Mail Holiday Packages to Middle East Early

San Diego community groups, businesses, schools and individuals should mail Christmas packages and cards early to San Diego-based military personnel in the Middle East to avoid the traditional mailing crunch during the holidays, postal and military officials said.

Packages to the Middle East should be mailed by Nov. 16. Christmas cards and letters should be sent by Nov. 26.

Express mail deadlines are a few weeks later, but senders should remember that overseas express mail costs can be prohibitive, postal officials said. All parcels should be properly packaged and addressed to avoid delays.

To offset mailing costs, San Diegans can contact a few local businesses paying postage expenses for Christmas goods being sent to U.S. troops in the Middle East.

Operation Desert Shield, the code name for the deployment of U.S. troops in response to Iraq’s invasion and occupation of Kuwait, has put an added holiday burden on the postal service and last-minute Christmas mailings will worsen that problem, said San Diego Postmaster Margaret Sellers.

People are reminded not to send perishable foods--such as the traditional Christmas fruit cake--that will spoil under the desert heat or during delays in postal handling.

Recommended gifts include board games, audio tape cassettes, books, hobby items and personal hygiene items such as eyedrops, cotton swabs and insect repellent. Sweat shirts would be useful since desert temperatures drop at night.

Camp Pendleton is advising Marine families to send Christmas packages now. Many dependents, already accustomed to delays involved with overseas mailings, have done so already, said spokeswoman Sgt. Vicki Turney.

Schoolchildren and others supporting Operation Desert Shield are asked not to earmark all their Christmas gifts for San Diego-based Marines and sailors so that military personnel from across the country can receive items, Turney said.

Many local elementary schools that have been corresponding with Marines and sailors since August are preparing to send holiday greetings to units and servicemen they have adopted.

“We hope to send our Christmas items in the next couple of weeks,” said Dawn Sullivan, a fifth-grade teacher at Zamorano Fine Arts Academy in the San Diego Unified School District.

Mass quantities of gifts should continue to be sent through the Defense Logistics Agency, which can be reached at (703) 274-3561.

Postal spokesman Ken Boyd said that the recent increase in mail to troops in the Middle East likely is Christmas-related.

“We think people are getting the message and mailing their Christmas packages early, but we can’t tell if a package sent to the troops in the Middle East is a Christmas present or just a regular package,” Boyd said.

In respect to the Islamic government of Saudi Arabia, packages should nor contain liquor, drugs, weapons, explosives, pork products, photos of nudity or semi-nudity, sexually oriented literature or materials, or Christian and Jewish items, postal officials said.

Saudi postal and customs officials will confiscate or censure such materials, including Bibles, crosses and magazines with pictures of women in bathing suits, underwear and other garments considered unacceptable by the Saudis.

“I’ve heard of one case where a guy’s wife sent him a picture of herself in a bikini, and all he got was her head (with her body cropped from the photograph),” said Boyd.

A good guideline is adhering to American standards of “good taste,” Turney added. “Photos of women and girls are OK. I’m not saying the women have to be in snow gear, but you should use good judgment.”

Locally, there are a few ways that San Diegans can support troops without having to pay full postage.

Mail Boxes Etc. will pay mailing costs on up to 2 pounds on two packages under its “Operation Desert Santa,” which runs to Nov. 16.

The project, which mailed 300 packages in its first three days in October, is drawing the most response from its stores near military bases. The stores are expecting to absorb up to $1,000 each in mailing costs.

“We think this is a terrific project and we’re supporting it wholeheartedly,” said Beverly Selby, administrative director of the Navy League, a civilian organization of supporters of Navy personnel.

Mail Boxes Etc. also will ship up to 700 pounds of morale-boosting gifts under “Operation Desert Cheer,” a project organized by the San Diego chapter of the National Speakers Assn.

Postal Annex Plus, with support from HomeFed Bank and Travel Center Downtown, has been paying postage for Christmas packages and cards throughout October.

On Monday, from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Horton Park, the companies will sponsor “From the Heart of San Diego,” during which senders can have mailing costs covered on packages up to 25 pounds and 15 inches square. Postal Annex Plus expects to pay at least $1,200 in mailing costs in San Diego, said company spokesman David Wilkey.

Monday’s event will be videotaped and sent to San Diego-based military personnel in the Middle East as a video Christmas card, said Bob Zimmerman, the organizer of “Operation San Diego Cares,” which has supported U.S. troops since the initial deployment in the Persian Gulf crisis.