Cavalry Troops Open Mom & Pop Shop They Call CavMart [Baghdad]

Defend America ~ DoD ^ | Sept. 17, 2003 | U..S. Army Master Sgt. David Melancon

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

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.

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. 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.”

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

 

 Thanks, Tonkin!

[Ragtime Cowgirl]

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.”

Flyover country, Baghdad!

If you want on or off my pro-Coalition ping list, please Freepmail me. Warning: it is a high volume ping list on good days (most days are good days).

[snippy_about_it]

Thanks RC.

Neat story. Your doing a great job bringing us all the troop news!

[xp38]

Where's Apu?

[mrsmith]

"Cavmart? Is that with a 'C' or a 'K' ?"

Just kiddin'!

[Chad Fairbanks]

Excellent article - GOnna forward this to my dad, who was in the 1st of the 5th, 1st Cav (Airmobile). He'll get a kick out of CavMart :0)

[Normal4me]

[cavtrooper21]

Cavalry Ho!!!!
To "CAVMART" we go!!

Good thing the NCOIC didn't let the reporter look out back...
"wink"

[mattdono]

Kind of reminds me of a quote from a great American, R. Lee Ermey, in the pretty-much lame film "On Deadly Ground", starring that bloated idiot Stephen Seagal.

Anyway, Ermey has one of the best quotes ever:

My guy in D.C. tells me that we are not dealing with a student here, we're dealing with the Professor. Any time the military has an operation that can't fail, they call this guy in to train the troops, OK? He's the kind of guy that would drink a gallon of gasoline so he could piss in your campfire! You could drop this guy off at the Arctic Circle wearing a pair of bikini underwear, without his toothbrush, and tomorrow afternoon he's going to show up at your pool side with a million dollar smile and fist full of pesos. This guy's a professional, you got me?

[mattdono]

R. Lee. A great American.

Drop and gimme 20, you maggot!

[CholeraJoe]

Three Cheers for Capitalism!!!!

Garryowen, Ronnie.

[KevinDavis]

I think we should draft R Lee for President...

[Miss Marple]

"Hey, Kelly! I got a case of Scotch that was supposed to go to the general...."

[Argus]

Bump for getting a CavMart opened in my neighborhood.

[cavtrooper21]

American Soldiers will be American Soldiers...
Even if it isn't anything too bad, you know there's something going on "under the table". Our troops wouldn't Americans if there wasn't.
God bless 'em and Bring 'em home safe!

[mattdono]

I like it.

Interestingly, there have been all kinds of postulations about V.P., Sec. of State, etc. moves lately (here on FR and the media in general).

Maybe R. Lee for Sec of State? I guarantee that the French would be eating the sh*t out of our hand within a month, if R. Lee were at the helm of State.

[mystery-ak]

I hope they open one in Balad at Camp Anaconda...there are 20,000 US troops there....I just sent off a huge pacakage of snacks..Halloween Decorations, Thanksgiving Decorations....now I'll work on Christmas.

[Miss Marple]

I hope you didn't think I meant that as an insult. That is one of my favorite movies, and I love the Don Rickles character.

My dad had all sorts of tales of trades and stuff they did when he was in Italy during WWII. Some really funny stories...which was just about all he would talk about.

[cavtrooper21]

Oh, no, no insult taken.
I spent too many years in the Army to think that all the warm and fuzzy PR crap is the complete tale. I know better.
Them boys is Cav., and that means they ALWAYS have some scam going on, even if it's just a little one.

[TADSLOS]

Wait 'til Wal Mart gets wind of this. They'll be laying a foundation there any day now.