|
Q. What can I do to support our troops? A. Thank you for thinking of our troops! Thousands of Americans
are asking what they can do to show their support for servicemembers,
especially those serving overseas in this time of war. Reach out to military
families in your community, especially those with a loved one overseas.
Please do not flood the military mail system with letters, cards, and
gifts. Due to security concerns and transportation constraints, DoD cannot
accept items to be mailed to Below are Web sites for several organizations that are sponsoring programs for members of the Armed Forces overseas. While it would be inappropriate for DoD to endorse any specifically, servicemembers do value and appreciate such expressions of support:
A. Responsibility for current military personnel records falls within the jurisdiction of the military departments, not the Office of the Secretary of Defense. Therefore, requests for military addresses should be sent to the respective service of the individual whose address is being sought. There is no comprehensive source for e-mail addresses. Even if there were, military regulations and the Privacy Act of 1974 do not permit the military departments to provide home addresses or telephone numbers of service personnel. Moreover, regulations do not permit random dissemination of listings of names and addresses of service personnel. These regulations have been established to protect individual service men and women from commercial exploitation and to respect their right of privacy. Because of the large volume of requests that each service locator receives, please allow four weeks processing time for written requests. Specific information Give as much identifying information as possible about the person you wish to locate such as full name, rank, last duty assignment/last known military address, service number, and Social Security number. The locator service is free to immediate family members and government officials. Other family members, civilian friends, businesses and others must pay $3.50. The check or money order must be made out to the U.S. Treasury. It is not refundable. United States Army Commander United States Navy World Wide Locator United States Marine Corps Commandant of the Marine Corps United States Air Force For locator service write to: Q. How can I contact military personnel in an emergency? A. If you need to contact a military member for emergency purposes, please call your local Red Cross chapter. Use operator assistance if necessary, or you may also find your local Red Cross chapter telephone number by visiting the Red Cross web site and clicking on "Your local Red Cross" and entering your zip code. Q. Is there a central email directory for Air Force people? A. There is no central email directory for Air Force people. Q. Is there a central e-mail directory for Navy people? A. The Navy/Marine Corps White Pages of official e-mail accounts is available to those operating on Navy and Marine Corps servers, but there is no central e-mail directory for Navy people or for Navy commands open to the general public. For the general public, your best course of action is to check to see if the command has a Web site and, if it has information on how to e-mail personnel assigned. Q. Does the Navy issue e-mail accounts to Sailors? A. Many Navy commands, primarily ships and shipboard commands, do provide e-mail accounts as a quality of life issue. Most shore commands provide an official e-mail account, not personal one, since Sailors can easily communicate with family members, either because the family is co-located or the Sailor can easily obtain a personal account through a commercial Internet Service Provider (ISP). Q. Can I send e-mail to a sailor aboard ship? A. Yes, but it depends upon the ship to which the sailor is assigned. Many do have e-mail accounts and provide an e-mail account to crewmembers as a quality of life issue. Personnel operating on Navy or Marine Corps servers can use the Navy/Marine Corps White Page to find e-mail addresses. Members of the general public should check the list of Navy Web Sites. You may also visit the USN Fact File section for the Web sites of various ships to see if the ship's web site lists how to e-mail a Sailor. Q. Are there other means by which to communicate with a sailor or Marine aboard ship? A. Yes. Another means is the Military Affiliate Radio System (MARS). MARS is run entirely by volunteers and has been providing communications between Sailors and their loved ones for many, many years. More information is available at the Navy-Marine Corps MARS Telecommunications System National Home Page.
For those individuals who left the Navy prior to being eligible for retirement or transfer to the Fleet Reserve, there is no formal way of trying to locate them. You may try the last place they called home and see if there are any records with either that local government or in the local newspaper's files, or you may just place an advertisement in any of the many veterans' organizations magazines. Q. How can I contact someone who is in the Marines? A. The following U.S. Marine Corps Family Referral hotline numbers are for family only. In addition, they will not be able to provide casualty information. Because of the sensitivity of casualty information, the Marine Corps will contact the Marine's immediate family first. The numbers provided apply to both active duty and Reserve Marines.
West Coast Marine Corps Units MCB Camp Pendleton
MAGTFTC 29 Palms 7th Marine Regiment out of 29 Palms: 1-800-759-7602
For information about Fleet Marine Force Units aboard 29 Palms, visit their web site, MCAS Miramar MCAS Yuma View Web sites for the Marine units aboard MCAS Yuma. East Coast Marine Corps Units MCB
Camp Lejeune The 2nd Marine Expeditionary Force has also established several toll free information lines to allow friends and family members access to current information.
For news and information about the 2nd Marine Division, visit their Web site. For news and information about the 22nd Marine Expeditionary Unit, visit their Web site. For news and information about the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit visit their Web site. For news and information about the 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit, visit their Web site. MCAS Beaufort MCAS Cherry
Point For news and information about the 2nd Marine Air Wing, visit their Web site. MCAS New River
Outside the Continental United States MCB Hawaii View information about Marine units located at MCB Hawaii. MCAS Iwakuni For news and information about the III Marine Expeditionary Force, visit their Web site. Q. How do I find an address for a deployed Marine? A. For the latest unit addresses and information about sending mail to deployed Marines you should contact the Main Post Office at the installation where the Marine was assigned before deploying. Letters and packages sent to Marines at their stateside Marine Corps Postal addresses will be forwarded to deployed Marines with a minimum delay.
Q. What can be mailed to deployed Marines? A. The following items are PROHIBITED:
The following is a list of highly desirable items for deployed Marines. It is recommend that you keep the boxes small - about the size of shoe box or a Postal Service Express mailing box - for easy transportation.
|