeting soldiers? basic shopping needs, the store had one other requirement. Sanchez said the regiment?s command sergeant major said, ?Make it feel like it was in Des Moines, Iowa.?

?I?m from Kansas. I had it in my mind what I remembered from when I was a kid, Sanchez said.

So the troopers set about to open a store. After a long day?s work of cleaning, removing old ammunition and scrounging around the camp for shelves, the store was ready for its first load of merchandise.

The store?s name came naturally ? they simply picked something that sounded good, he said. The U.S. Cavalry troopers called it CavMart.

? I think now we?ve just about hit it,? he said. ?Our soldiers like coming in here. I have regulars that come in on a daily basis. We try to run it like a little mom and pop shop.?

Conversation and a friendly atmosphere are just as important to the customers as the products on the shelves, he said.

? I think soldiers feel good coming in here. It gives them a feeling of being back home,? he said. ?We always try to keep a happy and cheery atmosphere because we know it is rough out there.?

The five soldier-salespersons, all members of the regimental chemical section, spend one week working in the regiment?s tactical operations center and the next working at the store, Sanchez said.

There is more to running the store than just stocking shelves and running the till, Sanchez said. Supply runs to the main AAFES exchange on Baghdad International Airport start at 5:15 a.m. four days a week. Stocking, inventorying and managing the paperwork can keep soldiers working until 9 p.m.

The store may exist for soldiers? convenience, but it also helps Iraqis, said translator Isameel Al Saffer, one of the store?s primary suppliers. The store resells Iraqi crafts and artwork made by local artisans. That puts money back into the re-emerging Iraqi economy.

?It helps the store get things that are unavailable through AAFES and it makes things good for Iraq,? he said.

Although they did not deploy to work as store associates, members of the chemical section are making a positive difference in soldiers? lives, said Staff Sgt. Aretha Howard. The store is a great morale booster for soldiers. They appreciate efforts to bring in special items and the quality, friendly service.

?I deployed here thinking I was going to be doing great things with WMDs (weapons of mass destruction), she said. ?When I got here, I had to change my thinking a lot. Things here at the CavMart are just as important.?




Master Sgt. Patrick Sanchez, chemical operations NCO, Headquarters and Headquarters Troop, 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment, discusses possible additions to what the store carries with translator Isameel Al Saffer, one of the store?s primary suppliers. Sanchez is the manager of the CavMart, a small store opened by the 2nd ACR troopers at Camp Dragoon in Baghdad.

http://www.defendamerica.mil/article.../a091703c.html

Sempers,

Roger
__________________
IN LOVING MEMORY OF MY HUSBAND
SSgt. Roger A.
One Proud Marine
1961-1977
68/69
Once A Marine............Always A Marine.............

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