OFFUTT AIR FORCE BASE, Neb. -- The Army & Air Force Exchange Service’s senior enlisted advisor is ensuring Warfighters at Offutt Air Force Base have what they need for readiness, resiliency and lethality.
Air Force Chief Master Sgt. Rich Martinez met with Col. Patrick Kolesiak, 55th Mission Support Group commander; Col. Aaron Gray, 55th Wing deputy commander; and Chief Master Sgt. Adam Clingan, 55th Mission Support Group senior enlisted leader; to gather feedback on how the Exchange can enhance the hard-earned benefit for the Offutt community.
“The Exchange’s presence at Offutt ensures that the Air Combat Command’s largest wing and its Airmen have what they need to make their jobs easier and stay mission ready,” Martinez said. “With Offutt being home to more than 18,000 service members, civilian personnel and dependents, it is an ongoing endeavor to enhance the hard-earned Exchange benefit for this important community.”
Quality-of-Life investments made by the Exchange in the past year include the opening of the Nebraska Veteran Resource Center in October, offering public-facing military, Veteran and dependent support services from a storefront inside the BX.
New restaurants—War Hawk Café and Dock 6—were also added in Bldg 500 and Bldg 457 respectively, giving Airmen and personnel access to quality food no matter where on base they work.
In March, the Exchange partnered with Amazon to bring pickup and return services to the Offutt BX. Without needing to leave base, shoppers can select the main store customer service desk as a convenient pickup location for all eligible Amazon orders as well as a drop-off point for label-free, box-free returns at no additional cost.
Upcoming projects include a 10-year, $828,000 image upgrade to Starbucks scheduled to begin late 2025 which will bring the restaurant up to the latest standards for branding, aesthetics, equipment, seating areas and more.
Offutt AFB shoppers can also enjoy their hard-earned benefit at ShopMyExchange.com. Online shopping privileges are open to all active-duty service members, dependents, retirees, Department of Defense civilians and retirees and honorably discharged Veterans. Veterans can visit https://aafes.media/paveterans to learn more about their shopping benefit while DoD civilians and other CAC holders can visit https://aafes.media/cacbenefitspa.
Shopping at the Exchange directly benefits the military community with 100% of earnings going directly back to installations to support Quality-of-Life improvements and updates to the shopping experience. Offutt shoppers helped generate more than $373,000 for Quality-of-Life programs in 2023.
“The Exchange is all in to work with Offutt leadership and bring the best we can offer to Airmen, their families and all other personnel on base,” Martinez said.