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Staying in regular contact is essential
for everyone

KEEPING IN TOUCH

Receiving a letter becomes so much more important during times of operational deployment, whether you are at home or on operations. When soldiers are deployed, it is the news from loved ones that gives the personal contact with ‘the outside world’ and helps to make everyone feel closer.  Whilst there will be periods during deployment where soldiers will not be able to utilise the full extent of the welfare facilities, rest assured that there are a wide range of methods of staying in touch - many of which are now free! These range from the latest electronic formats, to the well used and much loved ‘bluey’.

A welfare phone card is issued to every soldier and this gives them 30 minutes free talk time every week. If more is needed then top up cards can be bought at a much cheaper rate than using a mobile phone.

Mobile phones may not be taken on operations; instead they should be kept at home until Rest and Recuperation (R&R) and end of tour.  There are a number of reasons why military personnel are advised not to use mobile phones when deployed on operations. The most obvious of these are expense and security. It costs both sides approximately £1.40 (€1.82) per minute. It would soon add up - 10 minutes every day for a week may not sound like much but when the bill comes at the end of the month for £392 (€510), by the end of 6 months you could have paid for your end of tour holiday!

These have become world famous and on operations the sight of a ‘bluey’ is a sign of news from home or news from a loved one on military duty. They are completely free, providing you do not put any enclosures in, and are available from all post offices. You will also find them in your Unit Welfare Office (UWO), with your Regimental Admin Office (RAO) or in the HIVE.

A free electronic service provided by British Forces Post Office over the internet. Simply log on to their web site and follow the instructions. The e-blueys are not immediate as they are printed off securely in theatre and then delivered to the appropriate unit. In Afghanistan it can take around 2 days. If you do not have internet at home you can access the site from any internet terminal – www.bfpo.org.uk

There may be times when a soldier is either unable to get to the welfare facilities due to the nature of their daily routine or operational commitments. Don’t worry if you have not heard from a loved one for a while, but if you do have any concerns then take them to your UWO. There may also be times when communications ‘go down’. This could be for any number of reasons as all the communications rely on satellites.

BFPO - delivers mail all over the world.  You can send even special delivery letters or parcels (max 2 kg) but one thing is certain, whatever you send must be addressed correctly to ensure that it gets to the right place.  No matter what you send the address must always look like this:

The senders name and address must be written on the back of all envelopes and parcels.  If you write on a regular basis then some letters may ‘get out of sync’ and arrive in a different order than the dates sent.  This could simply be due to flight delays but the post will get through. Tip: Date or number each letter.

To ensure that whatever is being sent arrives in the same condition as it left you, use the right sort of packaging.  A complete range of boxes, bubble wrap and hard back envelopes are available from Post Offices in the UK and Germany as well as in all the main stationery shops.

Free postage concessions have been arranged for Foreign and Commonwealth soldiers to stay in touch with their friends and families too.  Once they have written their ‘bluey’, they can collect stamps to their home destination free of charge from their unit postal NCO.

Where’s my mail?

If you are living in a quarter or own home in the UK there will be no change to your postal arrangements.  It will therefore be the responsibility of the person receiving that mail to forward on any mail to any friend or relative that has deployed, should it be appropriate.  In Germany, however, it is the serving spouse who receives all the mail to the office.  During times of deployment, mail is sorted differently. Mail or parcels/packets addressed:

Specifically to the person serving on operations will be re-directed to him/her in theatre

To a soldier and his/her spouse will be passed to the spouse

to a spouse will be passed directly to that person

Should you wish to make alternative arrangements then the form ‘Redirection & Collection of Personal Mail’ available at your unit post room, must be completed and signed.

Each unit will employ their own system for the collection of mail.  This could be by sorting the mail into company / battery / squadron and then either keeping the mail in the post room for collection or distributing it to the admin offices.  Whatever the system make sure you know how it is going to operate.  If you are working and cannot get to the post room why not have your post re-directed to your place of work?  You could also nominate a friend or neighbour to pick up your post for you too.  Just ensure the ‘Redirection & Collection of Personal Mail’ form is completed and the rest will happen.  You can always up-date the form at any point.

It is just as important to make sure post being sent to families  is  correctly addressed, otherwise that long awaited parcel from ‘Next’ could find  its way to Iraq!  To ensure that mail does not get forwarded to Iraq/Afghanistan, mail must be addressed using this format and using your details:

Since it was started with the HOME RAT (7 Armd Bde) Trusted Friend Scheme, this local initiative, based on trust and friendship within the local community, has proved to be in-valuable.  Like all the other forms you will be completing over the coming months the information contained will be vital to ensuring that the operational tour runs as smoothly as possible on the home front.  Every brigade that deploys is encouraging the use of this scheme; HOME20 is no different.

It simply involves nominating individuals who are willing to support you at times when you require assistance. These instances will be rare and unexpected; normally due to appointments that leave you without childcare/petcare or transport and/or access to your married quarter.  If you have a friend who is  willing to help, should you need them, just fill in a Trusted Friend Form from your UWO or download one from the HOME20 web site on BFG  Net and then  send  the copies  as  indicated to the right people.  The form indicates authority from you along with your nominated person’s willingness to assist with childcare/petcare, transport or have access to your quarter should the need arise.  This scheme does not impose an obligation on the nominated person, but will indicate those who should be contacted if other avenues of immediate support are unavailable.

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It is important that you ask your ‘trusted friend(s)’ if they agree to being nominated on your form and inform your children that if you are faced with an unexpected emergency they may be collected from school etc by your trusted friend.

Once you have completed the form, you should take it to your Unit Welfare Office.  There it will be copied so that it can be distributed as follows:

• Copy one to the Unit Welfare Office.
• Copy two to the nominated person(s).
• Copy three to be retained.
• Copy four to the School (if appropriate).

Once your nominations are made please keep them up to date - it is possible that friends will get posted or fall out!