Next to chow time, it’s probably the most eagerly anticipated event during a service member’s deployment. Even if you have never experienced mail call first hand, modern television and movies have helped to paint a portrait of the experience so that everyone can comprehend its significance – a First Sergeant gathers troops around, reads names from a stack of envelopes and packages from home, and then chucks the parcels one by-one to wide-eyed, homesick, yet delighted recipients standing nearby.

Such an image has indeed become a tangible visual rendering, played out many times recently among the guardsmen and reservists deployed in support of various missions around the globe. And, as has been a long-standing tradition, the care package is still a central part of mail call and the few blissful moments immediately thereafter when the package is torn into and explored.

Candy, toothpaste, snacks, socks, pens, stationery, magazines, and T-shirts are just a few of the traditional treasures that spark an anticipatory flicker in the recipient as he or she opens the package. Additionally, in today’s world, items such as playing cards, beef jerky, canned tuna, batteries, disposable cameras, golf balls, golf clubs, sunscreen, and sunglasses are needed, enjoyed, and shared by recipients.

There is no question that care packages are an important part of keeping an upbeat morale among deployed service members.

“Getting care packages is one of the things that makes you feel closer to home – the thing you miss most,” said TSgt. Lorne Ward, an Air Force reservist with the 917th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron of Barksdale AFB, La. Ward and his squadron deployed to the Indian Ocean for eight months last year.

“Care packages can lift the spirits of a lonely, dejected or distracted soldier and turn them into a happy, productive team member just from seeing that someone cared enough to send them something special in the mail,” agreed Chaplain (Maj.) Andrew C. Meverden with the 5/19th Special Forces Group (Airborne) of the Colorado National Guard who recently was deployed to Afghanistan.

But care packages oftentimes turn out to be a source of happiness for the spouses, siblings, children, parents, friends, and co-workers who send them, as well.

FRIENDS, FAMILY, AND CO-WORKER CARE PACKAGES

Particularly for the spouses of service members who may be new to lengthy separations or are far away from a military base where they otherwise might access support resources, sending care packages can be a meaningful way to feel close to their deployed husband or wife.

“I know that sending care packages has always been therapeutic for me,” said Hilary Martin, author of Solo-Ops: A Survival Guide for Military Wives. “The morning my husband would go on deployments I would head to Wal-Mart and start shopping for the first package. Being in public always helped me to control my emotions while I thought and put things into perspective and considered what I would do with myself for the next few months.”

And, while the senders of care packages can get discouraged when the package takes weeks or months to reach their spouse, or an acknowledgement or thanks for their carefully planned packages can be slow in coming, the service members who receive the packages always find their loved ones’ gestures are like manna from heaven.

“We usually got our care packages delivered to where we worked, which made it feel like Christmas to come in from the flight line and find a package waiting for you,” TSgt. David Rose of the 917th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron.

“It made me feel cared about and missed,” added MSgt. Richard Young, also of the 917th.

SHOCK AND AWE SHOWS OF SUPPORT

In addition to the spouses and friends of deployed service members, volunteers at family readiness groups, schools, churches, and other organizations have also rallied to assemble these parcels of love, respect and appreciation for guardsmen and reservists serving both at home and overseas.

Volunteers with “Operation USO Care Package,” for example, recently sent more than 30,000 care packages to service members deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Enduring Freedom. The care packages contained items specifically requested by service members, such as disposable cameras, lip balm, DVDs, CDs, toiletries, and sunscreen. Care package contents were funded by monetary donations from the public, and provided in-kind by numerous large companies.

“These care packages help the USO bring a touch of home to our men and women in uniform,” said Edward A. Powell, President and CEO of USO World Headquarters.

Additionally, the USO’s project, “eliminates the problem for those who may not have loved ones at home who are able or willing to send a package” which also helps to make certain fewer soldiers walk away from mail call empty-handed,” said Chaplain (Maj.) Elizabeth Mayforth, an Army reservist serving in an Active Guard and Reserve (AGR) capacity with the 99th Regional Support Command in Pittsburgh, Pa.

Similarly, in Indianapolis, Ind., the Salvation Army’s “Operation Compassion from the Home Front” created and distributed approximately 10,000 care packages for guardsmen and reservists activated from throughout Indiana. Packages included personal hygiene items, pocket games, and socks. Like Operation USO Care Package, items were purchased with monetary contributions from individuals or donated in kind from corporations throughout the state.

