Special orders of some goods available at AAFES

Published July 24, 2010
By Staff Sgt. Jeremy Larlee
380th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs

Southwest Asia -- Military members who are not able to find their favorite items at the Army and Air Force Exchange Service store here have the option of asking if the item can be special ordered for them.

Due to limited floor space, the AAFES store here is only able to stock a bit more than 2,000 items.

Marata Nelson, the manager of the AAFES store here, said that she gets a lot of special requests for items. She said with a limited amount of stock, it would be impossible to stock everything people wanted. She said that she is more than happy to try to order the items for customers.

"I can't guarantee I will get the item," she said. "But, I will try by any means available to fill the order."

The manager said that it can take up to eight to 10 weeks to order items from warehouses in the United States. She said that when possible, she tries to order from a warehouse in Europe that cuts that time down to as low as three weeks.

The manager said that the majority of the items ordered are health and beauty items, beverages and electronics. She said that she is unable to order tobacco products and Air Force physical training uniforms.

Mrs. Nelson said she volunteered to deploy here and she was motivated to do it because she serves the best customers in the world.

"It is very important that we have AAFES at this location," she said. I want to be here because of the sacrifice all of the military people are making. We are just trying to bring a little bit of home to this deployed location."