Army and Air Force Exchange Service history

In 1866, they were replaced by post traders, many of whom were just as unscrupulous as the sutlers.

Post Traders, Chattanooga, Tenn., 1871.

In 1889 the United States War Department officially sanctioned the presence of base canteens, and six years later the department issued General Order 46 establishing a system of base exchanges at virtually every military post.

On July 25, 1895, the War Department directed all post commanders to open post exchanges (PXs) at their installations.

United States 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

1919: The abbreviation 'PX' is first used to refer to the Post Exchange, or base store.

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.

1941: Army Exchange Service is created to reorganize the existing PX system.

American GIs at PX in Iceland, location unknown, 1942.

Grand-opening day at the post exchange, Manila, the Philippines, 1945, nine days after the Japanese evacuated the city, March 11, 1945.

The Army Exchange Service becomes the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) after the United States Air Force was created in 1947.

A food wagon from the Berlin Exchange delivers sandwiches and drinks to United States 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.

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.

A Soldier shops at a mobile holiday showroom in Korea set up by the Japan Central Exchange during the Korean War, circa 1951.

During the Korean War in 1952, a service member prepares gifts for American GIs to send home to their loved ones during the holidays.

1960: Overseas exchanges begin selling luxury goods made in the United States.

An AAFES concessionaire gives an American officer a haircut out in the middle of a field during the Vietnam War, circa 1967.

By 1985 AAFES had 6,000 retail outlets and 2,300 food-service establishments.

Sales reached a peak of $7.4 billion in 1990.

Income from this category had totaled $12 million for AAFES in 1995.

Through its catalog service, which went on-line in 1996, AAFES customers can order goods from anywhere in the world.

In 1998 features were added that allowed customers to access their AAFES-affiliated military credit card information on-line, make payments, and receive e-mailed confirmations of payments.

The successful online catalog led Information Week magazine to rank AAFES fourth on its annual 'E-Business 100' list in 1999.

Airmen relax in the AAFES food court at Afghanistan’s Bagram AB, 2003

AAFES provided United States Warfighters with literally everything they needed, as proof of this packed shopping basket at the Bagram AB Exchange, 2005.

Archived from the original on 2007-04-22. http://web.archive.org/web/20070422174222/http://www.aafes.com/pa/factsheet-9.pdf.

In 2009, the new exchange built at Ramstein Air Base in Kaiserslautern, Germany became the largest exchange facility in the world.

In Fiscal Year 2011, the Exchange earned more than $277 million from direct sales (retail, food, and vending/services), finance revenue, and concessions on revenues of $10.3 billion.

Executing the national brand strategy in the main stores resulted in $447 million in sales for the brands, 9 percent more than in 2012.

In 2016-17, Exchange associates and their mobile exchanges followed United States 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.