Ramstein postal workers prove delivering mail is mission critical

  • Published
  • By Master Sgt. Michael Voss
  • 86th Airlift Wing Public Affairs
RAMSTEIN AIR BASE, Germany --  Military members have often been accused of having their own language. Terms like "PT test" and "retreat" are words you hear if you hang out at a military base. When an Airman refers to mission critical, they are usually talking about a piece of equipment. But what makes a piece of equipment or a job mission critical to the Air Force?

Members of the Ramstein Postal Service often think of themselves as mission critical, not only because of the sheer amount of mail they touch, but because their mission affects thousands of servicemembers and dependents throughout the Air Force every day.

In fact, Ramstein's Northside Postal Service serves as the central hub for all APOs throughout Europe. Weekly volunteers and 46 active duty postal workers here stuff more than 10,500 mailboxes with bills, magazines and letters from businesses and loved ones, and often they hear what a difference their mission makes.

"Every package or piece of mail that comes into or out of Europe APOs goes into and out of here," explained Ramstein Northside assistant postmaster, Staff Sgt. Jonathon Price. "Every day 20 to 30 letter trays holding 150 letters each come in and out off our post."

A normal day for a postal worker here is at least 10 hours. In the early morning hours Airmen using a computer, scanner and barcode shuffle each piece of mail from trucks to shelves and into and out of mailboxes. In total, there are 110 personnel and volunteers around the KMC, working Northside, Southside and Kapaun Air Station responsible for supporting the more than 56,000 servicemembers, civilians and dependents in the Kaiserslautern Military Community.

"Volunteers are used to help at the parcel pickup window or to pitch magazines which helps tremendously but they have to be trained and certified to handle first class mail," said Tech. Sgt. Itzia Caban, Ramstein Northside postmaster.

The post office is broken into sections including the postal service center, the people who breakout and process the mail, who open the boxes of hundreds of letters and push them to individual boxes. Receipt and dispatch, who take the mail and ensure it gets to the truck for the out processing. And official/unit mail who drive to various units each day to pick up and drop off mail.

Cuban, who joined the Air Force in 2000, has a wealth experience with military post offices to compare to Ramstein says, "I have been stationed at Tulley, Greenland, Aviano, Italy and deployed to the 379th Air Expeditionary Wing, and Ramstein is by far the largest post office I have worked at. It is quite the experience."

Price, a 2A5X1 crew chief by trade, has been at Ramstein for six years filling a special duty assignment as postal clerk explained that the connection between the post office and mission critical is evident at all times throughout the year, not just during winter snow days.

"Even when the roads are red, we have to be here. The mail doesn't stop and people expect their mail to be there," the Pittsburgh, Penn., native said. "You can hear it and see it on their faces."

Are they mission critical to Airmen? How does mail affect Airmen?

"Of course, there are many things that Airmen are waiting on from the states from letters to products they ordered online," explained Price. "The Airmen rely on this place especially here in Europe, because there are a lot of the things they can't get here without the mail. Our mission has a direct effect on morale."

Would not receiving their mail really affect an individual's duty performance? Maybe, explains the postal team.

"Sometimes our customers yell because they are happy they received a package they have been waiting on day after day. Sometimes they yell because something they thought was arriving isn't there," explained Caban.

For example, mail sent from an Airman at a forward base in Afghanistan to someone at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, is sent to Frankfurt, forwarded to Ramstein, sorted by postal workers in the Northside post office and then pushed to a crate to be forwarded to their loved one at the 52nd Fighter Wing.

"I believe it is a privilege to have our mail here," said Price. "And if it was not available Airmen's morale would be affected. Sometimes mail affects us more than the security at the gate or if the lights in our work center work."