# AAFES concessions to close in Afghanistan



## Teufel (Feb 6, 2010)

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/02/military_AAFES_afghanistan_mcchrystal_020510w/'

Most Army and Air Force Exchange Service concessions serving U.S. troops in Afghanistan will be closed within 90 days under an order issued Feb. 5 by Gen. Stanley McChrystal, the top U.S. commander in that war zone.

McChrystal’s “fragmentary order,” known as a FRAGO, follows a review of morale, welfare and recreation activities in Afghanistan during which base and unit commanders completed a 60-day assessment and submitted impact statements and recommendations for closure or relocation of AAFES facilities.

I see this as a very good thing.  I never had any of that crap when I was in Afghanistan and I was no worse off for it.  A PX would have been nice though.


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## Teufel (Feb 6, 2010)

View attachment 11521

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## LimaOscarSierraTango (Feb 6, 2010)

Keep some sort of PX, get rid of the stupid shops and fast food trailers.  Good call!


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## Marauder06 (Feb 6, 2010)

I hope they mean the DQ and Pizza Hut and BK... I liked having a PX to get things like soap and toothpaste and the occasional Monster lo-cal.


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## 0699 (Feb 6, 2010)

Field PX is nice to have (toothpaste, tobacco, etc), but some of 'em were crazy.

And BK needs to go...


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## AWP (Feb 6, 2010)

This is kind of funny since they just relocated several of them on Bagram.


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## racing_kitty (Feb 6, 2010)

Given, I still have not managed to come down on orders to Afghanistan, but from talking to friends of mine who have been deployed there in various capacities, the fast food concession stands have gotten out of hand.  VBC in Iraq is/was the same way.  Most of the fast food kiosks there are just pale imitations of the real stuff that we all left behind in the States.

I do have to say though (knowing full well that this is highly hypocritical) that I would shed a tear if they took away my Green Bean.  If it has to go, it has to go, but I'll miss it so.  Everything else.....meh.


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## JustAnotherJ (Feb 6, 2010)

Considering they're trying to open a fuckin Chili's in Kandahar...i say go for it!  Let all those fat fucks lose some weight.  have the necessities (tobacco, monsters, protein, & toiletries) but lose bullshit.


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## BLACKMags (Feb 6, 2010)

Just, Your avatar is the SHIT! I wonder if the suicide rates are going to go up from them closing down all of this stuff ? The damn fobbits are going to lose it !


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## JJ sloan (Feb 6, 2010)

There's no fucking PX where we are... I say close 'em down.  This military is full of pussies!  This is the only decision by McChrystal that I can get behind.  Necessities should be furnished by the military anyway.  Why the hell should we be paying for toothpaste?  Energy drinks and tobacco should be up to the individual to have shipped over.  Pizza and hamburgers... really?  WTF?


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## Diamondback 2/2 (Feb 6, 2010)

I agree my first deployment to Iraq was done with a once in a few months (if we were lucky) trip to BIAP where we would stop by the "Big" PX and get what ever we wanted. Soap, tooth brush and cig's were mailed by my family.


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## Marauder06 (Feb 6, 2010)

I'd rather have GEN M. shut down the superfluousness like "Salsa Night" and the "Pajama Jammie Jam" (yes, I actually saw an advertisement for that at a chow how in Mosul back in 2004).  I think those things cause more problems than the BK.


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## Scotth (Feb 6, 2010)

JJ sloan said:


> There's no fucking PX where we are... I say close 'em down. This military is full of pussies! This is the only decision by McChrystal that I can get behind. Necessities should be furnished by the military anyway. Why the hell should we be paying for toothpaste? Energy drinks and tobacco should be up to the individual to have shipped over. Pizza and hamburgers... really? WTF?


 
Absolutely :)


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## DA SWO (Feb 6, 2010)

I have mixed feelings on this.  The Hq bases have become too comfortable, but the chow halls (at least where I have been) are not 24 x 7 affairs.  Starbucks/BK/Pizza Slut gave me someplace to go when I missed chow.  I agree with marauder that salsa night and pajama night probably cause more problems then BK orStarbucks.

Gen McC better follow up with 24 x 7 dining facilities.


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## 7point62 (Feb 6, 2010)

The enemy is up there, lean and hard and gritty like the rocks, in the cold, eating rice balls or sheeps eyes or whatever the hell it is he eats, thinking about ways to fuck you up. He thinks most Americans are soft fat pussies who rely on smart bombs and robot planes. Deprivation hardens a man, luxury makes him weak and useless.


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## HoosierAnnie (Feb 6, 2010)

7point62 said:


> . Deprivation hardens a man, luxury makes him weak and useless.


 
But don't you think this is more a function of the man himself.  I mean, take most of you guys on here,  I don't think a sudden inheritance would decrease how you would act.


