Did You know?
Until 1980, each U.S. military service and government agency managed its own mail program. In 1980, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) designated the U.S. Secretary of the Army as the single military mail manager. 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 the USPS. It conducts DoD contingency planning and provides postal support to theater Combatant Commanders through Services' theater postal commands. 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.
In addition to supporting U.S. military installations overseas, the MPSA also supports mail delivery to and from U.S. diplomatic and consulary facilities abroad and, of course, to deployed personnel in combat zones worldwide. Most USPS special 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 in the military postal service. Collect on delivery (COD) and signature confirmation (signature confirmation may be available in the future) are not available. Mail sent from one military post office (MPO) to another MPO in the same theater (e.g., mail from an MPO in Japan to another MPO in Singapore) can be sent for free on a space available basis. Because the DoD provides or pays for overseas transport for U.S. military mail between the U.S. and overseas duty stations, as well as delivery services in theater, military postage rates are equivalent to U.S. domestic postage rates.
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 mailing or receipt of certain items, such as pornography, meat products (especially pork), firearms, tobacco, etc., via the U.S. military postal system. For a complete list of restrictions, consult the Postal Bulletin, 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 addresses at U.S. domestic postal rates.
In accordance with treaties and other international agreements, use of U.S. military postal services overseas is normally restricted to authorized customers, i.e., U.S. Government personnel (military, civilian and diplomatic) stationed overseas (either permanently or on temporary duty orders) and their dependents. Further restrictions may exist on a country-by-country basis depending on the host nation involved and the status of the postal customer. Retired U.S. military personnel living overseas may also have limited access to the military postal service, depending on their country of residence. The only purpose for which U.S. citizens associated with neither the U.S. forces nor diplomatic/consulary missions may use military post offices is the sending of absentee ballots. The easiest way for U.S. citizens not affiliated with the U.S. government to obtain access to the military postal service while overseas is at a U.S. consulate or embassy, as access to other overseas facilities may be restricted.
Overseas military post offices operated or supported by the Army or Air Force use the city abbreviation APO [Army Post Office / Air (Force) Post Office], while overseas military post offices operated or supported by the Navy, Marine Corps or U.S. Coast Guard use the city abbreviation FPO (Fleet Post Office).
Recently the United States Postal Service (USPS) has added Diplomatic Post Office (DPO) as a valid overseas address effective January 18, 2009. The Postal Service is revising the Mailing Standards to reflect a request from the Department of State to distinguish diplomatic overseas mail from military mail. 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 military services and so are known as either as APOs or FPOs.
Three quasi-state codes have been assigned depending on the (approximate) geographic location of the military mail recipient and also the carrier route to be taken. They are:
AE (Armed Forces Europe / Canada / Middle East / Africa) - 09xxx
AP (Armed Forces Pacific) - 962xx through 966xx
AA (Armed Forces Americas [excluding domestic and Canada]) - 340xx
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If you've been searching for a way to
support our troops easily, you've found it! Participate in one of our many projects or register with eMOM and sign up to eMail/Mail our military one-on-one. Connect with eMail Our Military (eMOM) on twitter at: @MailOurMilitary, follow our blog feed at: @eMOMs or connect with us through one of the services below.
                      
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 We promised you some great stuff this summer and here's just one of the fun announcements we have in store. Making it's June 1st debut, we're kicking off Operation Laugh! Operation Laugh is a joint effort between eMail Our Military (eMOM), comedian Dan Smith and the great folks at Funny Fundraise to help get comedy to our troops. If anyone needs a hearty laugh and healthy heaping of humor it's our military. You know Dan Smith as a comedian, but what you may not know is that he's also eMOM's spokesperson. Dan travels the globe performing for our troops and has 21 overseas military tours under his belt already. Talk about being an ambassador for eMOM! Now that's what we call a morale boost. If you love sending surprises to the military service members in your life this is the perfect gift. Even if you just want to grab a copy for yourself or someone you love, you'll still be helping to support our troops. For every copy you purchase, a portion of the proceeds will go to eMail Our Military to help us continue to support our troops. Grab Operation Laugh To pick up your own copy of Operation Laugh for just $15.85, visit eMail Our Military's Operation Laugh site at eMOM's Operation Laugh. Remember, for every CD purchased eMOM will receive $4.00 toward supporting our troops. Sharing Operation Laugh with a Service Member If you don't have a military service member to share Operation Laugh with but would like to adopt one you can do that through eMail Our Military today. Just register with us online and we'll get you started. If you prefer to purchase a CD and donate it to eMail Our Military to be shipped out in one of our military care packages please mail your purchased copy to us.  About Operation Laugh
Operation Laugh was created by Zach Miller and Jeff Garcia as a way to make a great comedy CD that had a military theme, and could therefore be sold to help raise money for military organizations. The CD is hosted by Jeff, one of the hottest up-and-coming comedians in the country. (With two of his own specials slated to air on Showtime in 2009. He's one to watch!)
