| How can
I contact my soldier?
Snail Mail
The best (and often the only) way for
family members to keep in touch, is to send letters and other items via old fashioned
snail mail. When you're writing a letter to your soldier, it's always a good idea
to include fun things like drawings your kids made, postcards from home, newspaper
clippings, and family photographs. All these help your soldier keep in touch with
what's going on at home while he is gone. When you get ready to mail your letter,
you should know the following:
Address - you should use the address that your
soldier gave you (or that was the return address on his last letter to you). The
basic format of your soldier's mailing address should look like this:
Soldier's
Name (note 1)
Organization to which assigned (note 2)
Unit # xxxx (note
3)
APO AE 09xxx-xxxx (notes 4 and note 5)
NOTES:
1) Use of rank is optional
2)
Organization name should be included if you have it; however, it is not always
used for certain types of forces
3) Unit # is a four digit number assigned
to some units, but not all. Where assigned, it should always be used. Soldiers
will have notified friends and family if they have one assigned.
4) APOs served
by New York have a 09 prefix (09xxx); APOs served by San Francisco have a 96 prefix
(96xxx), and APOs served by Miami have a 34 prefix (34xxx)
5) The last four
xxxx represent a ZIP 4 add-on to the normal five digit APO Zip Code, and have
been assigned to some forces. Where assigned, correspondents should have been
notified and the four digit add on should always be used to help in automatic
sorting of mail.
Return Address - you should put your home address as the
return address just like you would for any other letter you are sending.
Postage
- When you send a letter to an APO or FPO address, the US Postal Service only
transports that letter from where you've dropped it off, to the APO or FPO locations
stateside. Once your letter reaches a stateside military installation, all mail
handling is taken over by the US armed forces. This means that you do not have
to pay postage from the US to Iraq, but you only have to pay postage for sending
a letter from one place in the continental United States to another. Postage for
your letter is the same as mailing a letter to, for example, New York, or Los
Angeles.
Mailing - All letters should be mailed standard mail. While the post
office will gladly charge you to overnight or express mail your letter, this does
not mean it will get there any faster - after all, it will only get to the military
postal facility faster, but not to Iraq. You also can not send a certified or
signature required letter.
Please note that, if you send a package, it has
to have a customs form attached to the outside declaring its contents. You can
get customs forms at your local post office, or your local UPS store. You can
also obtain shipping boxes free from the US Postal Service. Check out their website
at www.usps.gov and look for "shipping materials".
Email & Instant
Messaging
If your soldier's location has Internet access, he should be able
to check his military email account at www.us.army.mil, the army's Knowledge Online
Portal. As long as your soldier is deployed overseas and accesses the Internet
on a computer there, this is the only email address he will be able to send and
receive messages from as soldiers in Iraq are no longer able to access third-party
email providers such as Hotmail or Yahoo due to security concerns of those services.
Before
your soldier leaves, he has the option to set up an AKO account for you, his family
member. Your account information will look something like jane.doe@us.army.mil.
You now can securely email back and forth with your soldier. Please note that
you do not have to have an AKO account to email your soldier.
Soldiers cannot
access any instant messaging or chat sites while they are in Iraq. They can, however,
access the AKO instant messenger and chat room from any military computer that
is connected to the Internet. If you and your soldier both have AKO accounts,
you may be able to meet up and chat or instant message each other. You definitely
do require an AKO account to instant message or chat with your soldier.
Phone
Calls
The only way for you to direct call your soldier in Iraq is if he has
an International cell phone on his person. Please note that this is very, very
expensive, but it is the only option for you to call him. Your soldier, on the
other hand, may get a chance to give you a call from a phone on post, if his post
has any phones. Generally, soldiers calling home use phone cards, so you may want
to consider sending him some. Asking him what company provides the phone on his
post first. Generally, AT&T has that contract with the military, so purchasing
an international AT&T phone card he can use will give you the best deal.
Under certain circumstances, soldiers are able to make "morale calls".
Some soldiers are located in a place where phone calls are easy to make, while
others have very few chances to call, so it is best not to expect frequent phone
calls. Morale calls are completed in this way: deployed soldiers can call the
Defense System Network (DSN) Worldwide operator at DSN 231-1311, get the number
of the DSN switch nearest to their home, and call. The local DSN operator or the
automated switch used on some posts will connect them to a civilian line. Then
they can use a phone card to call their home number at the regular US long distance
rates. Phone cards are available to soldiers through AAFES, usually near where
the morale phones are located. However, there are a few possible complications.
