What you need to know
The question most frequently asked by families, especially families of deployed National Guard or Reserve soldiers, is how they can keep in touch with their soldier during deployment.
We're all so used to getting instantly in touch with someone via phone, email, and instant messenger, that waiting for a letter seems like an slow way of keeping in touch.
Unfortunately, for many military families, this is the way it works if their
soldiers don't have the time or ability to check their email frequently, use
instant messenger programs, or pick up the phone and call.
Ways of Keeping in Touch
> Snail Mail
- address
- return address
- postage
> Email & Instant
Messaging
> Phone Calls
Postal Mail
The best way for family members to keep in touch regularly to send updates and photos is to send letters and other items via old-fashioned postal mail, or, as most like to call it, "snail mail".
When you're writing a letter to your soldier, it's always a good idea to include fun things like drawings your kids made, postcards from home, newspaper clippings, and family photographs. All these help your soldier keep in touch with what's going on at home while he is gone.
When you get ready to mail your letter, you will need the following:
Address
You should always use the address that your soldier gave you either over the phone, through his last letter or email, or that you were given by your soldier's rear detachment or family support group. The basic format of this mailing address should look something like this:
PVT John Doe
1 BCT
1st PLT A Co 1/111th Artillery
APO AE 12345
This is, of course, just a sample and addresses do vary. The first line, however, should always be your soldier's rank, first name, and last name. It's generally not necessary to put his middle initial on the letter, and definitely not the last four digits of his Social Security number.
The second line often denotes the Brigade Combat Team for units in Iraq. But if the address you were given by your soldier does not have that extra information, then just don't include that line.
The third line contains your soldier's actual unit address - usually his company, battalion and regiment. Again, sometimes this varies and you should go with the information that you get from your soldier.
The last line is always the APO, or Army Post Office, information and zip code. These are often assigned to a unit rather than a location, which means that even if the unit moves to a different base in Iraq, the same address will still get your mail to them without any problems. Sometimes, the base needs to be included to avoid any conflicts if one unit has troops on two different bases.
Please note that the address may look a bit different among the other branches of service - for example, the Marines use FPO instead of APO - and as said above, may also vary by unit and location. Sometimes the camp is included. Sometimes the name of the task force. If you are unsure about the address you've gotten from the rear detachment or from your soldier, ask for confirmation before sending anything.
Return Address
You should put your home address as the return address just like you would for any other letter you are sending. The only time you do not put your home address is if your family support group or rear detachment has specifically provided an address to use instead, or advised you not to include your home address on your envelope.
Postage
When you send a letter to an APO or FPO address, the US Postal Service only transports that letter from where you've dropped it off at your local post office or mail box to the APO or FPO locations stateside. Once your letter reaches a stateside military installation, all mail handling is taken over by the US armed forces.
This means that you do not have to pay postage from the US to Kuwait or Iraq, but you only have to pay postage for sending a letter from one place in the continental United States to another. Postage for your letter is the same as mailing a letter to, for example, New York, or Los Angeles.
All letters should be mailed standard mail or priority mail. A lot of the time you get a better rate sending items priority mail and you will also be able to use the free Priority Mail envelopes and boxes you can get at your local post office or order online through the US Postal Service's website.
While the post office will gladly charge you to overnight or express mail your letter, that does not mean it will get there any faster - after all, it will only get to the military postal facility faster, but not to Iraq or Kuwait. You also can not send a certified or signature required letter, UPS, or FedEx.
Please note that if you send a package, it has to have a customs form attached to the outside declaring its contents. You can get customs form at your local post office, or your local UPS store.
Email & Instant Messaging
Internet access is available in different ways on different bases - most soldiers in the Middle East have Internet cafes, and military computers they can use to check their emails. Some even have the option to hook their own laptop up to an internet connection in their trailer or tent, depending on where they are at.
Using your soldier's military email address is the best way to get in touch because your soldier will be able to access his military email account from any computer on base, whereas he will only be able to access Hotmail or Yahoo mail from his own computer or at the Internet cafe where sometimes long lines and limited time keep him from spending the time on emails that he would like.
Before your soldier leaves, he can also set up an AKO (Army Knowledge Online) account for his family members. Your account information will look something like jane.doe@us.army.mil, and will allow you to check and send email through the AKO website and, if your soldier is online at the same time than you, instant message or chat through the AKO website. You do not need an AKO account just to send email to a military address, but it cuts down on the chances that your email woould be filtered out as "spam".
From their work computers, most soldiers cannot access personal pages like blogs, chat pages, or instant messenger programs. If they have computers available to them through an internet cafe, or laptops of their own, they can use any program or website they like.
Phone Calls
The only way for you to call your deployed soldier directly is if he has a cell phone with an International service plan on his person. Please note that these are quite expensive but he can purchase an International cell phone in theater while he is deployed, often much cheaper than if he bought it stateside and brought it with him.
On the other hand, you soldier is able to call you in a variety of ways. Some units have satellite phones on which they can call home every so often. Most locations have pay phones soldiers can use with calling cards. You may want to consider sending your soldier a lot of calling cards if you would like him to call frequently.
Usually, the calling cards sold at AAFES do not give you the best deal on minutes since a lot of the "minutes" on the card are lost in connection fees and the like.