Military mail is a special military postal system, used to integrate the civil postal system in a given country with that country's military posted overseas. Many nations have special systems to transport mail to and from their soldiers stationed abroad. Mail bound for military destinations overseas is normally transported to a designated main office in the home country for consolidation, after which it is transported to the foreign destination, where it is sorted and delivered by military postal clerks to individual recipients.
A primary feature of military mail systems is that normally they are subsidized to ensure that military mail posted between duty stations abroad and the home country (or vice versa) does not cost the sender any more than normal domestic mail traffic. In some cases, military personnel in a combat zone may post letters and/or packages to the home country for free, while in others, senders located in a specific overseas area may send military mail to another military recipient, also located in the same overseas area, without charge. Additionally, military postal systems in a host nation may have special agreements with that host nation's postal service allowing military postal customers to send mail to addresses in that host nation at the military's domestic postage rate using their own postage and currency. Merchandise and other goods sent via military mail systems may also enjoy duty-free privileges in accordance with Status of Forces Agreements.
The first known use of military mail was by the Egyptian army in 2000 B.C.[citation needed] Modern military mail is used by various armies, and in some nations may even vary depending on the branch of service.
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The origins of the BFPO can be traced back to Saxon times. The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle make mention of messengers being sent by King Edward the Elder (899-924) to recall members of the Kent fyrd, but it is generally regarded that the origins of the postal services stem from the Kings Messengers (Nuncii et Cursores) of medieval times.
The provision of a mail service to soldiers was a very ad hoc affair until 1882 when the Army Post Office Corps (APOC) was raised from 24th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers to accompany the British Expeditionary Force sent to Egypt in the same year. Its task was to perform "Postal Duties in the Field". The 24th Middlesex Rifle Volunteers was recruited entirely from the staff of the British General Post Office, and was commanded by Lt Col JL du Plat Taylor, whose idea it was to have a Postal Corps.
In 1913 the Army Post Office Corps was re-organised to form the Royal Engineers (Postal Section), under a Director of the Army Postal Service (DAPS), Lt Col W Price RE. The service remained part of the Royal Engineers until it was transferred to the Royal Logistic Corps on its formation in 1993.
At the end of World War I (1914-18), the Royal Engineers (Postal Section) along with the Royal Air Force (RAF) helped to pioneer international airmail services, by setting up airmail routes between Folkstone, England and Cologne (Köln), Germany to service the British Army of the Rhine.
During World War II (1939-45), they popularised the aérogramme, when they adopted it as the Air Mail Letter Card in 1941 to reduce the bulk and weight of mail so that it could be transported by air.
In 1962 the Royal Engineers (Postal & Courier Communications), took over the responsibility for handling the Royal Navy’s mail and thereby became a provider of a tri-service facility based in the old Middlesex Regiment's Depot at Mill Hill.
The Bundeswehr's military mail system is known in German as Feldpost; all mail to or from missions abroad is sent to Darmstadt (near Frankfurt am Main), where outbound mail is sent via land or air to the Bundeswehr's overseas stations, and inbound mail is dispatched to German domestic addresses, or to foreign destinations. These include Kosovo, Bosnia, and Afghanistan. Feldpost addresses consist of the word "Feldpost" and a four-digit number beginning with "64" followed by two additional digits denoting the specific mission (e.g., 6401, etc.). Postal rates for the Feldpost are the same as domestic German postal rates. The Feldpost offers the same service to its customers as the Deutsche Post does within Germany.
Largely based on the system followed by the British Indian Army in the 19th century, the Indian Military provides the services of the Army Postal Service Corps which handles the mails for the three defence forces (Army, Navy, Air Force). The Corps however is part of the Indian Army, and is staffed by volunteers from the civilian Indian Postal Service. Mails written to soldiers on field posting do not contain their regular postal address, but their number, rank, name, and Unit number ending with a suffix - "c/o xxx A.P.O". Soldiers are also not allowed to send mails from regular civil Post Offices even if their area of duty have such facilities. For more information, visit the APSC website.
