Pte Wendy Meyers, 1CSSB, carries mail for sorting in Dili, East Timor by AFPO 5 which is gearing up for the Christmas mail load. Photo by Cpl Wade Laube, 1JPAU(P)
What’s in the bags? AFPO5 statistics as at December 10, 2002
	Bags	Weight (kg)
IN	5773	65,816.4
OUT	3977	35,731.1

Santa’s helpers busy

From Cpl Jonathan Garland
in East Timor
THE Australian military post office in East Timor is gearing up for a busy Christmas period.

Postal Manager AFPO5 WO1 Dayel Kerley said the two staff members could receive up to 120 mailbags from Australia in a single delivery.

“Going out, we can dispatch anything up to 80 mailbags,” she said.

The post office receives mail from Australia three days a week, which it then sorts and delivers to the 1100 full-time and part-time Australian military personnel still serving in East Timor.

As the festive season approaches, packages are getting larger and the volume of mail is increasing, as families in Australia begin sending deployed soldiers gifts for their Christmas away from home.

“During November we received about 80 bags per delivery – it’s now more than 100.

“Everyone loves the post – it’s a real buzz to see what a morale-raiser getting a package from home can be.”

WO1 Kerley, from 10FSB in Townsville, is one of 15 specialist postal workers in the Australian Army who provide postal services to soldiers deployed to operational areas around the world.

.