New Exchange Makes Life Better for Deployed

[Newfive]

FORWARD OPERATING BASE SHARANA, Afghanistan, Sept. 28, 2007 — Hundreds of soldiers and civilian contractors lined up outside the doors of the Army & Air Force Exchange Service’s new Post Exchange on grand opening day.

"Getting the AAFES PX here in Sharana makes us feel like we are back at home."

Army Staff Sgt. Ian Roberts

“Getting the AAFES PX here in Sharana makes us feel like we are back at home,” said Army Staff Sgt. Ian Roberts. “I no longer have to have my wife send me personal hygiene products.”

Just before the grand opening, the AAFES employees danced around the aisles happily preparing the opening of the shop for the personnel on the base as Perlita Laurel, the PX manger, looked on.

“I came to Afghanistan to help the soldiers the best I can and make their lives easier,” said Laurel, who started working for AAFES in 1979 while her husband was serving in the Army. Originally, the North Shopette manager at Bagram Airfield, Perlita was promoted to PX manager here.

Soldiers agreed that the store provides an improvement to the base and makes their lives easier, stocking everything from candy and snacks to health and beauty supplies, as well as electronics and DVDs.

Opening day sales totalled more than $45,000, Laurel said, in part because soldiers had waited so long for a “real” PX.

Until Sept. 17, 2007, soldiers and contractors relied on an AAFES imprest fund store, a military-operated facility used in remote locations where AAFES-direct-run exchanges cannot be provided.

However, the imprest fund store was only open a few times a month, and could not carry enough merchandise to serve the base’s growing population.

When the leaders of Task Force Rugged decided an AAFES-run PX would better serve everyone, the soldiers of Task Force Rugged went to work to build a store.

Soldiers eagerly wander the aisles of the Army & Air Force Exchange Service’s new store during the Sept. 17, 2007, grand opening at Forward Operating Base Aharan, Afghanistan. First-day sales totalled $45,000, according to the store manager.


Members of the Personal Security Detachment built temporary shelves for both the store and a warehouse that held the merchandise prior to the arrival of AAFES-supplied metal shelves. And communications specialists finished up by helping to set up cash registers, Internet connections, Eagle Cash dispensers and satellites the exchange needed to operate.

“Not only will this PX serve soldiers here on Sharana, it will also serve as a warehouse site for merchandise at remote, smaller bases such as Ghazni, Ghardez and Orgun-E that are closer to FOB Sharana than to Bagram Airfield,” said TFR Command Sgt. Major Frank Busch. “We are trying to help soldiers all over the battlefield.”

[redtanker]

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