Stateside groups use computers to keep Any Servicemember programs going
By Greg Tyler and Carlos Bongioanni, Stars and Stripes
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Traditionally, Nov. 15 kicks off the two-month holiday mailing
program dubbed Operation Dear Abby.
But today, for the first time in 17 years, military postal workers
will not be sorting through tons of morale-boosting letters.
The Defense Department’s decision last month to halt all its
"Any Servicemember" mail programs because of the ongoing anthrax scares has
disappointed many Americans.
But the suspension has prompted others to find alternative ways to
reach servicemembers with greetings of holiday cheer.
Jack Coffey is one of many people who have created Web sites where
people can post e-mail messages to the troops.
Since Nov. 6, Coffey’s site, www.anyservicemember.org, has
received about 1,500 hits and has dozens of messages addressed to any airman, sailor,
soldier or Marine.
Coffey, an Army veteran, purchased and registered the domain for the
Web site, solely to continue the tradition of the suspended Any Servicemember mailing
programs.
A public affairs official who works for the U.S. Army Forces Command
in Atlanta, Coffey routinely hears from people wanting to know where to send letters to
troops.
He thought of the idea for the Web site the day the DOD announced it
had put the programs on hiatus.
In Miami, computer consultant BiBi Melguizo decided to get the 121
members of her Yahoo user group to send e-mails of support to the crews of ships such as
the USS Essex, USS Carl Vinson and USS Champion.
“So far, there are no reported cases of anthrax circulating via
e-mail,” Melguizo joked.
“A group of friends and myself wanted to do our part and help
make a difference, so we started an Internet group called Operation Enduring Freedom
Support on Oct. 18, and we decided we would write to those serving our country,” she
said.
More than 30,000 soldiers have been sent to the Persian Gulf region
to support the U.S.-led war on terrorism.
The Pentagon was expecting a high volume of mail, especially during
the upcoming holidays.
“We just can’t move that amount of mail, especially with
the safety concerns and new procedures being added because of anthrax,” Lt. Col. Jim
Cassella, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a recent news report.
That makes the Internet options that much more important, said Art
Izer, an Army veteran who spent two years in South Korea in 1958-1959. Though it has been
42 years, Izer said he still “tears up” when he thinks about the time he served
in the 15th Quartermaster Company at Masan.
“The letters I received from several families stateside were
like a lifeline … like a gift,” he said.
The letters came from unknown families and reassured him he was doing
a worthwhile job, he said.
“Sometimes they would talk about the weather and sometimes
… the family. It really didn’t matter to me. It was news from home.”
Mailing programs like Operation Dear Abby benefit American society in
more ways than just building troop morale, advice columnist Jeanne Phillips said.
Phillips, 56, co-writes the Dear Abby column and shares the pen name
Abigail Van Buren with her mother, Pauline Phillips, 83.
Since 1984, the daughter-mother duo has encouraged readers to write
servicemembers during the holidays. It gives people a sense that they’re doing
something positive, she said.
“Writing to our military makes people feel like they are doing
something proactive, like they are part of the war effort,” said Justin Beach, who
owns the Yahoo group writing to sailors.
A lot of Yahoo enthusiasts who participate in user groups seem to
agree.
“When I read that the letter-writing programs were going to be
halted, I thought, ‘Why not e-mail them?’” Melguizo said. “I got in
touch with a couple of PAOs (public affairs officers) on a few ships, and before I knew it
we were growing.”
Yahoo group members regularly correspond with more than 40 military
pen pals. And the number of letter writers has quickly increased. The group’s
membership was about 130 Thursday night; the prior Monday the tally was 70.
The group has members from the United States, the United Kingdom,
Australia, Canada and Mexico, and one from China.
“The people who want to send e-mail letters outnumber the
military members we write to,” she said.
The group sends letters primarily to sailors, such as crewmembers on
the Essex, which operates out of Sasebo Naval Base in southern Japan, and several other
ships — the Champion, Vinson, USS Yorktown, USS Arctic, USS Osprey, USS Peterson and
USS Robert Bradley.
H. Devon Craig, another member of the group, thinks the e-mail
letters to servicemembers may have more of a positive impact on the troops than sending
gifts and goodies through the mail.
“I am so happy to be a part of OEFS … especially in the
wake of all the tainted mail scares,” Craig said. “It is so much more important
now than ever to have a safe way to get messages of support to the troops.
“Maybe we can’t send food and other gifts, but we can send
the most valuable gift of all: the gift of caring,” he added.
Mailing programs also serve as a good educational tool for children
who, in today’s culture, have a very limited knowledge of the military, Phillips
said.
Michelle Chartier’s Cub Scout pack in Blackstone, Mass., sent 50
postcards through Operation Dear Abby last year and planned to do the same this year until
they heard the DOD suspended the program.
“Our Cub Scouts enjoyed sending the Christmas cards last
year,” noted Chartier. “We heard back from several servicemen, and the boys were
amazed that their cards actually reached people as far away as Korea. One of them was an
Eagle Scout who encouraged the boys to stick with scouting.”
Chartier said her group was disappointed to hear about the suspension
of Operation Dear Abby this year.
“But we understand the concern. We are looking for alternate
ways to send cards to the troops. If that doesn’t work, we will try doing something
via e-mail.”
But the DOD decision to suspend the mailing programs won’t deter
Friends of Our Troops, an organization that has collected and forwarded mail to troops
since 1975.
Each year, the organization receives bulk mailings from thousands of
groups throughout the United States, rebundles the mail and sends it to military units
around the world.
The Fayetteville-based organization still plans to send mail this
year despite the anthrax scare, said its executive director, Benjamin Wiser.
The organization has had a standing policy for years that all mail
must come in unsealed envelopes, providing a measure of control to ensure that the bundled
packets of mail contain no threatening material.
Wiser said he is aware of postal directives warning people not to
accept mail that is not addressed to an individual, but his group will send its mail
anyway.
Typically, the organization sends out hundreds of thousands of pieces
of mail during the holiday season. It’s very possible, he said, that their mail might
not even get opened this year.
“Once we take it to the post office and mail them, it’s out
of our hands. All we can do is do the best we can for our troops.”
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