kmcvay@oneb.wimsey.bc.ca (Ken McVay) (04/20/90)
ELECTRONIC MAIL SERVICES AND THEIR EFFECTIVENESS IN MAIL
DELIVERY DURING THE WAR IN THE PERSIAN GULF
Are electronic mail services proving effective during a massive crisis
such as the war in the Persian Gulf? The answer is a resounding yes!
Such services provide an electronic "link" between friends and family
members that is incredibly efficient when judged by standards of
normal mail delivery.
SaudiNet, a project of The American Public Emergency Computer System
(APECS), is a volunteer group of over seven hundred nodes across the
country who operate computer bulletin boards. Computer bulletin board
systems (BBS's), are numerous and scattered about the country, and the
world for that matter. With these systems, it was a logical extension
of the electronic mail that was already in place, to utilize them (the
volunteer systems), to send electronic mail to the troops serving in
the Persian Gulf.
[Ed. Note: CPECS, the Canadian PECS equivalent, provides the same
function for Canadian users, as well as an international uucp gateway
into SaudiNet/APECS]
With SaudiNet, electronic mail is sent to a receiving point on the
West coast, then transmitted over dial up phone lines to a point in
Saudi Arabia where the messages are printed out, folded and stapled,
then handed over to the Military Post Office (MPO), which in turn
delivers the mail to the intended recipient. SaudiNet has two
distinct advantages over other services, SaudiNet allows a person to
send a letter to "any soldier". This letter can be sent to a "land
based" or "sea based" service person, and can be a welcome letter of
encouragement to a soldier who might not otherwise receive a letter
from home. The other advantage with using SaudiNet is the general
consensus among its volunteers that it is "not over until the hugs".
SaudiNet vowes to continue this valuable, non-profit service as long
as it is needed.
The United States Postal Service has had an incredible volume of mail
pass through their system since the start of the crisis. At the
height of the Christmas mail season, during the week of December 11th,
the USPS was handling 525,850 pounds of mail each day! During mid
February the volume of mail declined to 400,700 pounds per day and
currently (week of April 2nd) the number has dropped significantly,
down to 166,143 pounds per day.
Dennis Hauck, USPS Program Manager for Operation Desert Storm, has
many years experience dealing with military mail. Hauck is retired
from the US Air Force, fifteen of his twenty years service was spent
in charge of military mail in Saudi Arabia. He explained to the BBS
News how the USPS handles mail to the Mideast. After mail is placed
in a "drop box", it then goes to one of five military mail processing
centers in San Francisco, Dallas, Chicago, Washington D.C. and New
York. From these, the mail is sent to either Tinker AFB in Oklahoma
or Macguire AFB, in New Jersey. Hauck says that the USPS tries to
have the mail from the drop box into military hands within three days.
From there it is the military's responsibility. The mail leaves one
of the air bases on an aircraft bound for Saudi Arabia arriving after
a stop in Europe for refueling and a change of crew.
Once it arrives in the desert, the boxes of mail are sorted and sent
to D'hahran or Khalid Military City, about a four or five hour drive
north of Riyadh. Captain Weidner, Chief of Army Postal Operations in
Washington D.C., told the BBS News to think of the Mideastern Theatre
being roughly divided into two zones, D'hahran serving troops in the
lower Saudi Arabian area and the Khalid Military City office serving
troops in a more forward position, including but not limited to
southern Iraq.
Once the mail gets to these two Military Post Offices (MPO's) it is
further sorted by a Direct Support Unit (DSU), then sent to individual
units for delivery by military postal clerks. Hauck points out that
as the volume of mail decreases, so does the availability of aircraft
drop correspondingly. In other words, mail that is current (day of
delivery to military by USPS) might have to sit and wait for an avail-
able aircraft. This results in a delay that adds to the confusion.
Both Hauck and Captain Weidner report that their respective services
have not escaped critism by citizens on the delivery of mail from the
U.S. to their loved ones serving in the Persian Gulf. Hauck says
that the worst case is a delay of thirty to sixty days before mail is
received by the intended recipient. In some cases, there have been
accusations that the mail never got there at all.
