USAA's Battle Plan

When Staff Sergeant Corey Mason wants to deposit a check, he doesn't use an ATM, a teller at a branch, or even a stamped envelope and deposit slip. Rather, the 37-year-old GPS systems specialist takes a picture of the check with his iPhone, uses an app to send it to his bank, and within minutes the money shows up in his account. Although he's now stationed at Fort Knox, Ky., it's the kind of service Mason knows his fellow troops in Iraq, where he served in 2004, surely appreciate. "The mail over there is extremely slow," he says. "They know what it's like."

By "they," Mason means his bank and insurance company, USAA, which counts military members and their families as the bulk of its clients. But he also means the 23% of USAA's top management and new hires that have served in the military. Says Mason: "It's not every day I get addressed 'sergeant' by a customer service agent."