ABOUT FACE!

The news that gas prices would remain stable for AAFES customers was apparently wrong.

Prices will go up even as the bottom is falling out back in the USA.

And, curiously, gas purchased through the Naval Exchange system will not be going up.

Some servicemembers expressed disappointment, but not surprise, at news that Army and Air Force Exchange Service officials would raise gas prices in the coming days.

Late Wednesday, AAFES announced fuel prices would rise starting Sunday. The news came less than a week after AAFES officials said they would freeze prices while the overseas fuel pricing policy was being reviewed.

Gasoline and diesel fuel prices at AAFES facilities in Germany will increase from $1.79 to $1.85 for regular unleaded.

“It’s aggravating,” said Chief Warrant Officer 2 Robert Wills, from Ramstein Air Base. “First they say they have to raise prices to subsidize diapers, then they say they can’t lower the prices because it’s locked in from the beginning of the year.

“Then we see headlines that prices in the States have dropped 10 cents a gallon,” Wills said.

“What bothers me is they’re not up-front about it,” he said.

While fuel prices went up at AAFES gas stations, they will stay the same at Navy Exchange facilities. Gas coupon prices in Italy did not go up, said an employee with the Naples’ Tax Free Office, which runs the gas coupon program.

Wills said that he recently took a trip to Naval Station Rota, Spain, where gas is distributed by the Navy Exchange. The NEX gas station had a plywood placard telling customers what the prices were in dollars per gallon, Wills said.

“Why can’t AAFES do that?” he asked. “[Americans] think of gas in dollars per gallon, so when they see 47 cents per liter, it doesn’t mean anything.

“[AAFES] should just be honest and tell us what the price is in dollars per gallon.”

Had enough? Here is the AAFES "Feedback" phone number: 1-800-527-2345.