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Joining the Air Force Exchange Service

"...in the military you have to write everything down."

"I started out in the services—not in the retail side of the house.

I was in the services department. I first of all started in plans and headquarters. Later on I got into the field in services. So I had two careers at first. I spent a number of years in the plans department, and that was writing plans. You know, in the military you have to write everything down.

But then later on, I once again got tired of that and wanted to get into operations. So I got into services. And the services side ran the garages, the beauty shops, the barber shops, the concessions, and several other things as well. We had the contract for the truck rental. You know, we had a contract with U-Haul.

That was one of the things I handled. And of course they’re always moving the troops around. There was a lot of business for truck rental. A lot of soldiers moved themselves."

Editor's Note: After immigrating to the United States, Davies joined the Air Force Exchange Service, which regulated retail commerce for the military. This job took him to Nuremberg, Germany before he returned to the United States.

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