Mail to the Troops - Updated

I came across your recent post mentioning America Supports You, so I thought I’d drop you an e-mail making you aware of some misinformation regarding mail to our troops.

Every year, hundreds of thousands of cards, letters and care packages addressed to “A Recovering American Soldier” (or a variant thereof), are returned to senders. For a variety of reasons—documented on USPS.com, Snopes.com, in this MSNBC.com article, and on Walter Reed’s Web site—a 2001 Defense Department policy forbids the delivery of generically addressed mail to service members.

Instead, the DOD encourages people to send mail to one of two homefront groups associated with the America Supports You program:

Soldiers’ Angels
1792 E. Washington Blvd.
Pasadena, CA 91104

Or, for those in the metropolitan Washington, D.C.-area:

We Support You During Your Recovery!
C/o American Red Cross
P.O. Box 419
Savage, MD 20763-0419

Both Soldiers’ Angels and the Red Cross will collect, screen and deliver the well-wishes of those who want to brighten the day of a wounded service member who is recovering away from home this holiday season.