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## 7point62 (Feb 6, 2010)

HoosierAnnie said:


> But don't you think this is more a function of the man himself.  I mean, take most of you guys on here,  I don't think a sudden inheritance would decrease how you would act.


 

Yes. I think most of the guys on here are people who train hard, try to stay lean and reject soft living...by choice and habit. But when America goes to war it turns it into an industry. It brings along all kinds of superfluous bullshit to keep the troops happy, it tries to bring the hometown main drag along with it. You don't need all this crap. It makes a bad impression on the locals, it confirms what the enemy thinks about Americans and it dulls the edge of people who are not self disciplined.


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## Viper1 (Feb 6, 2010)

JAJ, I like the order of your priorities :) tobacco up front!


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## AWP (Feb 6, 2010)

SOWT said:


> I have mixed feelings on this.  The Hq bases have become too comfortable, but the chow halls (at least where I have been) are not 24 x 7 affairs.  Starbucks/BK/Pizza Slut gave me someplace to go when I missed chow.  I agree with marauder that salsa night and pajama night probably cause more problems then BK orStarbucks.
> 
> Gen McC better follow up with 24 x 7 dining facilities.



They already do, sort-of. 4 hot meals a day with a sandwich bar in betwen the meals where you can grab a to-go box with whatever sandwich you make.

HOWEVER....

You have to be a uniformed service member too use this (of any nation). Contractors and DoD civilians (regardless of nationality) are not authorized the sandwich bar and are not authorized to go boxes. We have different hours at the PX as well.
----
Closing the little shops isn't a bad idea, but I think it is only one part of the problem. Where's the initiative to prune the fobbits off of places like BAF or KAF? "Combat down days" or "low battle-rythym days" for office workers? Yes, it happens. The war may be 24/7 but for our fobbits it is a 12-hour a day, 6 day a week struggle. I get probably 5-7 emails a week from the "Camp Cunningham Marketing Manager" (no shit) advertising movie night, Texas Hold 'Em, Bingo, etc. The gym on Cunningham has something like 6 or 7 contractors to clean up and pass out towels. They don't teach classes, they pass out freaking towels and make you sign in at the front desk. (nor do they wash their hands after taking a dump, but I digress....)

Closing the shops is only part of a solution, IMO, and unless other issues are addressed this won't really solve anything.


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## Diamondback 2/2 (Feb 6, 2010)

SOWT said:


> Gen McC better follow up with 24 x 7 dining facilities.


 
He already did, it's called an MRE!! :doh:

Me thinky this Gen McC is going to beome the most hated General in the Army more over the US Armed Force and he is going to do it record timeing! Say 6 months, that shit takes talent... :doh: :uhh:


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## Teufel (Feb 7, 2010)

I never had a chow hall or a PX when I was in Afghanistan aside from the times I went back to the rear to do planning or reset training.  Most of the time the grunts were in isolated combat outposts or occupying homes, setting up patrol bases etc.  I did get to eat at the chow hall at Camp Fallujah though because we would time our resupply runs to coincide with chow hall hours.


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## car (Feb 7, 2010)

One time, at band camp......I was out at Camp Duke, lost my lighter, so I wandered over to the PX. It was nothing but an ARFAB (a tent, for those who don't know)  set up beside the basketball court, with a SSG in charge. Nothing there but tobacco products and, oddly, feminine hygeine products. Slow week, I guess.

"Whaddya need, SGM?"

"A lighter."

"I don't have any, SGM, but if you go over to the chow hall and talk to SSG xxxxx, he'll give you an MRE. There's always a pack of matches in an MRE."

"Thanks, brother!"

I LOVE how NCOs think!


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## SF4ever (Feb 8, 2010)

I am soooo happy!!! I passed through KAF the other day and they now have a TGIFs on the boardwalk. The main US PX there has more non-American customers to include hundreds of the contract TCNs than US Soldier customers.

I say have small necessity PXs for the US GIs and direct support personnel and close the rest down. You can expect the other CF contingents to keep theirs open so not to worry all you FatBoys.... you will still be able to slop at the trough!!!

Way to Go M4!!!

SF4Ever


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## Viper1 (Feb 8, 2010)

Never been to Afghanistan but I sure wish they would have done this in Iraq in 2006.  It was out of control then, and even worse when I went back in 2008.


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## Paddlefoot (Feb 8, 2010)

I feel like I'm in one of those (in my best W.C. Fields voice) "when I was a boy..." moments.

Some of these FOBs look like they have more fast food choices than a lot of American towns I've passed through. A Conex stocked with the essentials and a few other discretionary and comfort items.

Back in 1990, even though we were only deployed for a relatively short period of time as an expeditionary force, I thought that having the option of getting either oreos or nutter butter was a pretty good deal. The lighter and shorter the logistical tail, the better.

Somebody definitely made a bundle on those KFC, Taco Bell and BK concessions. And it's like having a captive audience for a consumer.


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