OT: Pentagon Limits Gifts to Troops

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Pentagon Limits Gifts to Troops

 

By Brian Faler

Special to The Washington Post

Wednesday, December 15, 2004; Page A31

 

The Defense Department has a stern message for those considering playing

Santa Claus this holiday season to troops abroad: If you don't know

them, don't send it.

 

The agency is reminding the public that it does not accept unsolicited

packages -- even holiday gifts -- to troops stationed in Iraq,

Afghanistan and elsewhere.

 

" It's a security issue, " said Lt. Col. Ellen Krenke, a spokeswoman for

the Defense Department. " [it's] also to keep the mail lines free or open

to keep volume down so that family members can send packages to their

loved ones in time for the holidays. "

 

The Pentagon has not allowed such packages, which are often addressed to

" any service member, " since shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist

attacks. But this is the time of the year when schools, churches and

other groups nevertheless organize collection drives to send items from

presents to potato chips to the troops -- and the Pentagon is expecting

another flood of holiday mail. The agency handled 8 million pounds of

mail last December, about twice its usual monthly haul.

 

It is urging well-wishers to focus instead on the soldiers' families

here at home.

 

" Think locally, " Krenke said. " We need to remember the families they've

left behind in the States who also may have needs -- maybe help around

the house or getting the car fixed or just getting through the holidays. "

 

The public can still send packages to individual soldiers as long as

they are addressed specifically. People can also continue to give to

recognized charitable organizations, such as the Red Cross and the USO,

that distribute packages to military installations.

 

Krenke also urged the public not to attempt to circumvent the agency's

rules by distributing lists of soldiers' names and addresses on Web

sites, for example. That too, she said, presents a security risk. " We

don't want just anyone sending just anything to any service member, "

Krenke said. " We want our soldiers to know who they're getting mail from. "