The Exchange at 125: Our First ‘Store’ in Afghanistan Was a Tent

On Feb. 9, 2002, at Afghanistan’s Kandahar AB, associates Ralph Henderson, Billy Hullender and Larry Reimann opened the Exchange’s first store in that country: a hastily constructed tent.

They welcomed a seemingly endless line of American Warfighters seeking personal hygiene items, snacks, drinks and anything that would remind them of home.

By the time the original tent had flung open its flaps, AAFES already had or was setting up stores in at least 10 countries in the Middle East and Southwest Asia to serve American troops in Operation Enduring Freedom.