•JB ANACOSTIA-BOLLING, Washington, D.C.

For the second time in January 2025, the Army & Air Force Exchange Service Exchange (AAFES) here provided support on short notice, this time to U.S. Coast Guard personnel responding after the fatal collision of an American Airlines passenger flight and an Army Black Hawk helicopter on Wednesday night, Jan. 29.

TEAMWORK

Shortly before 7 a.m. Eastern Time on Thursday, Jan. 30, JBAB Exchange Services Business Manager Kris Cubacub received a message from USCG Sector Maryland requesting food trucks to support roughly 100 personnel working on recovery efforts.

“The contact reached out to me for support at the crash site because earlier this month, the JBAB Exchange provided food truck support for the Coast Guard at President Trump’s inauguration,” Cubacub said. “I said,’ Absolutely. You tell me where and when.’”

Within an hour, Cubacub’s team had secured food trucks to support the Coast Guard personnel. Because access to the recovery work area is limited, only one food truck can serve at a time. The Fly Pizza truck served lunch on Thursday, and the Yaya Trini truck served lunch on Friday, Jan. 31. The Para Hita truck covered both dinner services.

Almost immediately after hearing from the Coast Guard, Cubacub contacted Col. Joanna Wright, deputy commander for the 11th Mission Support Group at JBAB, asking if Air Force personnel working on recovery efforts also needed support.

Cubacub contacted JBAB General Manager (GM) Natalia Meyer, who arranged to have bottled water sent to the Coast Guard and Air Force recovery workers.

Warehouse worker Dominique Welborn and stocker Dion McIntosh from the Westside Express at nearby JB Andrews. Md., helped transport the bottled water to JBAB and then offloaded it at the site.

Bolling AFB Starbucks Manager Michelle Mair provided coffee for the recovery workers. Meyer worked with Red Bull representative Rusty Gilliam to have 20 cases of the energy drink donated at the site.

READINESS, RESILLIENCY

In mid-January, the Bolling Express at JBAB provided fuel for the presidential inauguration fleet.

That exercise was a team effort — but Thursday’s team effort to support crash-recovery workers happened even faster.

“The team showed its readiness and resiliency at a difficult time,” said North East Region Vice President (VP) Amanda Hartfield. “They pulled all assets together quickly to provide support during this heartbreaking disaster.”

Meyer also showed her pride in her team.

“Everybody was on point,” Meyer said. “We provided support within just a few hours. Everyone came together as one team.”

Source: AAFES
Edited by Larry Lapka