Airmen keep theater mail flowing

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Scott Elliott
  • Air Force Print News
BAGHDAD INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT, Iraq --  Eighteen airmen, most wearing two or three stripes, spend several hours a day in a sun-baked warehouse just off the tarmac here. They are touching the lives of each deployed servicemember and civilian in Iraq.

“We’re responsible for all mail, in and out,” said Tech. Sgt. Darrin Robertson, mail control activity team chief with the 447th Expeditionary Communications Squadron. “When planes come in we have to account for every piece of mail.”

According to Robertson, his team handles the more than 150,000 pounds of mail per day that flows to and from every air post office in American camps in Iraq.

“We usually have four planes come in each day, not to mention the outbound mail,” said Airman 1st Class Amanda Turnbo, who is deployed from the 31st Communications Squadron at Aviano Air Base, Italy.

“I was overwhelmed when I first saw (the amount of mail),” she said.

The airmen do not sort or distribute individual letters or packages; soldiers do most of that. Still, they have plenty of work to keep them occupied.

“We’re hauling bags and boxes for at least seven hours a day,” said Senior Airman Parron Outing, deployed from the 96th Logistics Readiness Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla. “It’s definitely physical labor. I have no doubt I’ll be ready for the new fitness test.”

No matter how many planeloads of incoming mail arrive or how many pallets of outgoing mail they have to build, the team chief said his crew is into their work.

“We have a good group here, and the mail really moves,” said Robertson, who is deployed from the Air Warfare Center at Maxwell AFB, Ala.

The airmen obviously can not see what is in the letters and packages, but occasionally messages to and from home are there for all to see.

“The best part of the job is the decorations (on the mail),” said Airman 1st Class Rose Jaramillo, also deployed from Maxwell’s AWC. “When you see things saying ‘I love you’ and other things, you really know you’re passing on the love.”