What you need to know

Any soldier likes to get mail from home, from his family, his friends, and supporters back home.

Due to security concerns, the US armed forces no longer allow mail that is not addressed to a specific soldier to be sent to troops deployed overseas. You will need an address for a specific soldier functioning as a contact person for his or her unit in order to send any soldier mail.

For more information about this mailing policy, please scroll down to the bottom of this page for an article on the subject. To "adopt" a deployed unit, click the "support a unit" link in the navigation menu.

You can still send cards and letters to wounded soldiers recovering at US military hospitals stateside and in Germany at the addresses below. Please, only use these addresses for cards and letters - not donations.

Send a Letter or Card to a Wounded Soldier

Landstuhl Regional Medical Center, located in Germany, is usually the first actual military hospital wounded soldiers are taken to after they've been evacuated from the Middle East. Sometimes, they are further evacuated stateside after a few weeks, and sometimes they return to duty.

To any injured service member
Care of: Landstuhl Red Cross
CMR 402 Box 2234
APO AE 09180

Brooke Army Medical Center, at Fort Sam Houston, TX, also allows people to send cards, letters, and donations to injured service members that are treated there.

Any injured service member
Care of: American Red Cross Office
3851 Roger Brooke Dr.
Fort Sam Houston, TX 78234

The National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda, MD allows people to send cards or letters to wounded Marines at the following address.

Any injured service member
Care of: RADM Jeffries, Commander
National Naval Medical Center
8901 Wisconsin Ave
Bethesda, MD 20889

You can also send cards and letters to injured service members at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC. If you send anything, it must be addressed to the American Red Cross offices or it will be returned and/or destroyed!

Any injured service member
Care of: American Red Cross Office
Walter Reed Army Medical Center
6900 Georgia Av. NW
Washington, D.C. 20307

Troop support mail policy stressed
(22 March 2003)

To bolster force protection, the general public is urged not to send unsolicited mail, care packages or donations to service members forward deployed unless you are a family member, loved one or personal friend.

On Oct. 30, 2002, the Department of Defense (DoD) suspended the "Operation Dear Abby" and "Any Service Member" mail programs due to force protection concerns. Although these programs provide an excellent means of support to friends and loved ones stationed overseas, they also provide an avenue to introduce hazardous substances or materials into the mail system from unknown sources. Unsolicited mail, packages and donations from organizations and individuals also compete for limited airlift space used to transport supplies, war-fighting material and mail from family and loved ones.

Recently, DoD has become aware of organizations and individuals who continue to support some form of the "Any Service Member" program by using the names and addresses of individual service members and unit addresses. These programs are usually supported by well-intentioned, thoughtful and patriotic groups who are simply unaware of the new risks facing deployed military forces. Some individuals and groups publicize the names and addresses of service members, ships or units on Web sites, with good intentions. The result, however, is a potential danger to the troops they wish to support.

DoD cannot support creative and well-intentioned efforts that defeat force protection measures, but can instead recommend alternatives to mail and donation programs.