The History of the Exchange
Serving the best customers in the world
More than 120 years of serving those who serve
Visit the Exchange flickr page for more history photos
Operation Anakonda 2016, Poland
Photo by Jessy Macabeo
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.
Customers at Fort Yellowstone, Wyo., in one of the earliest post exchanges, late 1800s.
Hover over timeline dates for more facts
1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900
On July 25, 1895, the War Department directed all post commanders to open post exchanges (PXs) at their installations.
1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932
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 at Camp McKinley in the Philippines.
World War I
1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944
Army leaders created the Army Exchange Service to assist with the establishment, coordination and financial support for thousands of post exchanges throughout the world for World War II.
The Army Exchange Service operates 175 PXs throughout Europe.
World War II
1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
The Army Exchange Service operates 175 PXs throughout Europe.
Exchanges open in Tokyo, Yokohama and other major mainland Japanese cities and on 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.
1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958
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
1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975
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
1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994
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 restaurant in Ansbach, Germany.
AAFES begins accepting VISA, MasterCard and Discover 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 attack. 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.
Persian Gulf
1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000
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.
AAFES’ Deferred Payment Program becomes the MILITARY STAR credit program and available to all branches of the armed services.
Bosnia
2001
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.
The federal government creates the U.S. Air Force, and the Army Exchange Service changed its name to the present-day Army and Air Force Exchange Service, otherwise known as AAFES.
2002
The first exchange—a tent—opens in Afghanistan at Kandahar AB. The tent was soon replaced with a building.
2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017
Congress placed the first restrictions on post exchange operations and required the first official justification for military exchanges.
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 Hurricane Katrina. The hurricane destroyed the BX at 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 décor 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 $447 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
The Exchange Today
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Searchable, downloadable database of Exchange history, more than 120 years of Family Serving Family.