New X-ray system aids postal Marines in Iraq

Photo By Cpl. Daniel Redding | Lance Cpl. John Udui, a 26-year-old native of Waimanalo, Hawaii, and Lance Cpl. Ronnie S. Garcia, a 21-year-old native of Premont, Texas, postal clerks, and Daya Bikram Gurung, a 45-year-old native of Nepal and a civilian X-ray technician, review the digital image of a parcel here July 26, 2006, looking for anything suspicious. The post offices here and at seven other locations throughout Iraq and Afghanistan are utilizing X-ray machines to search for items that include ammunition (live rounds and spent casings), grenades, shrapnel and magazines for weapons. The systems now in place serve as a precautionary safeguard throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, providing a more accurate way to ensure all mail is thoroughly scanned - and searched if necessary - for contraband before receiving a final X-ray at Bahrain. (Official USMC photograph by Cpl. Daniel J. Redding. 060725-M-7799R-005. Released.)  

AL TAQADDUM, IRAQ

11.30.2002

Courtesy Story

1st Marine Logistics Group

by Cpl. Daniel J. Redding
I Marine Logistics Group

CAMP TAQADDUM, Iraq - If you're a Marine in Iraq, there's a new set of eyes scanning the mail you're sending home.

Postal Marines operating at Al Asad Air Base and Camp Taqaddum - the two main Marine Corps air stations and central locations for mail delivery in western Iraq - are utilizing new X-ray machines recently installed here, part of a push to ensure mail routed through the country of Bahrain back to the United States is safe for air travel.

There are eight sets of the system working in Iraq and Afghanistan, all operated by civilian contractors with the civilian mail carrier company DHL, Inc. The machines are used to scan all parcels leaving the respective countries for explosives and other prohibited or otherwise dangerous content and contraband.

The machine, which resembles X-rays devices commonly found in airports across the United States, takes digital two-dimensional photographs of packages service members and civilians here want to mail out. Items of concern for the postal workers are metallic objects, which are easily noticeable on the image and often represent the dangerous items postal personnel are trying to keep from entering the mail system.

Prohibited items include ammunition (live and casings after fired), grenades, shrapnel and magazines for weapons. Each of these items poses a significant threat for aircraft and other mail handlers, said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Don McCarty, the officer in charge of postal operations for the 1st Marine Logistics Group.

The process to approve the X-ray's purchase and installation began in January after officials in Bahrain - where all mail leaving Iraq is routed - expressed concern over the amount of prohibited content being found there, said McCarty, who is responsible for running all postal operations in the Al Anbar province.

The systems now in place serve as a precautionary safeguard throughout Iraq and Afghanistan, providing a more accurate way to ensure all mail is thoroughly scanned - and searched if necessary - before receiving a final X-ray at Bahrain.

• Date Taken: 11.30.2002
• Date Posted: 08.01.2006 16:01
• Story ID: 7365
• Location: AL TAQADDUM, IQ