The White Falcon - 26.02.1993, Blaðsíða 5

Combined effort delivers solutions
•to decrease local mail problems
Authar' <s Note: This article was comoiled bv “Rra 4” in this rasp, would he Air Forces unit ronrempd If crnrlino

^Author's Note: This article was compiled by
Naval Air Station (NAS), Keflavfk’s Post
Office, Admin. Dept, and the 4557th Mission
Support Squadron. It was written to help an-
swer questions and provide valuable infor-
mation regarding the local mail system.
First, what is “local” mail? Local mail is
personal or commercial unofficial mail to be
transmitted between agencies and individu-
als on base only. You should address local
mail in the same manner as a letter sent to the
states. Include the person’s complete name
(rank and service, if applicable), the appro-
priate Postal Service Center (PSC) number
(1003 for Navy and 1013 for Air Force) and
the correct FPO or APO number (FPO AE
09728 for Navy and Rockville, or APO AE
09725 for Air Force). To avoid confusion,
write “Navy local” or “AF local” in the upper
right comer where you normally affix post-
age. Commercial activities on base are au-
thorized local mail service as well. Write
“COM” instead of “local” in those instances.
The same rules apply for sending mail to
er European theater APOs and FPOs except
ou write “MPS” in the upper right comer.
It’s also very important to put a complete
return address on local mail. Local mail not
delivered due to inadequate addressing is
destroyed if it bears no return address.
To illustrate a common problem: If you
send personal mail to an Air Force member
and mark it “AFI Box 4,” and place “local”
on the upper right comer, this is incorrect.
“Box 4” in this case would be Air Forces
Iceland’s (AFI) “guardmail” box. Each Air
Force member assigned to AFI has their own
mail box number, and that’s what should be
used instead.
Additionally, the local mail system is NOT
intended for official correspondence on base.
There are two ways to distribute official
correspondence on base: the Navy’s “guard-
mail” system and the Air Force’s Base Infor-
mation Transfer System (BITS). A Standard
Form 65, U.S. Government Messenger En-
velope, should always be used to enter mate-
rial in the official mail system for on-base
dispatch.
Many times, postal delays occur because
mail marked “local” is put into the “guard-
mail” or BITS system. Also, much mail
contains incomplete addresses or inaccurate
information and requires extra service to
identify the intended recipient. Each com-
mand on NAS Keflavik has a “guardmail”
box or stop number assigned. Navy com-
mands use these box numbers for personal as
well as official mail. This is what causes
much of the confusion. The Air Force does
not conduct unit mail call, but rather, oper-
ates its own PSC providing personal lock-
boxes to its assigned personnel.
In addition, AFI is comprised of several
subordinate commands (4557th Operations
Group, 4557 Support Group, 57th Fighter
Squadron and so forth). While all AFI com-
mands use “guardmail” Box “4”, correspon-
dence should specifically be addressed to the
unit concerned. If sending official mail to the
4557th Mission Support Squadron for ex-
ample, address the guardmail envelope with
“4557 MSSQ” and put the number “4” in the
stop no. block. Each guardmail envelope
addressed simply “AFI box 4” has to be
opened by BITS personnel to determine the
correct recipient. This slows the process sub-
stantially - in some cases by one duty day if
a determination cannot be readily made.
Education and awareness of the causes of
local mail delays are the first steps towards
improving the local mail system. One pro-
posal is to place separate mailboxes in the
NAS Post Office and Air Force PSC lobbies.
The box in the Air Force PSC will be marked
“Navy Local, MPS and COM Only,” and the
box in the NAS Post Office will be identified
as “Air Force Local Only.”
MPS mail and local mail to non-service
activities such as schools, banks, or NEX will
always be placed in the Navy local box and
processed by the NAS Post Office. The
boxes should be installed within the next few
weeks.
These are just a few of the measures to be
taken in an effort to provide quality service to
the customer - you! We solicit your support
and cooperation, as well as your feedback, as
we work together to make the system better.
You may call the NAS Post Office at ext.
4665, the NAS Admin Dept, at ext. 2122, or
the 4557th MSSQ Information Management
Flight at ext. 7696.
Ice-Tales
by Mike Jones
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February 26,1993
5