Military cancels special mail

Anthrax, war concerns force halt to ‘Any Service Member’ campaign

By Susanna Ray

Herald Writer

Mail call — it’s one of the few highlights for sailors stuck for months on bobbing hulks of gray metal in the midst of what can seem like an entire universe of gray water.

"It’s gotta be one of the most important things out there," said Petty Officer 1st Class Eric Kurtz, postal clerk for the Everett-based USS Rodney M. Davis.

But in this era of anthrax-laced letters, it could be one of the most dangerous things out there, too. And with the brisk rate of the attacks in Afghanistan, deployed members of the military are busy enough without being swamped sorting through mounds of mail.

At the same time, the holidays are coming up in a time of passionate patriotism, and many shorebound Americans are anxious to shower service members with praise and support.

Instead of care packages?

With Operation Dear Abby and “Any Service Member” holiday mail programs canceled this year, there are still ways to show sailors and soldiers that you care:

  • The Stars and Stripes, a daily newspaper catering to the military, has started printing special message pages in its European and Pacific editions. Send short notes of support to supportmessages@estripes.com or to Stars and Stripes, Attn: Advertising-Messages, 529 14th St., Suite 350, Washington, DC 20045-1301. More information is available on the Web at www.stripes.osd.mil.

  • Do a good deed on behalf of service members, the Defense Department suggests. Visit veterans in local hospitals or nursing homes. Volunteer somewhere to take the place of deployed military folks, such as programs for children or the homeless.

  • Support local families whose loved ones are deployed.

  • Instead of sending baked goods to the ships, have a bake sale and donate the money to military relief societies.

  • That has put defense officials in a bind.

    But after reviewing the options, the Defense Department affirmed a decision Tuesday that had been made internally two weeks ago to officially cancel the "Any Service Member" holiday letter-writing campaign and the Operation Dear Abby program. Instead, they asked Americans to consider showing their gratefulness to sailors and soldiers by supporting their families at home.

    Both programs were established to let people send letters and cards to deployed service members during the holidays, even if they didn’t know anyone specific in the military.

    "I was interested in doing it this year," said Joan Cunha of Edmonds. "I’m very disappointed to hear that it’s canceled, but I can understand why."

    Related stories:

    Postal centers to send military mail for free

    Cunha said her father was in the military and she once knew a lot of sailors. She doesn’t know anyone in the military anymore, but now that her own kids are grown up she’s been thinking about ways to let service members know they are appreciated.

    "A lot of kids are out there on those teeny-weeny ships, with no support, and I just thought a letter would be nice," she said.

    Kurtz, the naval postal clerk, said he sees both sides of the issue.

    "Even though e-mail has stepped up in the Navy, there’s a lot of people who still appreciate a written letter," Kurtz said. "I know I do. It shows they took the time to care."

    At the same time, Kurtz, who has had his mail job for 11 years, knows how tough it is to sort and deliver it all from the tiny post offices on most ships. His office on the Davis, a frigate with about 230 sailors on board, isn’t much bigger than the spread of his arms in both directions. In that space, he has to sort through an average of 10 big bags of mail every time a helicopter goes on a mail run — usually two to three times a week when the ship is deployed.

    On the last deployment, from which the Davis just returned in August, the ship actually went a whole month without mail due to the secrecy of its drug interdiction mission off the coast of South America. When he finally got a postal delivery, he found himself swamped with about 2,000 pounds of mail, the equivalent of about 71,000 first-class letters.

    That mass of mail could affect the quality of military postal service and armed forces protection, especially during the holidays when volume is already increased and during the current military conflict when fewer planes are flying, officials worry.

    "They don’t want to overload these guys," Kurtz said, "because they’ve got enough going on as it is."

    You can call Herald Writer Susanna Ray at 425-339-3439

    or send e-mail to ray@heraldnet.com.

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