TF Falcon mail room readies for holiday rush

Courtesy Photo | U.S. Army Spc. Daniel R. Tohill, a mail clerk with the 10th Combat Aviation Brigade mail room and native of Plainfield, Ind., delivers a package to U.S. Army Sgt. Nicole Trevino, a 10th CAB paralegal and native of Vale, Ariz., Nov. 5. The unit’s mail clerks pick up, sort and deliver mail to 10th CAB Soldiers. (Photo by U.S. Army Pfc. Michael Syner)  

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AFGHANISTAN

11.10.2010

Courtesy Story

Combined Joint Task Force 101

BAGRAM AIR FIELD, Afghanistan – With the holidays quickly approaching, more gifts are being sent to and from Afghanistan and other locations worldwide. This is great news for the deployed soldiers of 10th Combat Aviation Brigade, but it also means a dramatic increase in mail traffic for the clerks of the 10th CAB mail room to handle.

“We’re going to see a lot more mail around Christmas,” said U.S. Army Sgt. Jayme D. Gibson, the non-commissioned officer in charge of the mailroom and native of San Diego. “Once the season really hits, we’ll probably be doing two to three pickups a day.”

Throughout most of the year, the soldiers assigned to the mail room ordinarily make only one pick up per day, with three to five pallets of mail being moved to the unit mail room.

With more work comes a greater demand for attention, since a simple mistake often leads to a soldier or family member being deprived of correspondence with their loved one from a matter of days to weeks.

“It’s important to double check everything,” Gibson said. “I don’t want to be responsible for screwing up someone’s day because they didn’t get their package when they were expecting it.”

Mail is something more than the simple movement of stuff from one place to another. It can help families stay connected, and it can deliver personal sentiments.

“Getting mail is definitely one of the biggest contributors to high moral,” said U.S. Army Spc. Daniel R. Tohill, a mail clerk in the 10th CAB mail room and native of Plainfield, Ind.

While the Soldiers who work in the 10th CAB mail room try to ensure letters and packages get to their intended destinations, they have some tips to offer would-be mailers to help send mail along its way.

“Make sure you know exactly what the proper address is,” Tohill said. “Don’t just ‘wing it’ and try to guess what unit, task force or forward observation base you’re trying to send the package to.”

Mislabeled mail often gets bounced around the postal system until it finds its recipient; or, in some cases, simply gets returned to the sender.

Gibson offers this advice: “Write legibly. We often see mail that has the address sloppily written making it tough to figure out which package goes where.”

On average, it takes about a week for a parcel to reach here from the U.S. During the holidays, however, it can take as long as two weeks, said Gibson.

“Make sure to plan accordingly,” Gibson said.

• Date Taken: 11.10.2010
• Date Posted: 11.10.2010 13:21
• Story ID: 59847
• Location: BAGRAM AIR FIELD, AF