15 Years Ago This Month, We Opened Our First ‘Store’ in Afghanistan
In 2002, on a miserably frigid day at Afghanistan’s Kandahar AB, associates Ralph Henderson, Billy Hullender and Larry Reimann opened the Exchange’s first store in that country.
The trio flung open the flaps of a hastily constructed tent on Feb. 9, welcoming a seemingly endless line of America’s warfighters seeking personal hygiene items, snacks, drinks and anything that would remind them of home. Within the year, the tent would morph into larger tent and eventually to a brick-and-mortar building that continues serving troops to this day.
“It was rough,” Henderson told the Exchange Post in September 2002 after returning stateside. (See article). “The dirt, the dust, living in a tent . . . eating MREs for breakfast lunch and dinner . . . only to be able to shower every two to three days . . . In our store, the temperature was 130 degrees by 8:30 a.m. during the summers.”
“The reaction we got from the troops made the hardships of being there worth it.”
-Ralph Henderson
In the Exchange’s searchable, downloadable history Flickr album, check out more pictures and information about how associates have served America’s warfighters and their families.
Today, Henderson manages an Express at Fort Meade, Md., while Reimann is a senior loss prevention manager at HQ. Hullender retired in 2014 as main store manager at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., and now lives in Florida.
