I saw a story on your fabulous program on a local Australian TV news show, and I had to check out your site.

I also wanted to let you know that at the moment you *can* send food to the US from Australia - I have some good friends in the US so was worried about this. I got this from the US Consulate-General website in Melbourne:

How do I mail food to the United States?

The rules for mailing food to the United States changed at the end of last year (December 2003). The new ruling requires that commercial shippers who wish to send food to the U.S.A. must electronically file a prior notice with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. A confirmation of the FDA receipt of prior notice must be presented to Australia Post along with the parcel.

Although this ruling applies to non-commercial shippers as well, a revised Compliance Policy Guide issued 24 June 2004, states that "no action" will be taken if a non-commercial individual shipper sends food to either him/herself, another family member or a friend. This means that you may continue to send food products to the United States without completing the prior notice.

This requirement does not apply to food that is made by an individual in his/her home and sent by that individual as a personal gift (for non-business reasons) to an individual in the United States.

Information on the Bioterrorism Act and the FDA may be found here.
More information on Prior Notice of Imported Foods may be found here
http://usembassy-australia.state.gov/irc/faq.html#food
I've since mailed food to my friends and it has arrived ok.
Hope that helps, and keep up the great work.

Michelle

And this from Holly, 27 May 2005 :
I emailed you earlier this month regarding Servicemen sending reply letters to Australia. I wanted to know if there was a way the sender could pay for the Serviceman's reply so he would not be out of pocket.

Well I did look into it, and although it is not possible to send stamps for the Serviceman to use, people can send International Reply Coupons. Here is some information on these that people may find useful.

From the United States Postal Service Customer Service:

"Unfortunately, you are unable to purchase U.S. stamps outside of the United States. However the sender of a letter may prepay a reply by purchasing reply coupons, which are sold and exchangeable for postage stamps at post offices in member countries of the Universal Postal Union. International reply coupons (in French, Coupons-Response International) are printed in blue ink on paper that has the letters "UPU" in large characters in the watermark. The front of each coupon is printed in French. The reverse side of the coupon shows the text relating to its use in German, English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, and Russian."

From Australia Post: "International Reply Coupons can be exchanged by the addressee for a stamp to prepay air mail postage on a small letter up to 50g anywhere in the world."

These can be purchased from Australia Post outlets and they cost $2.50 (AUD) each.

"I spoke to our PO people today and they have told me pretty much what you said.
As long as there is an APO address the Royal Mail know how to deal with it. The guy I spoke to even knew the main APO office was in New York. FYI rates are charged as standard airmail to USA would be.
Andrew"

"Hello,
Thanks for what you are doing with the program - I think it is absolutely wonderful.

I just wanted to let you know I've discovered a better way to send mail from England to US troops in Iraq than what is currently listed on your website. Not all UK postal workers know this, but when you address your mail/package without any country, as in:

CPT Soldier's Name
HHC, TF 1-6 IN
Camp Taji
APO AE 09378

- then the Royal Mail can send it via the British Forces Mail System (when it is addressed just like that) for the same rate as mailing to the British Forces (which is much, much cheaper and faster than sending airmail addressed to the US or Germany, etc.). You might have to tell this UK postal worker this, but it is completely legit, valid, and works very well. I am currently living in England and my boyfriend is stationed in Iraq, so I use this method everyday, and it safes much money and wait time.

Thanks again,
Emily Binks"

"German mail service will only charge you the postage for sending within Germany for - quote - "any mail sent to these number adresses". I didn't know that, and usually sending mail overseas (or anywhere outside of the European Union) is at least twice as expensive and might keep people from about it, this is probably the way they handle army mail everywhere. But trust me: It will be good news to all the people like myself, who have no ties to the army.)
Take care!
Tanja"

This from 19 September 2005:
Hi
This is a very pleasing message. I went to the Post Office today to send my package and they told me as long as the APO follows the "AE" which means they are in Europe (even though they are not) there is no additional customs form required. I kept the package small since I did not know how much it cost, but it had all sorts of little hygiene products for on the go people. Surprisingly it was not that expensive to ship, it cost € 4,30 to ship it. They also said that it will go to Nürnberg by tomorrow where it then goes into the army mailing system. I hope it does not take to long to get there.
Keep up the good work and I hope this info helps
Meriem Ben-Kraiem

"I live in Rome and I first asked for information at the Vatican post office, since they are generally more trustworthy than the Italian mail system. They can send packages to APO addresses at the same cost as sending packages to the States, but the only problem is that Vatican postal regulations require that they tie the packages with string, and I had read somewhere (I think on this website) that string isn't allowed. So unfortunately, don't use the Vatican, except for letters (80 euro cents).

