The bowl was first played in December 2003, featuring two ranked teams, No. 18
Boise State and No. 19
TCU. It was the only edition to include a ranked team (per the
AP Poll) until No. 22 Army played in December 2018. In 2010 and 2011 when
Amon G. Carter Stadium underwent a reconstruction project, the bowl was moved to
Gerald J. Ford Stadium in nearby
University Park, Texas. Through the December 2024 playing, one of the three FBS-playing
service academies (
Army,
Navy, and
Air Force) has appeared in the game 14 times. Contractual tie-ins with the
American Conference (home of Army and Navy) and the
Mountain West Conference (home of Air Force) assures that one of those schools could appear in the game every year, if
bowl-eligible and not already committed to another bowl. The 2018 game, between Army and
Houston, was the first sellout in the bowl's 16-year history.
Sponsorship The bowl game was inaugurated in 2003 as the PlainsCapital Fort Worth Bowl, reflecting the sponsorship of
PlainsCapital Bank. The bank's sponsorship ended after the 2004 edition, and the 2005 game was staged without corporate sponsorship.
Alltel was to assume the title sponsorship and naming rights to the game beginning in 2006, which would have been titled the Alltel Wireless Bowl to promote its mobile division, but the deal fell through. Instead, Fort Worth-based
Bell Helicopter Textron took over sponsorship, and thus the game became officially known as the Bell Helicopter Armed Forces Bowl. The Bell sponsorship ended after the 2013 edition. During this time, the 2010 and 2011 Armed Forces Bowl were held at
Gerald J. Ford Stadium on the campus of
Southern Methodist University in the
Dallas enclave of
University Park, while Amon G. Carter Stadium was undergoing a major renovation. The game returned to Amon Carter Stadium in Fort Worth in 2012, after construction on that stadium was completed.
Lockheed Martin became the game's sponsor in 2014. ==Conference tie-ins==