May-Jun 2010.indd - Commissaries.com

24 decavision 2010�Vol. 19, No. 3
Valued employees
Hiring process made easy with expert guidance
Nancy O’Nell
DeCA West public affairs officer
Slater Wristen, a valued member of
Fort Worth Commissary, Texas,
when it opened March 25, 2008, could
be considered somewhat of a “charter”
employee of the store. One of 62 employees for
the Army, Air Force and Exchange Service who
transferred to DeCA in 2008, he also worked on
the team that converted the former AAFES BXMart
into a new commissary.
Wristen, who has a hearing impairment and
reads lips to communicate with customers and
staff, lost his right foot in
an accident when he was 8,
and he has cerebral palsy. He
says he enjoys working at the
commissary and has been in
the retail grocery business
for 15 years. “I like stocking
produce, and I enjoy helping
customers,” he said.
Slater’s disability doesn’t
affect his ability to perform
his job, according to Store
Director Sam Tresenriter.
“Slater has been a crackerjack
employee since day one,” he
said. “He is energetic, knows
his job and is dependable. I
wish I had more employees
like him.”
Given his positive
experiences with Wristen,
when Tresenriter had a
store associate vacancy, he
jumped at the chance to hire
an individual with targeted
Slater Wristen DeCA photo: Sam Tresenriter
disability, or IWTD. He found
the hiring process easy because
there were many people within
and outside of DeCA willing to
help him find the right person
for the job.
“It was easy, because we
had clear direction from
headquarters on what
disabilities fit in the IWTD
Sam Tresenriter
category under the program,”
said Tresenriter. “Claudie
Grant and John Bragg pretty much walked us
through it. Every time we sent an e-mail, Claudie