Luckily the Italian post office I went to outside of the Vatican walls knew about APO addresses and told me the same information: the packages can be sent at the same rate as sending to the States.
However, a couple of tips to keep in mind: the packages must be less than 2 kilos in weight, and for some reason, if you go over 135 grams for one package, they charge you the price for 1 kilo (sounds suspicious but I think the postal clerk was being honest in this case). So try to keep your packages small and light. I sent 4 packages using priority mail and 3 of them came out to €8.50 (the 4th was the heavier one at €16.50). As far as if they will ever arrive...'incrociamo le dita' as they say here: let's keep our fingers crossed! -Shelley"

Make sure you use the correct border form on the box.
When the box is below 2 kilogram; use a green CN22 form.
All Dutch post offices have these.
Fill them in correctly!

When your packed weights more then 2 kilogram use another form, your post office will know which one.

Sent all your packages or letters with PRIORITY mail DO NOT use standard or economy !!

For the address:
All you have to do is use the soldiers address as stated on this web page, only write USA beneath it.
For example:

SGT Johnny B. Rock
Attn: Any Soldier^®
HHC, 123rd Grenade Repair Bn
APO AE 09999
USA

So, all you have to do is write USA beneath the address, and you can sent your package from The Netherlands or Belgium to any soldier.
The postage you have to pay will be the rate for the USA.

Make sure that YOUR OWN address is also on the box, when you forget to do this, your package will NOT be sent. (security reasons)

So, as you can see it's very simple to sent out a packet from The Netherlands, and if the people at the post office don't understand the codes on the address, tell them you also don't understand a bit of them....as long as they sent the package it's okay and it will arrive in the US (and from there it will be sent to any soldier)

TIP:
When sending by example more expensive stuff like a DVD player, a gameboy or an MP3 player, write "electronic equipment" on the border form....I guess you understand why....DO NOT sent any food in your packet !! sending candy bars is not a crime, but it's better if you don't.

If you still have a problem, you can always sent me an email; I can translate the above text in Dutch or help out maybe with something else.

Okay, as there are no Dutch military in Iraq anymore, it's time we make sure that we don't forget all other men and women who are still there!!

So sent out the packages from The Dutch!!
Gerrit-Jan Beun

Well, I went down to our local Post Office in Coldstream and Mary our Postmistress was extremely helpful. A letter to Any Soldier, Sailor etc only needs U.S.A. at the end of the address (just like you said). If it is just a letter by airmail, preferably on airmail paper, then it costs 30pence, (a first class stamp), which isn't a lot and it doesn't matter which side of the U.S. it is going to.

As for packages it gets a bit blurry, but what I have managed to get is this:

If you are sending a 1kg parcel by airmail, which will get to U.S. in five working days it will cost a minimum of £3.35 and a maximum of £9.92. By surface mail a 1kg parcel will get to the U.S. within 8 weeks and will cost £4.81. (A long time to wait though)

So here is a table to make it easier: (updated 1 Sep 2005)

Item	Weight	Airmail/Surface Mail	Price	Delivery Time to U.S.A.
Letter	60g	Airmail	£1.42	5 working days
Parcel	1kg	Airmail	£9.92	5 working days
Parcel	1.5kg	Airmail	£14.42	5 working days
Parcel	2kg	Airmail	£18.92	5 working days
Parcel	1kg	Surface Mail	£4.81	8 weeks
Parcel	1.5kg	Surface Mail	£7.71	8 weeks
Parcel	2kg	Surface Mail	£9.41	8 weeks

Any parcels MUST have a CN22 form filled, which is a little sticker you fill in and sign then put it on the front of the parcel.

