The new Camp Foster gas station should be ready to open early next month, according to Army and Air Force Exchange Service officials on Okinawa. The station is near the camp commissary. (Fred Zimmerman / Stars and Stripes)
CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — The Army and Air Force Exchange Service on Okinawa is set to open a new gas station here as another camp’s station prepares for temporary closure.
The AAFES Camp Kinser gas station is slated to close Friday for repairs, a Marine Corps spokesman said.
“While we understand this to be an inconvenience, it is out of our control,” AAFES spokeswoman Army Sgt. 1st Class Amanda Glenn said in an e-mail. “All of the fuels need to be removed from the tanks for the work to proceed.”
The Kinser station is scheduled to remain closed through June, according to the Marine Corps spokesman. The gas pump lines are being replaced, the spokesman said, and the contractor has requested 32 days to complete the project. The spokesman said the station should reopen around June 28, but that date is “contingent on finding any unforeseen conditions.”
Once the closure happens, the closest AAFES stations for Kinser motorists will be on Marine Corps Air Station Futenma and Camp Foster.
Customers who fill up on Foster soon will be able to use AAFES’ newest Okinawa gas station. The facility, which is near the camp commissary, is set to open early next month, Glenn said.
The new station was due to open sooner, but equipment problems pushed back the opening date.
AAFES’ car care service operations already have moved into the new car-care center.
Upgraded features at the new service station include two automatic car washes and a pay-at-the-pump option, Glenn said.
Once the new facility is fully open, the old service station and car-care center will be closed and handed back to Camp Foster control. The old station will be leveled, making way for a new 167-space parking lot, the Marines spokesman said.
