GOSHEN COUNTY – Residents who wish to send on-time Christmas greetings to deployed loved ones have a recommended deadline of Saturday, Dec. 16, according to the United States Postal Service (USPS).
Priority Mail Express Military Service is available to selected military and diplomatic post offices abroad.
“The Postal Service has created a free ‘Military Care Kit’ based on the items most frequently requested by military families,” the USPS stated in a press release.
The kit contains:
Two Priority Mail APO/FPO/DPO Flat Rate Boxes
Two Priority Mail Medium Flat Rate Boxes
Priority Mail tape
Priority Mail address labels
Appropriate customs forms
To order the kit, call 800-610-8734. Guidelines for packing, addressing and shipping items to U.S. troops can be found at usps.com/ship/apo-fpo-dpo.htm. To order Flat-Rate Boxes featuring the “America Supports You” logo, go to usps.com/freeboxes.
“If you have a military friend or family member, they’re really counting on you,” David Rupert of USPS said. “This is a perfect time to let them know that they’re remembered, (and) the mail is a great way to do it. You can send them an email, talk to them on the phone or via Skype, but there’s nothing like something you can hold in your hands – it’s a real personal touch.”

To send packages to loved ones serving in the military and diplomatic posts abroad, the Postal Service offers a discounted price of $17.35 on its largest Priority Mail Flat Rate Box. The price includes a $1.50 per box discount for mail sent to APO/FPO/DPO (Air/Army Post Office/Fleet Post Office/Diplomatic Post Office) destinations
worldwide.
“That’s kind of our ‘thank you’ to the military service,” Rupert said.
When addressing the package, USPS recommends writing the service member’s full name and including the unit and APO/FPO/DPO address with the 9-digit ZIP Code (if one is assigned).
For example:
Army/Air Post Office (APO)
PFC JANE DOE
PSC 3 BOX 4120
APO AE 09021
Fleet Post Office (FPO)
SEAMAN JOSEPH SMITH
UNIT 100100 BOX 4120
FPO AP 96691
Diplomatic Post Office (DPO)
MELANIE ADAMS
UNIT 8400 BOX 0000
DPO AE 09498-0048
USPS advises residents do not write the country name where the service member is stationed in the address; include a return address; and inside the box, include the service member’s name and address as well as the sender’s name and address on an index card in case the shipping label gets damaged
in transit.
“I know Torrington’s got a big military representation overseas,” Rupert said. “One really great idea I heard is somebody sent a holiday meal in a box – (they sent) a canned ham, yams, a pumpkin pie mix, a can of cranberry sauce, kind of a ‘since you can’t come home for Christmas dinner, we’re sending Christmas dinner to you’.
“Be creative,” he continued. “Send them something they can show to their
buddies.”