Forward Operating Base Loyalty Army Post Office

Courtesy Photo | Sgt. Michel O'Connor, a native of Bismarck, N.D., and a Soldier with the Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team 82nd Airborne Division, assists with pro-grade download at Forward Operating Base Loyalty.  

BAGHDAD, IRAQ

01.20.2009

Courtesy Story

10th Mountain Division Sustainment Brigade Public Affairs Office

By Staff Sgt. Shawn Hafele
10th Sustainment Brigade Troop Battalion, 10th Sustainment Brigade

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq - Forwarding Operating Base Loyalty is an extremely small location that is both personal and rewarding. Its size has nothing to do with the postal mission.

We sit on the outskirts of Sadr City, which until recently, was one of the most active areas in Baghdad. The team here at Loyalty consists of five Adjutant General's Corps Soldiers who conduct the entire postal operation and is one of only two postal locations that do not have contractor augmentation support.

Spc. Julia Griffin is the postal supervisor in charge of operations, and a native of Charleston, S.C. When the unit arrived at Loyalty on April 24, 2008, none of the Soldiers had any formal postal training, only pre-deployment postal training which was fast and furious for these brand new Soldiers. Griffin has grabbed the reins of this operation and has a firm command of postal regulations governed by USPS, MPSA and CENTCOM. Whether it's answering questions about non-mail able items or explaining limitations of insurance through international channels, her knowledge is vast.

All the Soldiers at FOB Loyalty are cross-trained in every aspect of the postal mission; however, they also have their primary duties. Pfc. Cassandra Mannon, a native of Gallipolis, Ohio, the most junior Soldier in both age and rank, is the lead finance clerk. She has learned the workings of the Integrated Retail Terminal machine and has also become the expert in its troubleshooting. Her secondary duty is the accountability of mail.

Spc. Eugene Muller is a recent addition that comes to us from the Mobile Postal Mission at Liberty. He hails from Capetown, South Africa, but now considers Houston to be his home, location of his MEPS induction. His primary responsibility is the accountability of mail with a secondary in technical inspections. Newly promoted, Spc. Maria Powell, and a native of Brooklyn, N.Y., joined the team in November and is the most traveled within theater. She was previously at Liberty, Forwarding Operating Base Falcon and Forwarding Operating Base Rustamiyah. She was active with the MPM team and has had technical inspection duties. Her primary duty is TI with an alternate of postal finance.

Presently, our mission consists of all movement of both pro-grade and retrograde mail on the FOB as well as the quarterly inspection of 22 Unit Mail Rooms that just a month ago was as high as 35. Within the last two months, these Soldiers have tracked ballots for the '08 presidential election, welcomed the surge of holiday mail, said goodbye to an entire brigade and then trained its replacement. All this occurred without missing a beat or losing their focus on the mission at hand. This required a lot of discipline and extended hours. This once green and untrained operation is now a well-polished postal machine that welcomes all new challenges with incredible pride and professionalism.

• Date Taken: 01.20.2009
• Date Posted: 01.20.2009 03:19
• Story ID: 29037
• Location: BAGHDAD, IQ