THE HISTORY OF THE
EXCHANGE
More than 129 years of serving those who serve
Operation Anakonda 2016, Poland
Photo by Jessy Macabeo
On July 25, 1895, the War Department directed all post commanders to open post exchanges (PXs) at their installations.
The Early Years
Rag-tag sutlers at Petersburg, Va., during the Civil War. Sutlers wandered between military camps, selling their wares to soldiers at often highly inflated prices. In 1866, they were replaced by post traders, many of whom were just as unscrupulous as the sutlers.
Customers at Fort Yellowstone, Wyo., in one of the earliest post exchanges, late 1800s.
A typical post trader’s store, Fort Hays, Kan., 1870s.
Drawing of a typical sutler’s tent, circa 1862.
Post traders, Chattanooga, Tenn., 1871. Post traders, who replaced unscrupulous sutlers, were business owners who paid the War Department for the rights to open their shops on military bases.
In the pre-Exchange days, sutlers traveled from military camp to military camp selling merchandise, often at highly inflated prices. Their existence in America dates back to the French and Indian Wars and Revolutionary War.
A sutler's tent during the Civil War, Brandy Station, Va.
PXs, which operated independently, in the United States prepared 2 million Soldiers for deployment to France for World War I, but civilian agencies had to meet their basic needs once in Europe.
The first documented use of the term "PX" was in the minutes of a post exchange council meeting as Camp McKinley in the Philippines.
World War I
U.S. doughboys relaxing at one of the many post exchanges that were nothing more than tents but contained everything Soldiers wanted, location unknown, 1914.
Soldiers quench their thirsts at a tent PX, Fort Sill, Okla., circa 1918
A typical post exchange operated by a regiment in the United States during World War I.
A typical World War I canteen, probably operated by the American Red Cross, in France for U.S. troops. Canteens and other facilities in Europe for Soldiers were operated by civilian agencies, not the post exchange system from the U.S.
From almost the time the first Model T rolled off the assembly line, post exchanges have operated service stations, like this 1920-era one at Fort Riley, and car care facilities.
Army leaders created the Army Exchange Service to assist with the establishment, coordination and financial support of thousands of post exchanges throughout the world for World War II.
The Army Exchange Service operates 175 PXs throughout Europe.
World War II
American GIs at PX in Iceland, location unknown, 1942. The main Reykjavik PX operated 63 sub-exchanges in some of the most isolated places in the country.
An Army Exchange Service food wagon serves troops on a military exercise at the Presidio of San Francisco, 1942.
GIs relax at Hawaii's Fort Shafter PX, 1943. Post exchanges in Hawaii date back to the Spanish-American War in 1898.
During World War II, literally thousands of post exchanges operated throughout the world, from the smallest South Pacific island to London, England. Pictured, the PX in Noumea, New Caledonia.
GIs kneel outside their bamboo exchange on Guadalcanal Island in the South Pacific.
The Army Exchange Service operates 175 PXs throughout Europe.
Exchanges open in Tokyo, Yokohama and other major mainland Japanese cities and in Okinawa. Soon, nearly 200 PXs and 198 soda fountains, snack bars, bowling alleys and garages were operating in the country.
The Army Exchange Service operates 1,450 facilities in the U.S. zone of Germany and Austria, including 260 PXs, 19 breweries, 19 soft-drink plants, 52 ice-cream plants, 257 snack bars, 192 soda fountains.
The Army Exchange Service becomes the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) after the U.S. Air Force was created in 1947.
Post-World War II
Two months after the Japanese surrender ceremony on board the U.S.S. Missouri, the first PXs in Japan opened in Tokyo, followed by PXs in Yokohama, Osaka and elsewhere. Pictured, the post exchange at Japan’s Camp Zama.
The post exchange at Wiesbaden, Germany, 1949. Exchanges opened throughout Germany and Japan to serve thousands of troops and their families who were relocating to the countries to help repair the war damage.
