FS ; AAFES POGS 2003-2011

armysgti

Although some consideration was given to using either Series 691 or 701 MPCs during the Gulf Crisis in 1991 and 1992, this action was not undertaken. After the events of September
11, 2001, military forces were again employed extensively in the Middle East and in adjacent
areas and the use of auxiliary money was again proposed. Although the dollar-denominated paper money in circulation there for USA Forces continues to be normal U. S. Federal Reserve notes, transporting coins to many areas proved to be cumbersome, and a substitute for these was clearly desirable.
The AAFES (Army and Air Force Exchange Service) has a long history of providing
incidental services to U. S. military personnel. The organization itself goes back to 1895, and over the years it has been responsible to maintaining post exchanges (PX) and base exchanges (BX) as well as providing a variety of other services to military personnel both within the United States and abroad. AAFES facilities are found in all nations in which U. S. military personnel are stationed including Iraq and Afghanistan as well as nearby countries such as Kuwait and Qatar.
Rather than using fractional notes or metallic tokens the AAFES chose to issue POGs, a type of token printed on thin plastic. This term can also be used to describe a children's game
that to some extent resembles marbles. At one time milk bottles often came with circular tops made of cardboard printed on one side. In Hawaii a local firm, the Ha1eakala Dairy, also packaged tropical drinks in this fashion. Its most popular brand was a mixture of passionfruit, orange,• and guava juices that was often called POG. Soon this term was transferred to the printed caps that sealed bottles of this beverage. Over a span of several decades both the collecting of these bottle caps and their use in a game became popular with many children in a wide variety of locales. By the 1990s many POGs were printed and marketed independent of
any containers in a fashion quite similar to sports cards. By then most POGs were printed on
thin plastic rather than cardboard.
The first issue of POGs that were used for monetary purposes• were released at AAFES facilities in Afghanistan at the beginning of 2002. They were valid at all AAFES facilities, but they do not have legal tender status and are issues of the AAFES and not of the Department of Defense itself (as were MPCs). Unlike MPCs all POGs issued to date have remained valid, and thus far there have been no C-days. Also unlike MPCs personnel are not paid in POGs. Thus
they function as light-weight small-change tokens, and they are used to make small purchases and to provide change at AAFES facilities. Cash cards can also be used at many PX and BX facilities, but these are not as convenient as are POGs for making small purchases.
These POGs are 40 mm in diameter and come in denominations of 5, 10, and 25 cents. They are made of polystyrene plastic, which is hard and fairly brittle. This material is quite different from the polymer plastic that it currently being used to print the notes of Australia and
several other countries. Polymer plastic is noted for its toughness and resistancto tearing. If sharply bent, however, POGs will break rather than develop folds. The POGs are 0.58 mm thick,
and thus 44 of


them form a one-inch stack. Typically they weigh about 0.80 gram each, and thus about 570 ofthem will weigh one pound. Some minor variations in weight, however, have been noted from series to series. In the lOth, 11th, and 13th issues of these items (released in 2007-09) there are several POGs that feature holograms, and these weigh 1.35 grams each, or substantially more than any other POGs. They are also significantly thicker than the other POGs. POGs are normally packaged in trays of 400. (for the 25 cent POGs) or 500 (for the two lower denominations). Thus far all POGs have been produced at the AAFES facility in Dallas.

The use of these POGS is ongoing overseas in The AAFES Facilities areas like IRAQ , AFGHANistan ,QATAR, Bahrain,Saudi Arabia. Once you return to the states and spend the POGS at an Aafes facility, They are destroyed and not redistirbuted.

If you would like more info on the POGS or purchase a few , PM me and we can work out the details.