Tactical (green) phones do not use tones, which are necessary for automated systems.
Soldiers using these lines must go through an operator. Some post operators only
work during duty hours and reroute the calls through regional or MACOM lines after
duty hours. Since there is an 8-9 hour differential with SW Asia, for example,
many calls come in after duty hours. Because of staffing, operator assistance
may be limited, causing a long wait on the line, or perhaps dropping the call
after a timeout. The Army is constantly trying to improve the system.
If I
mail a package, what should I send?
The best thing you can do before mailing
your soldier a package is to ask him or her what items they really need or would
like to have over there. Needs, as well as the ability to purchase items at a
PX, vary from unit to unit, and from location to location. You may also want to
keep in mind that your soldier may have to carry the things you send around with
them, so you should send travel- or sample-sized items since they are easier to
transport.
Some things you may want to send are non-perishable, non-melting
food items, such as:
Hard candy, tea bags, canned goods, pre-sweetened Kool-Aid,
pre-sweetened orange juice powder, slim jims, chewing gum, Ramen noodles, mixed
spices, beef jerky (grade A USDA beef labeled *only*), hot sauce, sunflower seeds,
peanuts, trail mix, crackers, powdered hot chocolate, canned soup, canned tuna,
(make sure they're not in glass containers, or they might break!), powdered Kool-Aid
and Gatorade, cookies, chips, snacks of any kind (especially ones that don't melt),
tobacco products, breakfast type foods and drinks are the most needed, Beefaroni,
ravioli, spaghetti & meatballs, trail mix, fruit in cans, cereal bars, granola
bars, Special-K bars, coffee, instant and regular and filters, coffee makers,
hot plates, canned nuts, canned chips, good can openers, easy to open, easy to
eat, quality and healthy foods are best, Nothing that melts!
Other Items might
include such personal hygiene items:
Antibacterial wipes, hand sanitizer,
anti-fungal for their feet, athletes foot creme, foot powder - no aerosol bottles,
band aids, cough lozenges, small packs of Kleenex, shower-to-shower powder, combs,
paper, pens, envelopes, lip balm, q-tips, nail clippers, eye drops - the cleaning
kind - because of all the sand storms...(Put in plastic bag!), Flip flops - shower
shoes - so they can air their feet out when they get a break, NO Flea Collars!!
They don't work and aren't safe, small containers of Tylenol, Motrin, etc., small
tubes of toothpaste and toothbrushes, deodorant, soap, shampoo, sunscreen Avon
Sin-So-Soft Bug Guard, DEET insect spray, disposable cameras, electrical items
like transformers, dual voltage appliances, plug adapters, fans, especially small
hand-held battery types, the ones with sprayers are great, headlights, small flashlights
worn on a helmet, inflating small pillows, self-inflating camping mattresses,
dictionary English/Arabic, Maglite flashlight bulbs.
Other Items for entertainment
might include:
Prepaid phone cards, Beanie Baby toys for the soldiers to give
to kids, comics and paperback books, crossword puzzle books, DVDs & CDs and
players, Game Boys, the ones your kids don't use anymore, and the games... , magazines,
sports stuff (baseballs, footballs, old gloves, frisbees...), basics: small and
light, uses AA batteries, nothing rechargeable, batteries, alkaline - Mostly AA-size,
but some AAA also, battery chargers,mostly AA-size, but some AAA also.
NO
stamps! They get free mail!
Send in easy to handle boxes (say under 10 pounds)
and wrap like Godzilla will handle it because he will. Big, heavy boxes are just
asking for trouble. Use heavy packing tape on all corners of the box, and wrap
the tape so it goes all the way around every direction of the box. Do NOT use
string to wrap a box! A good box example is one Wal-Mart (and I'm told Target)
sells for 95 cents that are 11 3/4 x 8 x 4 3/4 inches (#CB-12). These are easy
to pack, won't weigh too much and are easy to handle. Packages must weigh less
than 70lbs and be smaller than 130 inches in total length and girth.
Do NOT
send insured or registered. Soldiers have to go to their base camp to get these
items and they may not go there very often at all, but this depends on the unit.
