Mail and care packages sent to BMQ / BMOQ

[The Bread Guy]

- A six-foot diameter kiddie pool for Father's Day 2002, in Kandahar.  With cover and beachball.  My gunner arranged for the Echelon to bring out extra water the next day and we filled it up.  Every day he empties out two 25mm Ammo Cans of water and put in two more cans and added bleach.  Had to keep the cover on when not in use due to dust storms.  Fit three lying down, if you staggered head-toes-head.

And here he was (Photoshopped just a bit to protect PERSEC, of course, shared with his permission)....

 

[ENGINEERS WIFE]

Great pic  ;D  Quite the view from your waterfront property :  That's funny!!  I never realized the Wal-mart happy face went on tour!

 

[TCBF]

Great pic  ;D  Quite the view from your waterfront property : ...

- Waterfront? Well, at the time, the KAF sh_t pond was about 192 meters from the surv suite!

 

[ENGINEERS WIFE]

Maybe instead of waterfront, I should of said 'The view from your pool is SPECTACULAR!!!'  ;D

 

[ENGINEERS WIFE]

So, I have searched and cannot find the answer....

What happens to care packages that can't or weren't able to be delivered to the CF member serving overseas and they were properly addressed? 

Either because they have re patted back to Canada or it just never found their way to them.

Just curious

 

[Postal Clerk]

So, I have searched and cannot find the answer....

What happens to care packages that can't or weren't able to be delivered to the CF member serving overseas and they were properly addressed? 

Either because they have re patted back to Canada or it just never found their way to them.

Just curious

It depends on how it was sent.

1.  Canada Post:  The item will likely be returned to the sender through Canada Post however it does take some time.

2. Sent via Moral Mail system (free of charge through the bases): Because these items have no postage on them, we usually contact the sender to ask them if they would like the item returned.  There will be a charge through Canada Post to get the item back.

I can provide more info if you'd like.  Shoot me a PM and I can assist you in tracking the item with my fellow posties overseas.

 

[Michael OLeary]

The Bizarre, Unsatisfying Things Soldiers Receive in 'Care Packages'

Article link.

These books were far outnumbered by titles that look like they came off the rack of bodice-rippers at the supermarket. I'd bet a lot of money that no soldier requested that Deborah MacGillivray's A Restless Knight, which sports a shirtless male model type on the cover, be flown here, and that no soldier will ever read it. I would guess that the obscure L. Ron Hubbard titles haven't gotten a lot of use either. So where do these books come from?

The answer, I suspect, is care packages. The yellow ribbon magnet on the SUV bumper is probably the most public way that Americans show their Support for Our Troops. Another, usually more useful one is care packages addressed to "Any soldier." (Web sites like AnySoldier.com and AdoptaPlatoon.org help people with the mechanics.) These packages are hit or miss.

Sometimes, a care package is perfect. Once -- I won't say where -- I watched a tentmate open up a box that contained a bottle of Skyy vodka, and the look on his face rivaled the boy's in A Christmas Story when he is finally united with his Red Ryder Carbine-Action Range Model Air Rifle. Of course, that came from a friend, not an anonymous patriot, but other, more licit luxuries can be just as welcome.

Why, though, would anyone send a big stack of AARP magazines to teenage and twenty-something soldiers in a war zone? Or a box full of Sensodyne prescription-strength toothpaste tubes? Or a powder blue "Hello Kitty" t-shirt? (All of these are things I've seen troops puzzle over in Iraq or Afghanistan. The lucky recipients of the AARP magazines were members of the 2-106 Cavalry Squadron last year in Helmand province.) Maybe not the same people who send those supermarket romances, but someone with a similarly well-calibrated sense of what deployed soldiers most miss.

More at link.

 

[Sapplicant]

Those old dip tins also work really well as make-shift road-hockey pucks. Though I don't think losing 16-2 to the Canadians at KAF helped morale any more than the stack of AARPs did  ;D

 

[GAP]

In one letter to my mother, when I finally got around to writing, was to bemoan the lack of Koubassa Sausage, among other normal things a 19 year old might ask for kool aide, tobasco sauce, etc.....

Mail overseas, being what it was then and now, I received my care package about 6 to 7 weeks later in 120 degree heat, and guess what it contained?......................my Koubassa sausage and other stuff, all contained in it's own mailbag, cause it contaminated everything that it touched..... ;D

 

[SeanNewman]

Personally my favourite, even above and beyond things, for entertainment value was getting letters from school kids.

Not high school kids who may have their own a-hole agendas, but young kids who draw hilarious pictures and ask questions like "Do you use jetpacks" or "Can you please kill ________ for me, he stole my bike".