The exchange in Yokohama, Japan. Exchanges opened throughout Japan and Germany to serve thousands of troops and their families who were relocating to the countries to help repair the war damage.
American GIs grab drinks and snacks from an exchange food wagon during military exercises in Germany, early 1950s. Exchanges served such exercises as the Cold War with the Soviets began hitting a fever pitch.
A food wagon from the Berlin Exchange delivers sandwiches and drinks to U.S. pilots participating in the Berlin Airlift, the first major Cold War face-off with the Soviets, 1948-49.
Waitresses and managers at an exchange restaurant along the Frankfurt Autobahn in Germany, 1949.
Grand-opening day at the post exchange, Manila, the Philippines, 1945, nine days after the Japanese evacuated the city, March 11, 1945. By April 45 exchanges were operated throughout the country.
One of the many diners operated by AAFES-Europe along the German Autobahn, 1949.
With help from AAFES, the Japan Central Exchange begins supplying PX items to deployed U.S. forces in Korea at the start of the Korean War.
Exchanges at McGuire AFB and Camp Kilmer, N.J., serve 15,000 Hungarian refugees entering the U.S. to flee persecution in their homeland.
Korean War
A Soldier shops at a mobile holiday showroom in Korea set up by the Japan Central Exchange during the Korean War, circa 1951. Operation Santa Claus allowed troops in Korea to order gifts for families and friends. Volunteers in Japan wrapped and mailed the gifts.
American GIs in a mountainous region of South Korea receive their PX rations delivered to them by a mobile exchange during the Korean War, 1950.
From its headquarters in Yokohama, the Japan Central Exchange delivered tons of merchandise purchased through AAFES to post exchanges in Korea, including Soldiers in the field who got goods delivered to them via helicopter.
During the Korean War in 1952, a service member prepares gifts for American GIs to send home to their loved ones during the holidays. AAFES and the Japan Central Exchange renovated 18 school buses like the one pictured into mobile stores that travelled throughout Korea.
The main PX in Seoul, South Korea, during Korean War, 1952.
AAFES begins selling automobiles overseas in a deal with American Motors Corp. Soon, Chrysler, General Motors and Fords were added.
During the Cuban missile crisis, AAFES ratchets up support for thousands of U.S. troops deployed to Florida.
AAFES assumed operations of PXs in Vietnam from the Navy as hundreds of thousands of American combat troops were readying for deployment to the country. AAFES operated more than 300 major retail facilities, 1,500 food outlets and 2,500 concessions during the war.
With mobile food canteens, AAFES serves hundreds of Soldiers deployed to Detroit for the worst race riot in U.S. history. AAFES also served troops at civil disturbances in Chicago and Washington.
AAFES begins closing PXs in Vietnam after President Nixon announced major troop withdrawals from the country.
The last of AAFES' associates in Vietnam are among thousands of Americans airlifted by Marines out of the country just before the fall of Saigon. They began emergency services at Clark AB in the Philippines for evacuees who arrived there.
Vietnam War
An AAFES concessionaire gives an American officer a haircut out in the middle of a field during the Vietnam War, circa 1967.
AAFES’ “little white school bus,” as troops called it, parked on China Beach near Da Nang, South Vietnam. U.S. troops needing a break from war would take their R&R on the beach and get their food and drinks from the bus.
An example of the breadth of concession services AAFES offered U.S. troops in Vietnam. More than 2,500 concessionaires, mostly Vietnamese, offered everything from alternations to watch repairs.
The Freedom Hill exchange in Da Nang, South Vietnam, one of the world’s largest post exchanges, circa 1967.
The exchange in the Cholon neighborhood of Saigon during the Vietnam War, at the time the world's largest exchange. The Vietnamese once used the building as a cigarette factory.
AAFES operated more than 300 major retail facilities; nearly 1,500 food outlets, from restaurants to food wagons; and more than 2,500 concessions from 1965-1975 in Vietnam.
AAFES' first solar-powered shopping center opened at Randolph AFB, Texas.