In Kentucky, students at Hiseville Elementary School completed “Operation Appreciation,” where 3,000 items including toothpaste, notebooks, pens, Kleenex, and freezer bags were collected and put into 250 care packages for deployed stateside Kentucky service members.

“We wanted to involve the children in the right way. We know what they are seeing on TV, and some of the children have parents who have been deployed. The children took this project very personally. They saw to it that their toothpaste got in,” said Alecia Maynard, project co-coordinator.

TREMENDOUS VOLUMES OF PACKAGES

According to government officials, so many people have answered the call for care packages that the mail system is backed up with an overwhelming number of packages. At the height of Operation
Iraqi Freedom, for example, approximately 80,000 pounds of mail per day arrived in Kuwait for distribution to all services in that region with the bulk being care packages. At any given time, another one million pounds of mail awaited shipment from the United States.

But, thankfully, the pending volumes of care packages never seem to stress the service members responsible for making sure the spirit-boosting parcels arrive to their fellow soldiers.

“Family and friends are sending more packages than letter mail,” said SSgt. Charmalyn Knapp, of the Marine Corp’s Combat Service Support Company 134. “It’s great for morale and that’s part of
our job.”

ALTERNATIVES TO TRADITIONAL CARE PACKAGES

By: Sara Graves

With the large number of care packages still being distributed to service members deployed overseas, many families are looking for alternatives to support their loved ones or other military families affected by Operation Iraqi Freedom or Operation Enduring Freedom. Thanks to organizations, such as AAFES, DeCA and Fisher House, there are other options besides traditional care packages.

AAFES
Gifts from the Homefront certificates are available through the Army and Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES) and will go to an individual, military family member, friend or loved one associated with the military. The certificates can be redeemed by authorized exchange customers at any PX/BX location around the world, including 34 stores in SW Asia, the Exchange Catalog or Exchange Online Store (access site via www.aafes.com).

The certificates are available in $10 and $20 increments. A shipping and handling fee for orders less than 20 certificates and/or less than $300 is $4.95. All orders over 20 certificates or over $300 are based upon weight and the destination zip code for both U.S. and APO/FPO destinations.

For more information, visit the AAFES website at www.aafes.com.

DeCA
Defense Commissary Agency (DeCA) is also sponsoring a certificate-type program for service members and other authorized commissary shoppers.

Through the Gift Certificate Program, anyone can purchase gift certificates through DeCA, but only authorized commissary shoppers can redeem them. The gift certificates are processed the same way as a certified check and are good at any commissary for one year from the date of purchase.

A $4.95 fee is tacked onto the bill, which covers printing, mailing and handling up to 20 certificates per order. The certificates are available in denominations from $5 to $100. It typically takes 4 to 10 days (possibly longer for overseas shipments) for the certificates to arrive. Additional charges apply for bulk orders, special handling, faster delivery or multiple addresses.

Purchasers who wish to put restrictions on how the certificate is redeemed can do so by writing their restrictions on the front to the right of the DeCA Shopping Cart logo. Also, the shopper will receive change on any unused portion of the certificate unless specified otherwise.

The checks may be purchased online with a U.S. credit card at www.commissaries.com or purchased in the United States via a toll-free number at (877) 770-GIFT (4438). Overseas purchasers need to place their orders online at www.commissaries.com. Order forms will also be available at commissary customer service desks or can be downloaded off the www.commissaries.com website and faxed directly to CertifiChecks, Inc. Purchasers may pay with a check if they use an order form.

The checks are being handled and processed by a third party, CertifiChecks, Inc., and DeCA derives no income from the program.

For more information on the program, visit www.commissaries.com.

Fisher House
Fisher House Foundation currently has 31 houses on the grounds of every major military medical center and several VA medical centers. Families of service members stay at the houses while their military loved one is recovering from an illness, disease or injury at the nearby military medical facility.

Fisher House has partnered with CertifiChecks, Inc., so that family, loved ones or interested parties can buy gift certificates good for commissary purchases that can be redeemed by the families staying in a Fisher House.

Purchasers can buy gift certificates online at fisherhouse.org or download a general contribution form and send it to Fisher House Foundation directly.

For more information, contact Fisher House at (301) 294-8560 (Rockville, MD) or toll-free (888) 294-8560 or go to http://fisherhouse.org. E-mails can be sent to info@fisherhouse.org.