Letters from home Published June 12, 2006 By Tech. Sgt. Jason Smith 40th Air Expeditionary Group Public Affairs OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM (AFPN) -- There's a popular scene in old war films where Soldiers use the excuse, “I have something in my eye,” when they read a letter from home. That letter may be from a spouse struggling to raise the kids. Maybe the letter is news that a loved one passed away before the Soldier had a chance to say “goodbye.” In some cases, that letter may be a reminder that someone at home loves and misses the Soldier.No matter what type of letter creates those mysterious dust particles that make eyes water, the efforts of military postal workers make the deliveries possible. Times have changed. Instead of waiting on a sergeant to yell out a name and hand out a worn and dirty envelope, many deployed Airmen log onto their Internet mail accounts and read messages that were written hours or minutes ago. Still, Internet birthday cards just don’t feel the same as classic, hand-signed Hallmarks. And, until the Internet can e-mail packages from home, deployed people will anxiously await the mail. Staff Sgt. Jayson Azua, 40th Air Expeditionary Group postmaster, makes sure those packages and letters from far away find their way to the people who are waiting for them.Sergeant Azua, who is deployed from Kadena Air Base, Japan, has spent his 13-year career handling military mail. He knows morale is at stake when it comes to receiving mail. As fast as the mail comes in, Sergeant Azua processes it and gets it out. “Receiving mail is one of our closest reminders of home,” said 1st Lt. Christopher Haniford, 40th Expeditionary Communications Flight commander. “We love that we can talk to our families through Web cams, phones and e-mail, but there’s something intimate that none of those can bring when you receive a card or letter with your loved one’s handwriting on it.” While mail from home is delivered faster than it was in World War II, today’s Airmen can still enjoy butterflies in the stomach for a few days while waiting for a package to arrive. “Most overseas bases are looking at seven to 10 days for mail from the States,” Sergeant Azua said. “Depending on airlift, we can expect about two weeks or maybe a little longer.” All mail that is labeled APO AP starts at the U.S. Postal Service International Service Center in Daly City, Calif., just south of San Francisco. Sergeant Azua said APO means Air Force Post Office and AP means Area Pacific. The first two digits of the zip code identify which theater the mail is going to.Sergeant Azua said the U.S. Postal Service handles the mail until it gets to the San Francisco gateway where it becomes the responsibility of the Military Postal Service. When there are no commercial flights to serve delivery areas, Air Mobility Command is called on to get the mail where it needs to go. The system for sending mail back to the United States isn’t much different than the system for incoming mail, said Sergeant Azua. Outgoing packages are priced as if they are being sent from San Francisco, and the delivery timeframe is about the same as inbound packages. Lieutenant Haniford is Sergeant Azua’s flight commander at this deployed location. He said he couldn’t ask for a better postmaster. “Sergeant Azua is everyone’s wingman,” Lieutenant Haniford said. “He dedicates his time to serving every Air Force member (at this location), and he does it better than anyone I’ve seen.”