In Germany, AAFES-Europe supports the 52 American hostages recently released by Iran from the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.
AAFES sets up exchanges in Grenada and Barbados to serve U.S. troops that had invaded Grenada.
Burger King becomes the first national brand fast-food company to join the AAFES family, opening its first restaurants in Ansbach, Germany.
AAFES begins accepting VISA, MasterCard and Discoer credit cards.
AAFES awards the largest pay telephone contract in AT&T's history, covering 17,500 phones on 139 Army and Air Force installations in 45 states.
AAFES deploys emergency mobile exchanges to Yellowstone National Park to serve Soldiers and Marines battling ravaging forest fires.
AAFES supports 24,000 U.S. troops deploying to Panama to protect military installations in the country that Panamanian dictator Noriega had threatened to attach. Noriega was subsequently forced from power.
Dozens of AAFES associates deploy to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to serve U.S. forces in Operation Desert Shield/Storm. AAFES operated 17 facilities and established 152 field exchanges.
The successful overseas Deferred Payment Plan was expanded to the continental United States--and eventually evolved into today's MILITARY STAR credit program.
Operation Desert Shield/Storm
U.S. troops line up at a Baskin-Robbins ice cream truck in Saudi Arabia, 1991. Baskin-Robbins was one of many concessionaires that helped AAFES serve troops during the conflict.
U.S. Soldiers look for merchandise outside an AAFES mobile exchange in Saudi Arabia, 1991.
A typical AAFES exchange in Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, 1991.
U.S. troops ruffle through merchandise in front of an AAFES mobile exchange in Kuwait, 1991.
From just three small stores in Saudi Arabia, AAFES quickly built an entire exchange and distribution system to support more than a half-million troops deployed to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
U.S. troops queue up in front of the main PX in Saudi Arabia, 1991.
AAFES opens dozens of exchanges, restaurants and concessions in Bosnia, Kosovo, Croatia, Hungary and other Eastern European countries to serve a NATO peacekeeping mission, which included 20,000 American troops.
AAFES launches its website, www.aafes.com, which evolves into today's ShopMyExchange.com.
Large screen TVs begin arriving at Exchanges in the United States after the House Armed Services Committee changed the regulations governing what products AAFES could sell.
AAFES' Deferred Payment Program becomes the MILITARY STAR credit program and available to all branches of the armed services.
The Balkans
At Bosnia’s Camp Tuzla, Actor Arnold Schwarzenegger joins Exchange associates at the premiere of his movie, Collateral Damage, 2002.
AAFES associates from the U.S. and Europe pose in front of the exchange at Kosovo’s Camp Bondsteel, circa 1996.
The PX at Kosovo’s Camp Bondsteel, 1998.
A tent PX in Hungary, 1997. Post exchanges in the Balkans came in all shapes and sizes, from tents to brick-and-mortar stores to aluminum structures to simply the back of trucks.
In the mid-1990s, AAFES opened hundreds of facilities in Bosnia, Kosovo, Croatia, Hungary and other eastern European countries to serve American forces that were part of a much larger NATO peacekeeping mission to the Balkans.
A U.S. Soldier returns from a post exchange in Bosnia with a sack of personal necessities, 1996.
On 9/11, AAFES associates set up mobile field exchanges on the grounds of the Pentagon and the World Trade Center to serve thousands of first-responders to the terrorist attacks. Almost as soon as the combat boots were on the ground in Afghanistan, AAFES had opened hundreds of retail facilities in 10 Southwest Asian and Middle Eastern countries for U.S. Warfighters.
9/11
With mobile field exchanges staffed around the clock, AAFES served thousands of first responders to the 9/11 terrorist attacks at the Pentagon and World Trade Center.
Steve Williams, in red, general manager at the time at Brooklyn’s Fort Hamilton, serves National Guard members from a mobile PX stationed at Battery Park, a congregation point for troops on the day of the 9/11 terror attacks.
