12/23/01
New program ensures everyone gets mail during deployment
By Mike Freeman
Staff Writer
The San Diego Union-Tribune
"A soldier's best friend, next to his rifle, is the postman."
— Lt. Gen. Walt Boomer in Saudi Arabia, 1990.
CAMP PENDELTON, CA — As the military limits mail to troops because of the anthrax scare, the local Navy League has been working to make sure Camp Pendleton Marines in Afghanistan and elsewhere continue to receive care packages from home.
Called Operation Interdependence™, the program recruits local businesses and community groups to sponsor -- or adopt -- a platoon of Marines, about 45 to 60 troops.
Each month the platoon is deployed, sponsors fill a 2-by-2 box with everything from magazines to beef jerky for delivery to troops in the field.
Wells Fargo's Mortgage Resource Center in Carlsbad recently adopted a platoon from the 3rd Battalion, 1st Marine Regiment. Kasey Emmel of Wells Fargo said she hopes to get to know her adopted Marines so she can tailor packages to their tastes.
"If somebody likes a certain sports team, we can get clippings from that team's games and send them off," she said. "When they have mail call over there, 40 or 50 guys get together and their leader passes out the mail.
"I've heard that lots of times, several people won't get anything. Over and over they won't get anything. We want to make sure everybody is getting something."
Both Marines and Navy personnel assigned to the platoons will receive packages. Although it's been in the works for months, Operation Interdependence™ has taken on added importance since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
During times of conflict, the armed services receive an avalanche of letters and care packages for troops, especially during the holidays, said Tomeka Rawlings, a spokeswoman from the Navy League's headquarters in Arlington, Va.
In the past, the military has done its best to make sure these mailings reached their destinations, Rawlings said.
With the anthrax threat, however, screening the mail is straining military manpower. The Department of Defense in October ended Operation Dear Abby, which encouraged Americans to send letters to troops during the holidays. The department also suspended the Any Service Member mail program. Its guidelines now encourage only family members and close friends of deployed service members to send letters and packages.
The adopt-a-platoon program, though, makes package delivery predictable and organized, easing the labor load on the military while keeping packages coming for the troops, said Al Renteria, chief organizer of the local effort.
"The response has been overwhelming," said Renteria, president of the Navy League's Tri-City Council and a retired Marine warrant officer.
Renteria, who spent 26 years in the Marine Corps, has donors lined up from across California, ranging from auto dealerships to hotels to local service clubs.
The Navy League inspects the contents of the boxes before delivering them to Camp Pendleton. The boxes are screened again at the base before the military gets them to the deployed troops, said 2nd Lt. Tara Burkhart, a Camp Pendleton spokeswoman.