| Anyone can
help service members call home with the Army & Air Force Exchange Service's
Gift Phone Card Program
DALLAS - Service members stationed anywhere in the
world can now call home anytime with donated minutes as a result of a new decision
by the Department of Defense (DoD) that allows the Army & Air Force Exchange
Service (AAFES) to sell Military Exchange Prepaid Phone Cards to anyone wishing
to donate them to deployed troops.
Up until four weeks ago, mom, dad, aunts
and uncles had no choice but to purchase and send domestic phone cards that were
designed for calls between New York and Dallas, not Baghdad to Dallas. Cards are
available at www.aafes.com.
"Sending a phone card to deployed troops reminds
them that folks back home are thinking of them and really care," says AAFES'
Commander Maj. Gen. Kathryn Frost.
The new 550-Unit Military Exchange Prepaid
Phone Card, available for $39, provides up to 140 minutes of call time from remote
and austere locations throughout Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom. Even though
the face value of domestic cards may appear higher, phone cards sold by commercial
retailers stateside provide fewer global minutes since they are designed for use
only in the United States.
General Frost says one of the problems with the
program is that so few people know about the initiative. The program is very different
from any other initiative AAFES has embarked on. Up until now, AAFES has only
been allowed to sell items to active or retired military.
The 550-Unit Military
Exchange Prepaid Phone Card is available to anyone that wishes to make a donation
to an individual service member or "any Soldier" at www.aafes.com (or
call 800-527-2345).
As troops are being deployed to remote locations around
the world, AAFES goes, too, supplying them with necessities that bring a touch
of home. That is why AAFES proudly proclaims "We Go Where You Go!"
The
Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) is a joint command of the U.S. Army
and U.S. Air Force. General Frost became the first female commander of AAFES,
which oversees stores known as base exchanges (BX) and post exchanges (PX) in
every state and 35 countries.
From: http://www.aafes.com/pa/news/04news/04-044.htm | |