When building the rest of the roster, Zach and Jeff wanted to use comedians that had performed for the troops before and were supportive of them. Dan Smith (over 21 overseas tours!) is the most notable, but Sarah Tiana and Ryan Sickler round out the group and contribute to this hilarious show that will hopefully raise tons of money for the organizations partnered with it! Enjoy! We know our troops will enjoy Operation Laugh and we know you will too. When you purchase your copy we'd love to hear your thoughts. Write a review and we may feature it on our site! Don't forget to spread the word and share this post with everyone you know. We're hoping to get copies of Operation Laugh to all branches of the military. # # #
If you've been searching for a way to support our troops easily, you've found it! Participate in one of our many projects or register with eMOM and sign up to eMail/Mail our military one-on-one. Connect with eMail Our Military (eMOM) on twitter at: @MailOurMilitary, follow our blog feed at: @eMOMs or connect with us through one of the services below.
If you're reading this via email or in your feed reader, stop by and add your comments.
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 Live near New York City? The TODAY Show will be collecting children’s books and baby goods for families of men and women in the service on Thursday, June 4. Come by with your donations and support military families as part of TODAY’s Call to Action series. (Photo courtesy of the Today Show)
# # # If you've been searching for a way to support our troops easily, you've found it! Participate in one of our many projects or register with eMOM and sign up to eMail/Mail our military one-on-one.
Connect with eMail Our Military (eMOM) on twitter at: @MailOurMilitary, follow our blog feed at: @eMOMs or connect with us through one of the services below. If you're reading this via email or in your feed reader, stop by and add your comments. [ Tags: eMOM, eMailOurMilitary, Military Support, Troop Support, Supporting Our Troops, Messages of Support, Moral Support, eMail The Military, eMailing Our Military, Mail Our Military, Mailing Our Military, Mailing The Military, Military Care Packages, Military eMail, Military Pen Pals, Armed Forces, Today Show Call To Action Series, eMOM on the Today Show, eMail Our Military on the Today Show, Today Show Troop Support, Today Show Military Support, eMOM on MSNBC, Today Show Military Drive, Patriotism, Any Service Member Mail, Miami MilBlogging, South Florida Troop Support Organization, South Florida Military Support Organization, South Florida Blogger, eMail Our Military Blog, Honor Duty eMail ]
 Welcome to June!
We've got lots planned for you this summer in support of our troops so we hope you'll be here with us participating and having a grand old time. Don't forget to subscribe to our blog so you won't miss a minute. If you choose the email option you will receive ONE email each day with a summary of our posts.
Let's kick off June with a list of holidays and events for you to make note of. Please leave a comment if we missed an important holiday or event.
June 01 - Operation Laugh Launch (stay tuned!)
June 14 - Army Birthday
June 14 - Flag Day
June 14 through 20 - National Flag Week
June 14 through July 4 - Honor America Days
June 21 - Father's Day
June 21 - Summer Begins If you're planning a troop support event in the month of June or would like to hold an event please let us know by leaving a comment on this post and we'll be happy to reply.
From all of us here at eMail Our Military we wish you a safe and happy June. Enjoy!
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If you've been searching for a way to support our troops easily, you've found it! Participate in one of our many projects or register with eMOM and sign up to eMail/Mail our military one-on-one.
Connect with eMail Our Military (eMOM) on twitter at: @MailOurMilitary, follow our blog feed at: @eMOMs or connect with us through one of the services below.
If you're reading this via email or in your feed reader, stop by and add your comments. [ Tags: eMOM, eMailOurMilitary, Military Support, Troop Support, Supporting Our Troops, Messages of Support, Moral Support, eMail The Military, eMailing Our Military, Mail Our Military, Mailing Our Military, Mailing The Military, Military Care Packages, Military eMail, Military Pen Pals, Patriotism, Any Service Member Mail, Miami MilBlogging, South Florida Troop Support Organization, South Florida Military Support Organization, South Florida Blogger, eMail Our Military Blog, Honor Duty eMail, eMail Our Military's June Events, June 2009 Holidays, Patriotic Events in June ]
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This doesn't have to be a summertime project and you don't have to wait for a patriotic holiday to roll around to send us your cards for the troops. At eMail Our Military we accept cards for heroes year-round. Your cards will ship in care packages to our military service members and may also be scanned, saved and shared by email to be enjoyed over and over again. 
