KUWAIT -- Personnel eagerly await its daily arrival either in formation or by visiting their admin clerks. Those who receive it, smile and walk away with higher spirits. Others, who don't receive any, silently keep faith for the next day. No matter where they are, garrison or deployed, military personnel look forward to mail call.
Although it has been deemed "snail mail," letters and packages arriving from family and friends keeps morale upbeat for the Marines and Sailors of 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing participating in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
According to Staff Sgt. Charmalyn Knapp, postal Staff Non-Commissioned Officer-In-Charge, Combat Service Support Company 134, from Oregon, the postal system in place for this operation is better than during Operation Desert Storm.
"We have combined our East and West Coast assets," she said. "This makes it a lot easier to receive the mail and move it out faster to the units. It ensures a faster turn around time for both incoming and outgoing mail."
Another benefit, according to Knapp, is working in the joint environment with the Air Force.
"We have relied heavily on the Air Force," she said. "They had a post office already set up and really helped us get in place and operating quickly. I really enjoy working with their personnel."
Mail arrives at the Joint Mail Terminal where it is separated according to service, unit and location. Then it is loaded onto trucks for delivery to the unit's postal sections. Once at its final destination, postal clerks separate it according to their units. Unit mail reps then deliver it to their personnel.
"Our mail bags are 'direct' for the units," said Knapp. "This eliminates us from opening each bag and sorting the mail according to units. Unit mail reps simply pick up their mail bags for delivery."
According to Lance Cpl. Chris W. Ford, Joint Mail Terminal postal clerk, 1st Force Service Support Group, from California, approximately 80,000 pounds of mail arrives daily for distribution to all the services in the region.
"We get a ton of mail coming in everyday," he said. "There's approximately one million pounds more still waiting in the U.S. to be sent here."
The Wing receives approximately 10,000 pounds of mail with a large number being packages, Knapp concluded.
"Family and friends are sending more packages than letter mail," she concluded. "It's great for morale and that's part of our job."