What is the Army & Airforce Exchange but not AAFES?

Question

Someone was telling me they went to Iraq to fix things every few months. He said he was in the Army & Airforce Exchange but not the PX. He took offense to me asking if he was a contractor. Is there something with the same initials as AAFES but fixes broken things there?

Answer 1

The Army & Air Force Exchange is a store.  It's like Wal-Mart...but run by the military.  And, actually, the people that work there are all civilians.  As far as my understanding it's not under contract, it's just a part of the Department of Defense.  A PX (Post Exchange) is another word for the same thing on an Army Post.  On Air Force bases we called it BX or Base Exchange.  It's just another word for it.  

AAFES would not be involved in fixing anything, just selling stuff.