Big Red mail room

Photo By Sgt. Jason Kemp | Capt. Shawn Burroughs, personnel officer, Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, unloads the Official DHHB Mail Truck, a retired ambulance, as part of the Personnel Offices' daily routine.  

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, IRAQ

05.24.2010

Story by Spc. Jason Kemp 

1st Infantry Division

CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, Iraq – Mail is picked up daily from the Contingency Operating Base Basra Post Office and brought back to the unit mailrooms. Packages large and small by the hundreds and sometimes into the thousands pour into the mailroom.

The Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 1st Infantry Division, mailroom is led by the Postmaster, Sgt. First Class Phyllis Barnett, Operations Company, DHHB, 1st Inf. Div., one primary mail orderly at any given time (currently Spc. Micheal Gammons, Ops. Co., DHHB), and multiple assistants, according to Capt. Shawn Burroughs, personnel officer, DHHB. This staff facilitates the pickup, sorting and distribution of 700-1000 pounds of mail every day.

The mailroom supports over 1,000 service members and civilians on COB Basra. With DHHB being the largest mail receiver on the COB – receiving three times as much mail as the rest of the COB – the unit mail clerks are continuously busy.

"It's a physical and mental job. You have to make sure everything gets organized and stays organized," said Gammons.

"The daily functions of the mail room begin at approximately 7:45 a.m. when the mail orderly and assistant load up the official DHHB Mail Truck [a retired ambulance] and head down to the COB Basra Post Office for mail pick up," Burroughs said. "Returning re-direct mail and loading up the ambulance takes approximately 1.5 - 2 hours and then the unloading and sorting takes place at the S-1 Mail Room."

Yet, the mail has a long journey to make before it's ever picked up on COB Basra.
"Any mail sent from the states first goes to New York, then to Balad [Iraq] and from Balad it is convoyed to the different [bases]," said Sgt. First Class Phyllis Barnett postal officer and official mail manager for DHHB, 1st Inf. Div. "That process can take anywhere from three days to a month."

In fact, there have been delays in the past that lengthened the process.
"This process has improved significantly since our arrival in country when it was taking up to 30 days on a regular basis," Burroughs said.

Weather that grounds all flights, volcano eruptions and not being able to have a secured convoy are some of the things that can slow down the mail process, Barnett said.

Whether it comes from a Soldier's loved one sending a special package from home, an order from some online shopping-spree or just a stranger taking the time to write a letter to an unknown soldier, mail is a central element of deployed life.

"If we're not here, no one gets their mail," said Gammons. "We are a real important part of morale."

• Date Taken: 05.24.2010
• Date Posted: 05.24.2010 06:35
• Story ID: 50150
• Location: CONTINGENCY OPERATING BASE BASRA, IQ