by Sgt. 1st Class Phillip
AL ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq – Spc. Natasha Ware, a human resource specialist and certified mail handler with the 189th Combat Sustainment Support Battalion, 4th Sustainment Brigade, 310th Expeditionary Sustainment Command and a New Jersey native, is helping to boost morale for soldiers in her battalion by ensuring they receive their letters and care packages from family and friends back home.
Mail operations for the 189th CSSB are in full gear, with sometimes more than 50 large boxes arriving at any given time.
Ware works in the mail room as an additional duty. She said, at first, she was doubtful about the idea of extra work, but she soon realized the impact letters and packages have on soldiers.
“Soldiers are happy when they receive mail,” she said. “Mail operations have a serious effect on their morale.”
For as long as there have been deployments for soldiers, there has been military mail. Even in this age of the internet, it remains a huge morale booster for troops.
“The mere possibility of some buried goodie in a box or some special piece of news in a letter still makes mail call one of the best parts of a deployed soldier’s day, even when care packages from home become routine - the same candy bars, socks and undergarments every month,” Ware said.
Mail call has a clear morale boosting power. In a close-knit unit like the 189th CSSB, soldiers who receive regular packages will often turn them into grab and go boxes full of bags of candies, books, magazines, T-shirts and personal hygiene items that they share with the rest of their team.
Leaders recognize the emotional benefits of getting a letter or care package at the war front from the bottom of the chain of command to the top, which is why the U.S. subsidizes military mail, said 1st Lt. Kristen Adams, the human resources supervisor with the 189th CSSB and native of Fultondale, Ala.
“Sending a box to a soldier in Iraq can sometimes be cheaper than sending it domestically,” Adams said. “You just need to know the APO AE address of the soldier. Letters and care packages sent to an APO AE address actually go to New York, which means you pay domestic mail rates instead of international rates. Mail is then sent via the Army Postal Service once it leaves the country.”
However, they don’t call traditional post “snail mail” without reason; some letters can take weeks to receive. Although digital mail can be received by the recipient in a matter of minutes, there is no question that sending and receiving a hand written letter via traditional mail can be exciting and enjoyable.
“There is something about this form of mail that is very personal and can be very heart warming,” Ware said. “It’s commonly said that it’s the thought that counts, and I can see truth in that statement whenever I’m handing out mail.”
In the days of cell phones, e-mail, twitter and text messages, letter writing can seem hopelessly outdated. However, the writing and reception of letters continues to offer an experience that modern technology cannot touch.
When it comes to sharing one’s thoughts, sincere sympathies, ardent love and deepest gratitude, words traveling along an invisible superhighway will never suffice.
“Sending a letter is the next best thing to having my husband here with me,” Ware said. “Ink from his pen touches the stationery, his fingers touch the paper and his lips seal the envelope. The paper that was sitting on his desk, now sits on mine.”
Letters create a connection that modern, impersonal forms of communication will never approach. Thus “snail mail,” as it has done for generations of soldiers past, is continuing to perform a significant role in boosting the morale of troops for the unforeseeable future.
| Date Taken: |
06.08.2011 |
| Date Posted: |
06.19.2011 02:52 |
| Story ID: |
72363 |
| Location: |
AL ASAD, IQ |
| Web Views: |
120 |
| Downloads: |
0 |
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