Postal workers deliver morale during holiday season

Photo By Sgt. Boris Shiloff | Throughout this holiday season, Americans are traveling to visit loved ones and friends. They exchange gifts of cheer, laughter and good tidings. For the families of servicemembers deployed, gifts and holiday cheer usually come through the postal service.  

CAMP ARIFJAN, KUWAIT

12.19.2006

Story by Maj. April Olsen 

40th Public Affairs Detachment

By Maj. April N. Olsen
40th Public Affairs Detachment

CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait –Throughout this holiday season, Americans are traveling to visit loved ones and friends. They exchange gifts of cheer, laughter and good tidings. For the families of servicemembers deployed, gifts and holiday cheer usually come through the postal service.

And that's the 312th Adjutant General Company specialty. The Reserve component unit from Charlotte, N.C. deployed to Kuwait in October. They support Third Army/U.S. Army Central by processing mail for troops serving in Kuwait, Iraq, Qatar and Djibouti.

"We deal with people's morale every day," said Sgt. Coy Dabbs, custodian of postal effects for the American Post Office at Camp Arifjan.

"Here, mail means so much," said the 24-year-old Dabbs from Smithville, Mississippi. "You can talk on the phone but you can't send a picture through the phone and you can't take it back to the barracks."

During the two months before Christmas, the postal company processes nearly double the amount of mail.

In November, the postal company processed 60,000 pounds of mail, Dabbs said. This is not only incoming mail, letters and packages to troops, but also packages going back to the United States.

"The volume has increased from 200-250 packages a day to 400-450 a day," said 1st Lt. Derrick Redd, 312th platoon leader. "It's really the amount of packages that increases, because now people are mailing out multiple packages."

With headquarters at Camp Virginia, Kuwait, the company has platoons spread out to other camps in Kuwait and Qatar.

Redd said his Soldiers work alongside civilian contractors at Camp Arifjan, the busiest American Post Office in theater.

Soldiers and civilians working in the post offices on various camps share knowledge and experience to ensure all postal and military guidelines are consistent, said Iris Brown, a contracted civilian now in her second year at Camp Arifjan.

"We work together to make sure all policies are followed," Brown said.

Together, the postal workers process incoming mail for delivery and out-going mail to ensure no contraband items such as explicit material or illegal substances get sent through the postal service.

"That includes the handling of packages, making sure the customs forms are filled out correctly, boxes are inspected thoroughly – just really ensuring great customer service," said Redd, from Fayetteville, N.C.

"I know they are making a difference," Redd said. "[Being able to provide] that little piece of home really does make a difference."

The Soldiers and civilians alike take customer service and job performance seriously, said Brown.

"It's more important during the holiday season because the Soldiers are away from home," she said. "Just being able to meet and greet them, I feel like I'm helping them."

• Date Taken: 12.19.2006
• Date Posted: 12.19.2006 14:37
• Story ID: 8633
• Location: CAMP ARIFJAN, KW