Address mail to deployed soldiers exactly as they told you to.
Adding "Kuwait" or "Iraq" or "Baghdad" only makes it worse.
Something as simple as adding the name of the destination country to an address can delay the delivery of mail to service members overseas...
To alleviate this situation, Slater said help is needed from the family and friends of deployed service members. Senders stateside are actually slowing the delivery of the mail by not properly addressing letters and packages. The sender needs to know the name of the country and the name of the base camp where a service member is stationed are incompatible with regulated military addresses...
By writing Kuwait or Iraq on a letter or package it is routed through civilian mail channels rather then military ones. When that happens, the mail can be delayed significantly. This is attributable to the sorting machine’s inability to discern whether or not the letter is intended to reach an Army or Fleet Post Office address.
A recent case of this common mistake occurred when Soldiers’ mail was found in the post office in downtown Baghdad rather then being sent to where the Soldiers were deployed.
"They brought us 21 letter trays filled with mail dated between December and February," said Lt. Col. Edward Passineau, commander of the joint military mail terminal at Baghdad International Airport...
Additionally, there have been a number of reported cases of internationally channeled military mail being opened, searched through and/or tampered with -- a matter that could potentially be identified as a danger to both individual and unit security, said Slater.
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