This critism is not limited to the USPS or the MPO. Chip Chiappone,
Product Marketing Manager for GEnie is in charge of GEnie's "Letters
from Home" service. He reports to the BBS News that his service has
received some disparaging letters about electronic mail not reaching
the intended soldier, Chiappone said, "You can't believe how
*relieved* I am that we are not the only service experiencing these
kinds of problems. I've gotten some letters from people who had
stopped using the USPS to utilize the service and they are complaining
that their letters had not reached their family member." Chiappone
says that their service has been averaging three to four days on mail
delivery but they too have not escaped the delays that are unavoidable
when the military is delivering mail in such a "fluid" situation as
the crisis in the Persian Gulf obviously is. Unlike SaudiNet, GEnie's
"Letters from Home" service is slated to end on April 30th.
Tony Mattera, in charge of Prodigy's "USA Connect" service, tells the
BBS News that transport of return mail out of Riyadh is being
re-structured because of rapid troop redeployments. Captain Weidner
confirmed this. When asked if Prodigy's service is experiencing
complaints, Mattera sidestepped a bit and answered that it is his
understanding that return mail is being checked for explosives,
souveniers and such and the resulting delay could be up to four weeks.
Mattera said that Prodigy's service is scheduled to end on May 30th,
however, Mattera said that the service had been extended before and he
could not rule out the possibility that the service could be extended
further.
*All* of the electronic services contacted by the BBS News told of
delays and complaints of varying degrees. It is the understanding of
the {BBS News} that mail sent electronically to Saudi Arabia, is being
received by the military in a timely manner. In fact, Todd Looney,
President and COO of APECS, which oversees the SaudiNet project told
the {BBS News} that letters had been sent to General Schwartzcoff and
received. The General sent a reply back to SaudiNet, expressing his
interest and support of the system so it is generally held that the
system is working. The breakdown in the system seems to be when the
letters reach the military.
It is understandable that there are delays because there are troops
being sent home on an almost daily basis as well as re-deployment in
the desert because of the "scaling" down of the military presence in
the Persian Gulf area. Dennis Hauck also pointed out that the
military has "closed out" 34 APO's as of April 11th. Hauck said that
the electronic services should be concerned with the closure of APO's.
A service such as SaudiNet could have "their computers smokin' and be
working their particular brand of "magic" to get one last letter to
"Billy" only to find out that he had shipped out the week the letter
was sent."
The "bottom line" is electronic mail is arriving in the Persian Gulf
usually within twenty four hours, once it gets into military hands
however, for a number of reasons there are delays of delivery to the
soldiers. It may be that the military may need to look at "revamping"
their current mail delivery structure. Particularly because the
technology exists to sent a letter over a normal telephone line within
a matter of minutes by personal computer. While the military "wowed"
the American public and indeed the world with their technological
marvels in weaponry, they may need to bring their mail service up to
date to reflect the current technology available to the average
person.
One further note, while the other electronic mail services are rapidly
"scaling down" and even suspending their services that facilitate
getting letters to the troops, APECS will be expanding their operation
to become a permanent public service. In addition to SaudiNet, APECS
will offer a way for civilians to communicate with their loved ones
who will be rebuilding Kuwait. Further plans include being able to
provide electronic mail communications to any "crisis" area in the
world from concerned citizens in the United States who would like to
offer their support and encouragement.
APECS Inc. is actively seeking corporate donations to alleviate the
expense that SaudiNet volunteers are bearing in the form of long
distance charges to keep SaudiNet operational. For more information
about APECS Inc. contact: Michael Hess, National Publications
Coordinator, (513) 835-5258.
[Ed. Note: CPECS, while not yet at the point where incorportation is
an active consideration, is now working to expand both the FTN
(Fidotech) network and enhance InterNet gateways, and will continue to
work in parallel with it's American-based cousin. Corporate
sponsorships and private donations are not actively sought, but would
certainly be appreciated, as our transport costs are high. For
specific information on the Canadian effort, contact
kmcvay@oneb.wimsey.bc.ca, or call Ken McVay voice, at 1-604-754-7423.]
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