September 30, 2021
Celebrating 30 Years
By Tamara Eastman, DeCA Historian
n Oct. 1, 1991, the Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) officially took O over the responsibility of providing the commissary benefit to U.S. military members and their families.
As the agency enters its 30th year, DeCA Director and CEO Bill Moore applauded the agency’s legacy of service. “When you think about the enormity of forming this agency you cannot escape the tremendous investment Congress made in DeCA to serve the greatest customers in the world,” Moore said. “Today, that legacy of service drives us to be the military’s grocery provider of choice, reaffirming our commitment to deliver the commissary benefit to as many eligible patrons as possible at the best possible savings directed by Congress.” The commissary benefit began in earnest in 1775 when the Continental Congress established the Office of the Commissary General of Stores and Purchases in order to provide the Continental Army with their daily rations. Officers who were put in charge of subsistence operations were called chief commissaries and their staff members consisted of assistant commissaries and commissary sergeants. In 1825, Army officers at specific posts were allowed to make purchases for their personal use, paying at-cost prices. By 1841, they were also allowed to purchase goods for their immediate families. It wasn’t until 1867, when Army enlisted men were afforded the same atcost purchasing privileges that had already been enjoyed by officers for over 40 years. At the time, any commissary warehouse on any Army post could become a sales location, regardless of whether they were located in a large city or on the frontier. Initially, commissaries were very small and customers handed a list to a clerk behind the counter who filled the list for them. By the 1930s many commissaries were being run in the same fashion as civilian grocery stores. During those days some commissaries were even offering home delivery service for families residing on post. There was a 12-item limit for home deliveries. During World War II, the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corps helped to supply each of the armed services’ commissaries, and by 1948 each individual service ran its own commissaries with differing procedures and systems. The Army ran the Army Troop Support Agency (TSA), the Navy ran the Navy Resale System Support Officer (NAVRESSO), and the Air Force operated the Air Force "DeCA" cont’d on Page 11
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