Soldier elves process millions of pounds

USAG YONGSAN - Members of the Every holiday season, Service Members from all over the world count on the United States Postal Service to both deliver gifts for their loved ones and to receive presents from online vendors, friends, spouses, and other family members. For most of us, aside from boxing up these gifts, the most difficult part of the whole process is repeatedly refreshing our internet browsers, obsessively tracking our packages in the hopes that the extra money spent at the post office will get them to their destinations by Christmas Day.

It turns out that we have the easy part.

Unbeknownst to most of those who work for or are supported by USFK, a small contingent of Soldiers, Airmen and Korean civilians at Incheon International Airport Cargo Terminal ensure the timely and error-free delivery of every single parcel entering or leaving the Republic of Korea.

Thirteen Soldiers, 12 Koreans and a team-size Air Force element man the Joint Military Mail Terminal, or JMMT. Previously located at Gimpo International Airport, the Terminal relocated to Incheon roughly 10 years ago. The Headquarters and Headquarters Company, USAG Yongsan Soldiers make the commute from Seoul every day, often traveling as early as 2:30 a.m. to reach the airport to begin mail operations. On a typical day, they arrive extremely early for the shipping of outbound mail. A short break follows, then they are back on the line for incoming parcels. The Soldiers normally return to Yongsan in the afternoon, exhausted but still motivated to conduct Physical Readiness Training before bedding down for the night. On other days, they must accompany and escort mail trucks to hubs in Camp Casey, Camp Red Cloud, USAG Yongsan, K-16, Camp Humphreys, Osan and USAG Daegu.

It takes a special breed of Soldier to accomplish this vital mission: the JMMT functions every day of the year with the exception of Christmas Day and New Year's Day. Fortunately, most of them are able to take one or two days off each week, but these are randomly scheduled and based completely off the projected work load.

Postal Soldiers have the Military Occupational Specialty of 42A, or Human Resource Specialists. They must also possess the F5 Additional Skill Identifier, qualifying them for postal operations Army-wide. The Army hand-selects these Soldiers and sends them to requisite schooling prior to their arrival in Korea. Part of the process includes a thorough vetting of each Soldier's background and civilian history, ensuring only the most enthusiastic and trustworthy Service Members handle your mail. They are also one of the most active detachments on the entire peninsula -- their amount of travel requires all qualified personnel to possess military driver's licenses so they are able to rotate out and stay safe on the hectic Korean highways.

JMMT personnel process over 20,000 pieces of incoming mail on a daily basis; this number spikes during the holiday period of October through January. Due to the extremely high amount of parcels and knowing the urgency with which they must be delivered, the Soldiers must often work six days per week.

"The most challenging aspect of working at the JMMT during Christmas mail season is the increase in mail volume," said Spc. Arlene Rodriguez. "The mail volume increases to an average of around 38,000 pounds per day, more than double the normal amount."

A tip from one of the JMMT Soldiers: be as accurate as possible on your customs forms and "don't be stingy with the tape," noted Cpl. Tricia Anderson. "Keep in mind that your packages pass through several postal systems and in most cases, one piece of tape will not guarantee the integrity of your package." It's also useful to note that if you ship any type of liquid, be sure the lid is on tight and secure it with tape or place it inside a plastic bag. There's nothing worse than sending a package halfway across the world only for the recipient to throw it away because of a leak or destroyed product.

Although sacrificing much of their personal time to include USFK holidays, the JMMT Soldiers, Airmen and Korean civilians never falter because they realize the importance of their mission. Truly a theater asset, this tiny group of personnel serves to drastically raise the morale of every USFK Service Member and their dependents through their selfless service. This holiday season, take a little time to think about and recognize the hard work and dedication of those at the JMMT who help make these days so special.