More on Military Mail
In response to the post on the possible dangers of posting military addresses online, even so that people can send DVDs and CDs to bored troops, reader Carl Zeichner wrote:
"Books for soldiers.com" is a website dedicated to sending books to soldiers on active duty. The soldiers log on and make their requests for books, cds, etc. Until recently, all it took to read their requests was a password, requested in the usual relaxed way. Now, however, the website requires that you register by mail, with a notarized letter and a contribution to cover the cost of the new security measures.
This is because people are sending letter bombs to the solders on the website. Its all part of this new kind of warfare.
I asked the folks who run BooksforSoldiers.com whether this account was accurate and got the following reply from site founder Stormy Williams:
We do not ask for a contribution, we ask for a processing fee - according to our attorney, one is voluntary and the other is not.
I have no knowledge of letter bombs, but I have had a ton of complaints from families and soldiers concerning abuses of their mailing address. Unwanted political rants, pornography, and other abuses have occurred. However, our main concern was to patch the security hole BEFORE someone sent a dangerous package to a solider.
The DoD does use a complicated system of FPO and APO addresses but one can figure it out if you have enough time.
So, bombs don't get through--I'd hope the military would detect them en route--but obnoxious mail does. (I'm not entirely sure the pornography is unwanted, though it's certainly unauthorized.)
That, my dear readers, is what is known in the trade as reporting--minus the time-consuming part where I actually have to craft a story. (And minus the really annoying part where I call people at pre-arranged times only to find they're not even in the state, much less their offices, or where I wait by the phone for return calls that never come. I've had a lot of experience with that sort of thing lately, reminding me why I don't want to be a regular reporter.)