A Soldier gets aspirin from an AAFES mobile field exchange at the Pentagon on the day of the 9/11 terror attacks.
Steve Williams, center, general manager at Brooklyn’s Fort Hamilton, makes hungry National Guard members happy with snacks after they had worked around the clock at the World Trade Center.
A military police officer is one of the dozens filing in to the AAFES mobile field exchange on the grounds of the Pentagon to get personal necessities. The view of the blackened hull of the building is visible out of the door.
The first exchange--a tent--opens in Afghanistan at Kandahar AB. The tent was soon replaced with a building.
Afghanistan
Airmen relax in the AAFES food court at Afghanistan’s Bagram AB, 2003
Grand opening day at the Camp Warrior Exchange on the huge Bagram AB, 2014.
AAFES provided U.S. Warfighters with literally everything they needed, as proof of this packed shopping basket at the Bagram AB Exchange, 2005.
A CH-40, Chinook, helicopter rests briefly on the landing zone of a remote fire base out side of Gereshk, Afghanistan, on Nov. 14, 2003. Soldiers of the 10th Mountain Forward Support Battalion assist with the downloading of gear, belonging to civilian contractors who have come to install high speed internet service to the fire base. (U.S. Army photo by Spc. Isaac Scruggs) (Released)
Almost as soon as the combat boots were on the ground, AAFES opened hundreds of facilities throughout Southwest Asia and the Middle East to serve American Warfighters battling the Taliban in Afghanistan.
On Christmas Eve, the exchange at Afghanistan's Bagram AB opened to great fanfare and intense international media coverage. In Iraq, AAFES sets up dozens of retail facilities for U.S. Warfighters who ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein from power.
AAFES associates deploy to Mississippi and New Orleans to serve National Guard members helping residents recover from Hurrican Katrina. The hurricane destroyed the BX as Keesler AFB, Miss., but associates kept a mini-mall open so customers could buy necessities. In New Orleans, associates staffed a mobile field exchange from September through December.
AAFES introduces more nationally recognized brands to its stores with Bassett furniture, Coach handbags, and Martha Stewart Collection of bed and bath textiles, housewares, dinnerware, glassware, cookware, home decor and gifts.
AAFES opens the world's two largest exchanges-at Ramstein AB's Kaiserslautern Military Community Center and at Okinawa's Kadena AB.
AAFES opens the 492,000 square foot, open-air Freedom Crossing at Fort Bliss, the first Main Street-type shopping village on an Army or Air Force installation.
Veteran retail executive Tom Shull is named the Exchange's first civilian director/chief executive officer. The Department of Defense had changed the Exchange's top position from one occupied by an Army or Air Force major general to one filled by a civilian.
The Exchange opens 424 store-in-store concept shops featuring top name brands. Executing the national brand strategy in the main stores resulted in $47 million in sales for the brands, 9 percent more than in 2012.
The Exchange had more than $186 million in contingency retail sales supporting military operations in Afghanistan, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Kuwait, Bosnia, Kosovo, Jordan and Romania.
Exchange celebrates its 120th year of serving those who serve.
Exchange associates deploy to the tip of the spear in Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Romania, Korea, Japan and elsewhere to serve U.S. troops and multinational forces engaged in military readiness exercises.
The Exchange gained concurrence from the Department of Defense to allow all honorably discharged Veterans to shop online at ShopMyExchange.com, starting on Veterans Day, 2017.
OEF/OIF
A blast wall painted with the Exchange logo at Qatar’s Al Adeid AB, one of several locations for U.S. Warfighters fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom, 2010.
U.S. warfighters at Iraq’s Camp Victory leave the PX/BX with bags full of personal necessities.
Since the 9/11 terror attacks, more than 4,500 associates, such as those pictured, have deployed voluntarily to Southwest Asia and the Middle East to serve troops. Some associates deployed as many as five times.
A U.S. Solder at Iraq’s Camp Fluery shows the sackful of personal necessities he brought at a mobile PX at his installation.
