How to Help Armed Servicemen With Letters

Many organizations use letters as a support tool for troops.

Servicemen and servicewomen are often separated from their families as they deploy or are stationed in other parts of the world. Being away is mentally hard on people, so things like letters from home, even if they are from a stranger, can help. This is especially true around the holidays, though encouragement from home is good for morale any time of year. There are several ways to contact a soldier to send him a letter; in some cases, it can take just minutes to accomplish.

Instructions

1. Write a short note using the online form supplied by the United Service Organizations (USO). This allows you to send a message through the Internet rather than using the postal service, which can take several days or even weeks to reach a member of our forces. It also allows you to send a message to any specific person serving, whereas you are no longer allowed to do this through the postal service due to military regulations.

2. Write a letter made out to "Dear Soldier" and give it to one of the 300-plus charity organizations listed at Military.com that send letters, cards and care packages to troops. Since everything is sent all at once, these letters can be made out to a random soldier without getting in the way of the military regulations that prohibit such letters going through the postal service.

3. Make a donation to one of the same 300-plus organizations. This allows them to send out more letters and other goodies to troops. Though the letter may not come from you directly, you are still helping an armed servicewoman with letters.

Tips & Warnings

• If you plan to send anything else along with your letter, check to make sure it is allowed by military regulations. If you don't check, there is a possibility your package could be returned.

• Any donation made to one of the organizations that sends letters or packages to soldiers overseas is tax deductible. Ask for a receipt of your donation so you can claim the tax deduction.

• In the past, writing "Any Soldier" or "Any Service Member" on a letter meant it would go to a random soldier. Military regulations passed in 2001 now forbid this due to safety and security concerns. All letters must be addressed to a specific service member unless you use one of the organizations listed on a site such as Military.com.

References

• Military.com: Support Our Troops
• The Freedom Fund: Our Mission
• Our Military: Sending Care Packages to Troops

Resources

• USO: This Holiday Season, Say Thanks to Our Troops