Dates set for holiday mail to overseas military

Dick Benoit

Friday, Nov. 29, 2002 | 8:54 a.m.

The dates for mailing items to service members at overseas locations in time for the holidays are fast approaching, and officials at the Military Postal Service Agency have suggestions for ensuring packages and letters arrive on time.

"The first advice is to mail early," Ed Larson, the agency's operations chief, said. "Check with your local post office for the recommended mailing dates. In each country there will be slightly different dates."

The recommended mail deadlines for sending mail to all overseas APO/FPO addressees for the holidays are Dec. 4 for parcel airlift mail and Dec. 11 for first-class mail, letters and cards and priority mail.

While the United States has restrictions on mailing items such as poisons and weapons, other countries have their own restrictions on what can be mailed, Larson said.

"Mail to Middle-Eastern countries can't contain anything contrary to the Islamic faith," Larson said. "Tobacco is not mailable to certain locations and coffee is not mailable to Germany. Service members overseas should know the restrictions for their area and provide that information to their correspondents and family members."

Larson also said mailing powdered substances, while not specifically prohibited, could cause delay in mail processing if the powder were to leak out of the packaging.

Additionally, for the second year, the postal agency will not support Operation Dear Abby or "Any Servicemember" mailing programs.

"These programs were canceled in October 2001, not only because of the saturation of the mail pipeline that they cause, but more importantly because of the risk or concern for bio-terrorism articles in the mail," Larson said.

A cut above

Centennial High School's Navy Junior ROTC unit underwent its annual military inspection last week by representatives of the Navy's Education and Training Command and was described as "a cut above" the other units inspected this year, according to Centennial Naval Science instructor, Petty Officer 1st Class Gail Johnson.

"We are just in our second year as a program and feel very honored they chose us to serve as an example of a quality program on the West Coast," she said.

According to Johnson, in addition to the annual visit and inspection by Cmdr. John Gartner, the Navy Education and Training Command's San Diego-based Area 11 manager, Centennial hosted Gartner's southeastern U.S. counterpart from Area 7, Orlando, Fla., as an observer.

Centennial's Navy JROTC program, which began in 2001, currently has 290 cadets enrolled.

In brief