Starting in 2003, AAFES opened hundreds of retail facilities throughout Iraq and the Middle East to serve American forces in Iraq, including this one near the ruins of ancient Babylon ruler King Nebuchadnezzar.
Troops line up at the PX at Iraq’s Tallil AB just after it opened. Before the PX was build, two associates served troops from the back of an Army Toyota Land Cruiser.
The Exchange of today brings the most popular name brands to customers in concept shops, such as this one devoted to Apple computers, 2014.
The growing presence of Boston Markets in Exchange food courts symbolized the Defense Department’s largest retailer’s efforts to expand the number of brand-name restaurants that have better-for-you options for Soldiers, Airmen and their families.
An artist rendering of the mammoth shopping complex the Exchange was expected to open in late 2017 at the tip of the spear at Camp Humphreys, South Korea. Thousands of American troops and their families were being re-deployed from throughout South Korea to Camp Humphreys.
Grand-opening day at Virginia’s 270,000-square-foot Fort Belvoir Exchange, the latest, modern military shopping mall in the Exchange family, 2013. Definitely not your father and grandfather’s PX of years ago.
The night silhouette of the main entrance to the Freedom Crossing shopping center at Fort Bliss, Texas. 2012. Opened in 2010, the Main Street-type shopping and entertainment complex was the first of its kind on an Army or Air Force installation.
On Veterans Day 2017, all honorably discharged veterans, regardless of their years of service, began shopping online at ShopmyExchange.com and the websites of other military exchanges. The Department of Defense changed the shopping eligibility policy in January 2016.
In 2016-17, Exchange associates and their mobile exchanges followed U.S. troops to the tip of the spear in Poland, the Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, South Korea and Japan to serve multi-national forces in military exercises.
When a new U.S. military installation opens at the tip of the spear, the Exchange is sure to be close behind. Soon after Prince Sultan Air Base opened in Saudi Arabia in July, the Exchange began bringing rodeos—box trucks fitted with Exchange merchandise—a few times a week to the troops there, while working toward opening a larger retail location. On Dec. 19, the Exchange did just that: open a store in a 4,000-square-foot tent.
On Nov. 14, 2018, the Exchange opened an MFE at Base Camp Donna in South Texas for border support operations. Installation commanders ordered the MFE four days before. Another had opened a few weeks before to serve troops at Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz., also engaged in border operations.
From just three small stores in Saudi Arabia, AAFES quickly built an entire exchange and distribution system to support more than a half-million troops deployed to Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.
CAC Expansion in-store, May 1, 2021
Exchange Today
Troops enter an MFE the Exchange set up at the tip of the spear in Poland to provide food, snacks, drinks, personal hygiene items to Soldiers engaging in military exercises along the border with Russia.
Exchange sponsors Army Navy Game
On New Year’s Day 2020, the Exchange welcomed home more than 4.1 million disabled Veterans and certain caregivers. The tax-free shopping privilege expanded to all Veterans with service-connected disabilities; Purple Heart recipients; former POWs; and certain primary caregivers. Before the expansion, only Veterans with 100% service-connected disabilities could shop in person.
Drivers line up to the Fort Buchanan Exchange gas pumps after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake struck Puerto Rico on Jan. 7, 2020. Many associates at the Fort Buchanan and Camp Santiago Exchanges and Puerto Rico Distribution Center came to work after the quake struck even though their own homes were without power.
In April 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Exchange launched its Facebook Live series “Chief Chat,” to boost morale and foster connections for the military community. Hundreds of military leaders and top celebrities have joined the show, including Mark Wahlberg, Matthew McConaughey, Garth Brooks, Chief Master Sgt. of the Air Force JoAnne Bass and many more.
In early April 2020, the Exchange responded to a request for a mobile field Exchange (MFE) in New York City, at the time the U.S. epicenter of the COVID-19 pandemic. Eight associates from the Fort Hamilton and West Point Exchanges volunteered to staff the “store on wheels,” to support the 3rd Expeditionary Sustainment Command Soldiers, National Guard members and civilian medical personnel on the front lines of the pandemic.