One of my friends received a crayon-drawn picture of a stick figure Canadian soldier shooting a ton of people in the head, and all of the bodies had the X over the eyes, etc, which seems morbid now, but I can just imagine the teacher looking in front of the class saying "now we're going to draw nice pictures that show support for our soldiers..."

 

[medicineman]

Funny things people send to friends and loved ones in hot places - chocolate.  Why do people think it won't turn into some amorphous goo within minutes of arrival in a really hot place?

MM

 

[daftandbarmy]

One of my friends received a crayon-drawn picture of a stick figure Canadian soldier shooting a ton of people in the head, and all of the bodies had the X over the eyes, etc, which seems morbid now, but I can just imagine the teacher looking in front of the class saying "now we're going to draw nice pictures that show support for our soldiers..."

Nice to hear that you got my letter  :camo:

 

[Brutus]

The lads in the Mess sent me beer, a newspaper, and audio tapes of local radio stations (along with, umm, 'literature' depicting the female form).

All jokes aside, it was a great care package. I didn't realize how cool it would be to hear familiar radio voices and read what's happening in my home town.

 

[vonGarvin]

Personally my favourite, even above and beyond things, for entertainment value was getting letters from school kids.

Not high school kids who may have their own a-hole agendas, but young kids who draw hilarious pictures and ask questions like "Do you use jetpacks" or "Can you please kill ________ for me, he stole my bike".

One of my friends received a crayon-drawn picture of a stick figure Canadian soldier shooting a ton of people in the head, and all of the bodies had the X over the eyes, etc, which seems morbid now, but I can just imagine the teacher looking in front of the class saying "now we're going to draw nice pictures that show support for our soldiers..."

I remember those letters, especially the comments we added to said letters  >

 

[jollyjacktar]

The MFRC in Halifax were kind enough to send a care package each time I was there.  They were pretty tame and honestly not really thrilling.  The other MFRCs did a better job I think.  A co-worker from Borden got magazines, some candy and better stuff in his.  To add insult to injury, the Halifax guys always packed their semi-filled care packages in empty Keith's boxes.  Now don't get me wrong, it's the thought that counts.  But geeze I wish some more thought went into it.

 

[Michael OLeary]

But geeze I wish some more thought went into it.

That is perhaps the start of a new thread created by those who, like yourself, have been overseas. Identify what you would have liked to receive in the "ideal" care package. It will be different for different people, so there's lost of room for alternative examples.  Consider a few basic ground rules (besides being realistic, of course), such as a "$25-dollar care package" or a "$50-dollar care package." Also, consider the possible size of the package which might be chosen by an organization trying to create many at once; such as packages to fit a standard shoe box or, as noted, a beer carton.

So, what would you have liked to receive?

 

[Scott]

Perhaps "more thought" would have been if the beer box had have  contained its original contents...

Seems obvious to me.

And those die hard Alpine lovers out there could have had "desert-piss-warm Alpine"...

 

[jollyjacktar]

Well now, "official" MFRC care packages I will have to sit back and think on as what I would have like to see, legal and legit. 

There is one forum member here however I wish to acknowledge (again) and pledge my eternal thanks and gratitude to....  Engineers Wife, and her Sister in Law.  They were kind enough to send me some home baked goodies that I was able to share with everyone who wanted a taste of home.  EW loves to send these packages and has done so for several of my friends as well while there were there.  What a morale boost!!!    True Patriot love for sure.  Take a bow you two, you both are my heroines.

She also tried to get some shirts/hats over from the folks at Hero to Hero.  Kevin, I would have enjoyed distributing these through out the FOBs/KAF but sadly they did not make it by the time I rotated home.  I hope that they did make it to someone there who would enjoy the gesture and share the wealth.  My sincere thanks nevertheless.

 

[Jarnhamar]

We recieved a stack of letters from children and were ordered to write the children back.
back fire.
One of the soldiers in the platoon was a genius in creepy morbid marches to his own beat kind of way.  For example, overseas he took pages out of Maxim Magizine, soldier of fortuine, FHM magazine etc.. depicting  war, death, violence, suffering and randomly covered the wall behind his bed in the ripped out magazine pictures.  Only when you stood back and looked at the wall as a whole, the random pictures actually formed the image of a giant smiling skull.  Very creative guy..

So he writes the child back in the form of an illustrated comic book which could only be described as written with brutal honesty and soldiers morbid humor.

School wasn't impressed. No more writing children for the platoon. Extra duties and a trip to the shrink for the soldier.

 

[Michael OLeary]

And those die hard Alpine lovers out there could have had "desert-piss-warm Alpine"...

To wash down a care package donair and some deep fried Brothers pepperoni.  ;D