This is a difficult call, however. Before you send something expensive, we recommend
that you ask the folks you are sending to what they suggest. Every unit faces
a different situation. The APO and/or USPS is having a theft problem. The current
scam is removing expensive items from packages and resealing the package like
nothing happened. Soldiers are actually getting empty boxes. Packages that do
not call attention to themselves (see notes on Customs form next), and are wrapped
very well, are less likely to be broken into. I also suggest that you send a letter
separate from the package addressed TO the soldier (leave off the "ATTN"
line) making them aware of the package.
It appears that the post office has
either made a mistake or it is making sense, but ALL packages going to Iraq (APO,
not so sure about FPO) can take the SMALL (2976) Customs Form!! No need for the
2976-A which is as big as your car and takes a week to fill out!! Check with your
postal clerk.
Customs Forms are required for all international mail weighing
more than 16 oz. There are two classes of customs forms. Parcel Post (all items
over 4-pounds) and items valued over $400 require the 2976-A(Updated!) multi-part
customs form. All other items can be mailed with the short 2976 customs form.
Both forms are available at your post office. They are not available online as
they are multiple-copy forms.
On either form, careful wording helps. Stating
"2-Way radios, value $100" draws attention, where "Toys, value
$10" may not. Be SURE to check the "Gift" box. We suggest you do
NOT use USPS Express or any overnight service. It will only get to New York faster;
it will not get to Iraq any faster and costs way too much. We suggest regular
or Priority mail.
If I mail a package, what should I NOT send? When
mailing items to the Middle East, there are two reasons some of them are not allowed
to be shipped - a) due to Postal restrictions regarding shipping of certain items,
and b) due to restrictions because Middle Eastern countries are Muslim. You can
obtain a complete list of these items from your local post office or UPS store
and keep it on hand when shipping things anywhere in the world since these restrictions
are pretty much universal and are mostly due to safety concerns. Middle
Eastern restrictions are due to Islamic law and forbid shipping of the following
- bulk-mailing of religious materials (for example, a box of Bibles), any political
materials, anything that might be considered "obscene" or "indecent"
such as pornography and images, drawings, or video tape of nude, or semi-nude
men and women. You are also NOT allowed to send:
Food containing pork or pork
by-products, Alcohol (liquor - personal hygiene and grooming products containing
alcohol are OK), Flammable or explosive products (matches, lighter fluid, propane,
etc.) and things that contain alcohol or may be used in making alcoholic beverages.
If you are considering mailing beef jerky, summer sausage, or slim-jims - please
read the packaging and make sure the item does not contain pork. It's best to
get packs of beef jerky that are labeled "grade A USDA beef".
How
should I package and send these things?
The ideal size for a care package is
"no larger" than a shoe box, which is done due to space considerations
on the flights transporting the packages over. It's easier to take a whole bunch
of shoe-box sized packages than it is to take one or two very large ones. If you
don't have any boxes at home to ship in, the US Postal Service offers free shipping
boxes for Priority Mail (they are for Priority Mail only). You can order them
through the US Postal Service's website, and the b sizes to get are #4 and #7
boxes. Ideally, everything on the inside
should be taken out of its original box that it was purchased in to save space,
sorted by "type" of item - for example, all toiletries together - and
packed in Ziploc bags. The Ziploc bags will keep sand out, give the soldiers a
place to store these things, and also prevent things that might spill or melt
from messing up everything else in the package. Soldiers also use Ziploc bags
to keep other things in, such as CD players, or any items they don't want to get
wet, dusty, or sandy. You should not send toiletry items such as soap or shaving
cream with food items - they make the food taste funny. If
you have space left between items, it's best to "stuff" it out with
something - popcorn makes great packing material, and although it'll be a bit
stale by the time it reaches your soldier in the desert, they'll still eat it.
You can also use newspaper to stuff the spaces, which will give soldiers a chance
to read up on the "news at home" as well - make sure you use the section
your soldier is interested in. Always
include a card listing the contents of each box. As the US Postal Service points
out, "Occasionally improperly wrapped packages fall apart during shipment.
Including a card inside the package that lists the sender's and recipient's addresses
along with a description of the contents helps in collecting items that have fallen
open during processing." "I
listen to the news, and I get frightened. Who can I talk to?"
It can be
very worrisome to listen to the news, especially if you don't know whether your
soldier is involved. News reports are often sensational, dramatic, and even incorrect.
Sometimes the best advice is to talk to someone about your fears. That is one
great reason to be involved with others who are going through what you are. That
is why Family Readiness Groups were created, to give spouses and friends the support
of others who understand and can relate to the normal feelings of those whose
loved ones are deployed.
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