On Feb. 1, 2021, the first PX in the Baltic States opened, serving troops with the 2nd Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment at the Pabrade Training Area in Lithuania. After a command request for a PX to support the troops, a small Exchange team converted an empty office container into a store in six days.
The Exchange achieved a goal of hiring 50,000 Veterans and military spouses when Caitlynn Kelly, an Air Force spouse, joined the Exchange team in August 2021 as a customer experience associate at the Grand Forks Air Force Base Express. The Exchange has set a new goal of hiring a total of 75,000 Veterans/spouses by 2030.
Extraordinarily cold temperatures the week of Feb. 14, 2021, caused pipes to burst at the Exchange’s Dallas headquarters, leading to catastrophic flooding on the second and first floors of the north building. Nearly 17,000 square feet was damaged during the worst winter storm in Dallas in 100 years. IT and Real Estate teammates heroically saved the data center, the heartbeat of the organization, by sweeping water away from crucial electrical equipment.
On April 15, 2021, a new era of shopping was launched at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston as the Exchange formally opened its $54 million, 210,000-square-foot shopping center, the post’s first new shopping center in 50 years. The shopping center is a joint venture among the Exchange, the Air Force and Army Medical Command, with the Exchange—not taxpayers—funding most of the project.
On May 1, 2021, Department of Defense and Coast Guard civilians were granted in-store shopping access to Exchanges, following a change in Department of Defense policy. In October of the same year, DoD and Coast Guard civilians were granted access to tax-free online shopping at ShopMyExchange.com. This marked the third time since 2017 that the Exchange’s shopping base has grown. In January 2020, all Veterans with service-connected disabilities were welcomed back to the installation to shop in person. On Veterans Day 2017, all honorably discharged Veterans were welcomed home to shop tax free at ShopMyExchange.com.
In July 2021, when at-risk Afghan civilians and their families began arriving at U.S. military installations and staging points worldwide, the Exchange provided comfort as they headed to new homes in the U.S. under Operation Allies Welcome. Support took many forms as the Exchange served more than 80,000 Afghan guests over the course of about 14 months.
The Exchange began rolling out the DoorDash delivery service to Army and Air Force installations such as Fort Sill (pictured) in July 2021. In August 2022, the service was added at Express stores in select installations. Adding DoorDash is one of many examples of the Exchange working to improve quality of life for those who live and work on military installations.
On July 15, 2021, a $13.2 million, 82,250-square-foot renovated shopping center opened at U.S. Army Garrison Italy in Vicenza, Italy. The renovation, a joint project among the Exchange, Army and Department of Public Works, is the largest investment the Exchange has made in Vicenza.
The Exchange launched high-quality branded fuel at Express gas stations in November 2021, when Fort Hood’s Clear Creek Express became the first to dispense Valero-branded fuel. This kicked off an initiative to bring branded fuel to more than 180 Express gas stations in the Continental United states. Depending on their location stations dispense Valero-, BP-Amoco or Marathon-branded fuel. Branded fuel improves the Exchange’s already-secure supply chain, enhancing support of military communities during emergencies and disasters.
On Nov. 19, 2021, the Exchange unveiled its new Korea Distribution Center and bakery at U.S. Army Garrison Humphreys. The 255,800-sqaure-foot facility, which serves Exchanges throughout the Pacific, replaced a distribution center and bakery that operated out of a complex of nine buildings for more than 45 years.
At the 122nd Army Navy-Game, on Dec. 11, 2021, Exchange Director/CEO Tom Shull (right) presented former U.S. National Security Advisor Robert “Bud” McFarlane with the inaugural Quality-of-Life Force Multiplier Award. McFarlane was a staunch advocate for extending a lifelong online shopping benefit to honorably discharged Veterans at ShopMyExchange.com. The award honors those who have made significant contributions to Warfighters and their families. McFarlane died May 12, 2022, five months after receiving the award.
