DALLAS – Across the globe, associates at the Army & Air Force Exchange Service’s retail stores and restaurants embody the organization’s core value of “family serving family.” But even associates who don’t typically work directly with military shoppers still exemplify this core value at the very heart of the Exchange’s mission. 

Jutta Peterson, a contingency operations specialist in Human Resources at the Exchange’s headquarters in Dallas, recently put “family serving family” into action by helping a Soldier  get a last-minute passport for her daughter before a permanent-change-of-station move to Korea.

Peterson is a certified military passport agent at the Exchange, and she’s able to process and receive passports designed for official military travel. This summer, she received a call from chief of the Department of Defense’s Passport and Visa Office in Virginia.

“The chief contacted me, asking for help,” Peterson said. “The Soldier was assigned to Fort Sill, but was staying in the Dallas-Fort Worth area because of a family emergency. The Soldier was PCS’ing to Korea with her teenage daughter in just days. Her daughter’s passport was processed at the last minute, and the DoD needed to get it to her in the fastest way possible.”

Military passports must be delivered to military passport agents—they can’t be sent to home addresses, Peterson said. Instead of having the document sent to the military passport agent at Fort Sill, Okla.—roughly three hours away from Dallas-Fort Worth—Peterson told the passport chief that she’d handle receiving the paperwork at the Exchange’s headquarters. 

“I said, ‘No problem! I’m happy to help her get the passport, instead of having her driving all the way to Fort Sill,” Peterson said. 

The day before the flight to Korea, the Soldier and her daughter met Peterson at Exchange headquarters, and she handed off the passport. 

“The Soldier didn’t know the Exchange even had a passport agent,” Peterson said. “She thanked me very much—she was very happy.”

Arna Yarbrough, the Exchange’s chief of career assignments and Peterson’s supervisor, praised her willingness to alleviate a stressful situation for a military member.

“Knowing that Jutta has eased a burden for a Soldier warmed my heart,” Yarbrough said. “Her actions speak straight to the heart of our core value of ‘family serving family.’”

For Peterson, her helpfulness is just part of her nature.

“I try to be as helpful as I can,” Peterson said. “I’ll do what I can to help anybody.”  

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 The Army & Air Force Exchange Service goes where Soldiers, Airmen and their families go to improve the quality of their lives through goods and services provided. Exchange earnings provide dividends to support military morale, welfare and recreation programs. The Exchange is part of the Department of Defense and is directed by a Board of Directors, responsible to the Secretaries of the Army and Air Force through the Chiefs of Staff.  To find out more about the Exchange history and mission or to view recent press releases please visit our Web site at http://www.aafes.com/about-exchange/public-affairs/press-releases.htmor follow us on Twitter at https://twitter.com/ExchangePAO.

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 Media Notes:

 For more information or to schedule an interview with an Exchange representative please contact Julie Mitchell, 214-312-3327 or [email protected]

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2015 at 12:00 and is filed under Press Release. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.