Until 1980, each of the U.S. military Services managed their own mail program. In 1980, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) designated the Secretary of the Army as the executive agent for mail. The Military Postal Service Agency (MPSA) was created to perform this task, with a jointly-staffed headquarters located in the National Capital Region. MPSA is required to adhere to United States Postal Service (USPS) rules, federal laws, and various international laws and agreements for movement of military mail into over 85 countries. MPSA is the single DoD point of contact with Headquarters USPS on matters of policy. It assists the Combatant Commanders (COCOM) with contingency planning. It serves as a proponent of DoD's cost control policy for DoD official mail and as the functional director for military mail. MPSA also monitors transportation funds dedicated to overseas mail movement. It’s worthwhile to note that while MPSA is charged with monitoring costs, the individual military services (Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard) actually budget for and pay the bills for manpower, facilities, daily operating costs, and hundreds of millions of dollars in second destination transportation (SDT) costs. This is why the military services maintain Command and Control (C2) over all assets, both overseas and in the United States.
MPSA also supports mail delivery for U.S. Diplomatic facilities abroad and to deployed personnel in combat zones worldwide. Most USPS extra services, such as Certified Mail, registered mail, delivery confirmation, insured mail, certificate of mailing, return receipt, restricted delivery and return receipt for merchandise are available to the MPS. Signature confirmation may be available in the future. Mail sent from one military post office (MPO) to another MPO can be sent for free as Inner/intra-theater Delivery Service (IDS) as long as it does not transit the United States. Military postage rates are equivalent to U.S. domestic postage rates because the Services pay the SDTs to, from, and between MPOs. The postage paid on mail to/from MPOs only covers the cost of transporting the mail within the U.S. All military mail between the U.S. and overseas locations is subject to customs inspection in the country of destination, and customs declarations must normally be attached to packages and larger mail pieces. Some host nations may restrict or prohibit the importation of certain items, such as adult oriented material, meat products (especially pork), firearms, tobacco, etc., via the MPS. For a complete list of restrictions, consult the Postal Bulletin (Overseas Military Mail), published on USPS.com. Other host nations (e.g., Germany) may have a special interchange agreement with the military postal service allowing for the mailing of articles to host nation civilian addresses.
In accordance with treaties and other international agreements use of MPS is restricted to authorized customers, i.e., U.S. Government personnel (military, civilian and diplomatic (and family members)) stationed overseas either permanently or on temporary duty. Further restrictions may exist on a country-by-country basis depending on the host nation and the status of the postal customer. Retired U.S. Military personnel living overseas have limited access to the MPS; they are usually restricted to sending and receiving packages weighing no more than 16 ounces. All U.S. citizens overseas are authorized to use the MPS to send absentee ballots. The easiest way to access the MPS while overseas to mail balloting material is at a U.S. Diplomatic mission since access to military installations is more restrictive.
MPOs operated or supported by the Army or Air Force use the city abbreviation APO [Army Post Office or Air (Force) Post Office], while Navy, Marine Corps and the Coast Guard use the city abbreviation FPO (Fleet Post Office).
Recently USPS added Diplomatic Post Office (DPO) as a valid overseas address effective January 18, 2009. The city abbreviation is DPO. As of March 2009 there are 16 U.S. Embassy locations are known as DPOs. The other approximately 90 overseas U.S. Embassy post offices fall under the management oversight of the Services and so are known as either as APOs or FPOs, however, many will be switching to the DPO address.
Three "state" codes have been assigned depending on the geographic location of the military mail recipient and also the carrier route used for sorting the mail. They are:
Military mail was subjected to censorship when it was the primary means for deployed servicemen to communicate with their families. The following text was printed on the message (non-address) side of standardized postcard "Subron 4 Standard Form No. F14 471-A-S/M Base. PH-7-15-41-20M." distributed to naval personnel at Pearl Harbor to communicate with their families following the Attack on Pearl Harbor:[2]
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