News>Postal workers deliver pieces of home through mail
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Staff Sgt. Cassandra Casul reaches for a price barcode after weighing a customer's package April 20 at an air base in Southwest Asia. Sergeant Casul and fellow postal clerks handle all outgoing mail for the base. Sergeant Casul is a 379th Expeditionary Communications Squadron postal clerk. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Joshua Garcia)
Airman 1st Class Cardell Polk stages packages to be picked up later in the day here, April 20 at an air base in Southwest Asia. Throughout the day outgoing mail is prepped for transport to the airport for further delivery. Airman Polk is native to New Orleans and is deployed from Pope Air Force Base, N.C. He is a postal clerk with the 379th Expeditionary Communication Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Joshua Garcia)
Airman 1st Class Cardell Polk stages packages to be picked up for transport April 20 at an air base in Southwest Asia. Throughout the day, outgoing mail is prepped for transport to the international airport for further delivery. Airman Polk is native to New Orleans and is deployed from Pope Air Force Base, N.C. He is a postal clerk with the 379th Expeditionary Communication Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Joshua Garcia)
Airman 1st Class Cardell Polk weighs a package at the coalition compound post office April 20 at an air base in Southwest Asia. Airman Polk is native to New Orleans and is deployed from Pope Air Force Base, N.C. He is a postal clerk with the 379th Expeditionary Communication Squadron. (U.S. Air Force photo/Staff Sgt. Joshua Garcia)
by Senior Airman Brok McCarthy
379th Air Expeditionary Wing Public Affairs
4/27/2009 - SOUTHWEST ASIA (AFNS) -- One of the nice things about deploying is the outpouring of support given by family, friends and even strangers from back home through care packages and letters. However, without the people who run the post offices on base, none of those well-wishes would get through to boost morale.
"We provide all personal mailing and postal services for the wing and tenant units," said Tech. Sgt. Greg Sartain, the 379th Expeditionary Communications Squadron postmaster here. "We also provide official mail receipt and dispatch for the wing."
All mail on base is routed through one of three facilities, two post offices and an aerial mail terminal, which is where official and registered mail is routed. It is also where units come to pick up mail for distribution.
Sergeant Sartain, a native of Santa Fe, Texas, said when mail is sent here, it will typically take seven to 10 days to arrive here from the states, similar to the time it would take to get to other bases throughout U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Pacific Air Forces. One of the biggest differences is the postal location in coalition compound is open seven days a week.
"Most of the post offices in PACAF and USAFE are open six days a week," he said. "We are also open much longer here than any other location in the (area of responsibility). The post office is open for 100 hours per week. The (Blatchford-Preston Complex) location is open for 60 hours per week. Normal post offices, even within the AOR are only open for 66 hours per week."
The base has moved more than 250 tons of mail since the current rotation began in January. Sergeant Sartain said the majority of that mail has been parcel mail -- care packages and items ordered online. However, these packages have the potential to get people in trouble if they contain contraband.
"All the mail coming into the country is X-rayed by customs," the sergeant said. "They are looking for what we would consider contraband; alcohol, pornography, gambling materials, etc., anything you will find on the non-mailable list, basically."
Sergeant Sartain said because everything is X-rayed, almost no contraband gets past customs.
"If they see anything which might contain a liquid, they open the package and do anything they can to determine if it's alcohol or not," he said.
Postal workers have seen many things when it comes to people trying to get contraband into the country. However, even if the contraband is hidden in some way, it shows up visibly on the X-ray machine.
Sergeant Sartain said customs will also open mail if it contains a large amount of CDs or magazines so officials can verify none of it is pornography.
Normally, any contraband items found by customs are confiscated and the rest of the items are sent on their way to the recipient. However, if customs feels someone went out of their way to hide contraband, the entire parcel will be confiscated.
The receiving individual can be held responsible for any contraband found in the mail, regardless if they knew about it or not, Sergeant Sartain said.
"When we find contraband, we notify the person's unit commander," he said. "We also inform them how the contraband was sent. When you find something that has been hidden in some fashion, that tells me the sender knew they shouldn't have sent it and the person on the receiving end probably knew it was being sent."
One of the things many of the postal workers take pride in is the effect receiving mail has on people.
"Working in the post office, we are able to provide everyone with a touch of home and a way to communicate with their loved ones," said Staff Sgt. Michael Kohut, a 379th ECS postal worker. "It's a good feeling knowing we put a smile on someone's face when they received a package or letter."
His sentiments were echoed by Sergeant Sartain.
"It's all about morale," he said. "We provide that home link that you can't get any other way. You can get e-mail, but there's something much more gratifying about receiving a box of goodies or something else from home that you can't get from an e-mail. It's crucial to the morale around here. You see it every day when people come in to pick up their mail or you see people walking around base with a package they got. You know it's putting a smile on their face."
