"PASSING ON THE LOVE"

These guys do a helluva job.

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.”

I thought this last bit was - well - touching.

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.”