Anthony’s Pizza

Anthony’s Pizza; A retired Army Colonel’s observations from the AAFES Food Court.

First if you know what an AAFES Food Court is, then you will appreciate this (Army Air Force Exchange System aka PX/BX)

I live in DuPont, WA, located right across I-5 from JBLM (Joint Base Lewis McChord or for the Army types Ft Lewis). I am retired Army, I was an Army brat and I went to the Army’s college (West Point). Going onto and off of a military installation is a very normal activity for me.

Today, on a typical cold, wet Saturday in the Pacific NW, I went on post to go shopping for some Class VI resupply (wine and beer) in preparation for a social event Robbie and I are hosting tomorrow.

After purchasing my case of wine I strolled through the food court and succumbed to one of my great personal failings, a personal pan size meat lovers pizza. So I bought my pizza and mixture of Fanta Orange and Diet Coke and found an empty table in the food court. As I sat there I watched the people coming and going. I watched the young couple with their adorable 4 year old daughter. He was wearing his Arkansas razor Back baseball hat. I watched another couple with their son and Dad was wearing his splinter camouflage KC Chiefs hat. I saw a mom pushing a shopping cart with her Minnesota Vikings jersey on. I observed a young single female soldier with her Florida Gators hoodie on. 

They all had some token of home as an article of clothing. The Pacific NW is not their home, but that food court and Anthony’s pizza gave them something familiar and sometimes familiar is as close to home as you are going to find.

I thought about my life as a military dependent then as a soldier, husband and parent in the military. My “Food Court” memories really start in 1994 when we had just been stationed to Heidelberg, Germany and our kids, Ben and Sam were 5 and 1 respectively. Every Sunday we would attend the general protestant service at the Main Post Chapel and then go to the food court at the Heidelberg PX for lunch. Invariably Ben and Sam would head straight to the Anthony’s PIzza concession for their slice of cheese pizza (occasional pepperoni thrown in). After our assignment was complete we moved to Ft Hood, Texas and low and behold at the FT Hood PX was a giant food court with Anthony’s Pizza.

After 2 years at Ft Hood, we loaded up once again and moved to Ft Rucker, AL and quickly ascertained the location of the Food Court and the Anthony’s Pizza, bonus it was within walking distance of our quarters.. After Ft Rucker, things were grim, we moved to Washington D.C. just in time for 9-11 and, although there was a PX at Ft Belvoir, with an Anthony’s Pizza, we just didn’t seem to get there very often.

Thank goodness we spent just 13 months there and moved on to quaint Carlisle Barracks, PA and once again we were in walking distance to the PX and Anthony’s Pizza. 2 years in Carlisle then off to Ft Riley, KS and our first stop was to locate the PX and have lunch at Anthony’s Pizza. From Ft Riley our oldest, Ben, went off to college in Seattle, but the remaining members of the team moved to DuPont and adjacent to JBLM, with its very convenient Food Court and Anthony’s Pizza.

My kids were astounded when they left the cocoon of the U.S. Army and went to school in Seattle to learn that Anthony’s Pizza does not really exist, it is a made up, artificial franchise belonging to AAFES. None of their new friends had the faintest idea what an Anthony’s pizza was.

So now, when they occasionally visit, they will ask if we can go on post and have some Anthony’s pizza.

Sooooo, what I think I was getting to is this. Our military and their families move all over the place, frequently. They uproot and go to new places, leave friends and co-workers but one of the things the military does is try to create some sense of normalcy, familiarity or community where ever they go. Certainly we all enjoy discovering the local flavor and specialties, but being able to show up anywhere in the world (even some really awful places) and knowing you can walk in, with your deer hunter cammo and KC Chiefs logo and take your family to an Anthony’s pizza is nice.

So today, as I sat in the food court, invisible to the soldiers and their families (gray hair, bearded guy, hmmm must be retiree, ignore him), I watched young soldiers and families doing exactly what my family and I did over 20 years earlier, wearing our hometown (aka tribal) colors and enjoying the familiar, fictional franchise called Anthony’s pizza.

COL (RET) Michael P. Courts is a resident of DuPont, Washington, Colonel (Retired) Mike Courts was raised in an Army family and is a 1977 Clover Park HS graduate and 1981 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Mike is a career Army Aviator who commanded at the Platoon, Troop, Battalion, and Brigade levels. He has two tours each in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Iraq.

Mike Courts, former DuPont City Councilman 2012-15, and Mayor 2016-19. He is an avid golfer and skier. In the winter he works as a ski instructor at The Summit Snow Sport School at the Summit at Snoqualmie Pass. He and his wife are active members of Christ Lutheran Church in Lakewood, Wa.

He is married to Robbie B. Courts (MAJ, ret.) and has two children, Benjamin and Samantha. 

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