ONE WOMAN TAXES THE LOGISTICAL SYSTEMS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

Mayo is using the U.S. Postal Service to send the heaters, boots and other items. But after shipping 1,450 AC units, the Post Office stopped accepting the air conditioners, because they contain potentially hazardous substances that are not legal to ship.

In early September, the Army and the military’s Air Mobility Command helped by airlifting a shipment of 560 air conditioners to Iraq from Dover, Del.

But Mayo had to send a second shipment of 540 units through DHL-Danzis Air & Ocean, at a cost of $71,900, after the Army balked at using military transport.

The reason Mayo was given was that Pentagon lawyers found a policy prohibiting servicemembers from accepting gifts worth more than $20.

Fine, Mayo said she replied; she would send the air conditioners to units, rather than specific soldiers. That compromise should have solved the problem — only it didn’t, even after Mayo provided Army officials with a detailed spreadsheet listing specific units and the number of air conditioners requested.

Mayo still has a warehouse full of AC units waiting to go to Iraq, including five very large units, designed to cool entire hangars, destined for the 101st Airborne Division in Mosul, Iraq.

But there’s still no word from the Pentagon on whether the units will get military shipment, either aboard ships or by air.

And now whe has her sights set on space heaters, boots and Christmas

And her website is www.operationac.com