Joel Hefley: “Few things boast morale in a war zone more than receiving a card, a letter, or a care package from a loved one from back…”

“Few things boast morale in a war zone more than receiving a card, a letter, or a care package from a loved one from back home. And, unfortunately, as more and more men and women in uniform are deployed in support of operations in Afghanistan and Iraqi Freedom, we are hearing countless stories of delays in service members receiving their mail. On March 24 of this year, the General Accounting Office testified that some of the problems that existed during Operation Desert Storm in 1991 are occurring now in Iraq and Afghanistan. According to the GAO, the current system of delivering mail to service members relies on outmoded and labor-intensive manual sorting processes that result in undue delays. Furthermore, the Department of Defense is unable to track mail and determine the timeliness of deliveries. And since we have known of the problem for so long and we have not gotten it fixed, it tells me that it is not a very high priority of the Department of Defense; and I think that is what this resolution does, is tell the Department of Defense we think this is important and it ought to be a higher priority.”