It seems a bit ludicrous that we send it all the way to the USA when we are closer to where the guys are. There is also no contract between the US Postal Service and the Royal Mail, so there is no discount like we have with our BFPO (British Forces Post Office).

Annemarie

1. To get your letters going as fast as you can, don't choose surface mail as it goes by ship in Singapore (as in other countries). Choose airmail - as of 20th November 2007 it's SGD1.10 for letters up to 20g and SGD0.35 for every additional 10g. It takes 6-12 days for a letter to reach the States by airmail. You can do this at any Self-Service Automated Machine but don't forget to write "Air Mail" somewhere - its much faster too!

2. Items like care packages should be sent by Speedpost. Be careful to declare everything properly (but not too specifically) on the form and write your return address. Packages up to 20kg are acceptable. You can get any cardboard box but it's better if you get the Speedpost boxes as they are sturdier and already have pre-printed for you to fill in the address. It costs about SGD120 for a 10kg package to be sent to US, 0.5kg to 5 kg costs about SGD65 or so if you use Speedpost Surface which takes about 6 to 10 weeks to arrive.
Taryn

First please let me thank you for offering such a great service to the Soldiers. I am very grateful that you gave me the opportunity to support someone who is sacrificing so much for the benefit of all of us. Here's what I found out about shippments from Switzerland, in case you would like to add it to the international shippment section of your "How to Send" page.

I mailed my packet to a Soldier based in Europe ("AE") and only had to pay the shipping cost to Germany. It might be a good idea to look out for someone based in Europe. Not only will it be cheaper but it will also get there much faster (otherwise - or so I was told - it first gets shipped to the US and then sent to Iraq.)

When you make your packet, it is best to keep it within the size and weight limit of a letter. That means less than 2kg and lenght + with + height has to be under 90cm, with no one side being >60cm. (At the post office you can get boxes in different sizes. You can get up to number 3 [meaning the 4th smallest - there's a number 0 too] and still be within the limit - they are pretty big)

A 2kg "letter" to an AE address will cost CHF 21.- and take between 4 and 8 days. Priority takes 2 days and Urgent will be delivered on the next day. Keep in mind that this is only for the delivery to Germany, from there on it is all handled the same. A full price list can be found here: http://www.post.ch/en/spi_preise_economy.htm (english site - you can change the language to german, french or italian in the top left corner above the Swiss Post logo)

There is another advantage to keeping it within the allowance for letters: You only need to fill out a very small green form detailing the content and worth of the items. If you want to ship anything larger or heavier, a much longer form is required. (including the telephone number of the recipient - though I'm not sure if they insist on that for shippment to a military address)

Parcel shippments automatically include an insurance of up to CHF 1,000.- .. however that only covers the trip to the APO/FPO, not Iraq.

Hopefully I could help someone looking for information. Thank you again for offering this exceptional service!

Sincerely,
David

"I tried posting a small packet to my penpal in Iraq, addressing it with USA at the end of the address (which had an APO beginning AE). It arrived in Iraq about 12 days later and the friend in question commented it was quicker than things he ever got from the US, which got me thinking... I sent a cheap postcard to the same address - only with Germany at the end of the address instead of USA - and it arrived in Iraq 12 days later. As airmail to Europe is half the cost of airmail to the US that's led to two happy penpals, I can afford to send more often and he can get a little more moral boosting as a result."

"So I sent a parcel to him addressing it to Germany instead of the US, and it arrived safely enough. As such I'd suggest the following advice to anyone posting from the UK: if the APO begins AE, write Germany at the end of the address instead of USA. Ask the Post Office to send it airmail and insist on a CN22 customs label to stick on the parcel. They may say you don't need it for Germany, I simply explained it was being sent to a US military base and they insisted on a customs label being attached and the lady was fine. Et voila, hopefully a couple of weeks later the parcel is in Iraq at half the price you would have paid."

"Hope that helps someone using the site."
Rebecca G.

If you use this site to send anything prohibited or illegal to any of our Soldiers, you will regret it!
Any Soldier Inc. and the Soldiers cooperate fully with the F.B.I. to investigate all violations.