Photo By Spc. Gregory Argentieri | Army Sgt. Soldier Brian R. Boss (left), 42, from Valliant, Okla., 458th Adjutant...... read more read more
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By Spc. Gregory Argentieri
173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team Public Affairs
FORWARD OPERATING BASE FENTY, Afghanistan — Soldiers from 458th Adjutant General Postal Company run the central mail hub for the entire Task Force Bayonet area of operation and are responsible for handling, sorting, and processing all in coming and out going letters and packages through Jalalabad, Afghanistan, for thousands of Soldiers.
The holiday season began early for the military postal service on Forward Operating Base Fenty. At the beginning of November, the number of packages and letters being handled tripled and is expected to peak during the days surrounding Christmas and will continue through the end of January.
Mail before the holidays was averaging 3-4,000 pounds-a-day. The mail has increased to between 8-13,000 pounds a day since November.
"Santa Claus is the little white planes, and we are the elves," said Spc. Tanya M. Runnels, 34, from Jasper, Texas, with Headquarter and Headquarter Company, 173rd Brigade Support Battalion (Airborne) and part of the FOB Fenty postal team. "We're working our butts off to make sure the mail gets out to the soldiers. It's important – it's Christmas time. That is our job – we're the mail people."
"We get to supply the mail for all the Joes out there – the guys who are really fighting the war. It's good stuff, and it makes us feel good," said Army Sgt. Brian R. Boss, 42, from Valliant, Okla., 458th AG Postal Company. "Since arriving at FOB Fenty in February, the 458th has personally handled, carried, either loading and unloading planes, or loading and unloading helicopters, 900-950,000 pounds of mail. Before our deployment is over in February, we will have moved more than 1 million pounds of mail."
Soldiers from FOB Torkham convoy two hours to FOB Fenty to pick-up mail, supplies, and pick-up or drop off Soldiers three times a week.
"The mail means a lot since were away from our families," said Spc. Jonathan S. Morgan, 21, from Sissonville, W. Va., 66th Military Police Company, based at FOB Torkham. "The first things the Joes do when they see our trucks come back, is they come running."
The small, seven Soldier FOB Fenty mail team maintains a post office which is open everyday for its Soldiers. These same Soldiers also travel to every FOB and outpost at least once a month setting up fully functional mobile post offices which operate for several days before traveling to their next location.
"Spc. (Miquel) Chiqui, Spc. (Isaac) Lopez, and Spc. (Jose) Silva, those are the big three for doing missions. They fly or convoy to nine or 10 different FOBs to do missions to support the Joes out there," said Boss. "They're the ones that come as close as mail personnel come to putting it on the line for the Joes."
Lopez, 20, from Bloomington, Minn., 147th Personnel Support Battalion, part of the FOB Fenty postal team said the big challenge of his job mostly involves working long hours from airplanes arriving late with mail due to bad weather. Sometimes the challenge is trying to read the hand writing on the letters and packages, but he stresses the most important thing is making sure everybody gets their mail.
"I have sent out packages and cards on four different occasions with outstanding service," said Pfc. Robert J. Logan III, 45, from Baltimore a parachute rigger, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team. "They go above and beyond their call of duty. It's always an A-plus positive experience. My hat is off to them."
Recently the mail has suffered delays at Bagram Airfield due to bad weather with mail falling three-to-four days behind schedule. Boss refers to Bagram Airfield as the fish bowl because it sits surrounded by mountains. All mail arriving in Afghanistan presently arrives there.
"Bad weather comes to the fish-bowl and sits there, so every two to three days there's weather problems causing delays, with late or canceled flights," Boss said.
But mail during the holidays is more important than normal and extra efforts were made to get the Christmas mail to Task Force Bayonet Soldiers.
Alpha Company, 173rd Brigade Support Battalion took a holiday break from their normal mission of running ammo, and instead delivered 22,500 pounds of Christmas morale for the Soldiers. Alpha Company arrived at FOB Fenty, Dec. 23, with two 20-foot heaping containers, several 5-tons, and a few jingle trucks full of Christmas mail.
"We ran a convoy down to Bagram to bring back the mail; I guess we were actually the reindeer bringing the Christmas presents over the mountains," said Staff Sgt. Fred Fortune, 44, from Philadelphia Alpha Company, 173rd BSB. "We called this mission, Operation Santa Claus."
Once the mail arrived at Fenty, helicopters and another combat logistics patrols immediately took the mail for outlying FOBs in the Bayonet area of operation to make sure all Bayonet Soldiers got their mail by Christmas.
| Date Taken: | 12.24.2007 |
| Date Posted: | 12.24.2007 15:10 |
| Story ID: | 14977 |
| Location: | JALALABAD, AF |
| Web Views: | 271 |
| Downloads: | 256 |
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