§ The Minister of State, Ministry of Defence (Mr. Adam Ingram)On 17 April 2003, with the generous support of the Royal Mail Group, the Ministry of Defence introduced a free postal service to enable families to post packets up to 2kg free of charge to BFPO addresses in the Gulf. The provision of a free packet service recognised the difficult conditions personnel were operating in and that it was not possible to provide the full spectrum of welfare support normally available to personnel on operations. Whilst southern Iraq is not yet a benign environment, the level of welfare support and the facilities available on Operation TELIC are now comparable to those provided in other operational theatres.
It has therefore been decided that from 8 April 2004 with the handover of 20 Armoured Brigade to 1 Mechanised Brigade this free service will cease. This date should allow for any Easter gifts to be sent under the free service.
In common with other operations, personnel in Iraq are provided with free forces air letters and their electronic counterparts ("Blueys" and "eblueys") in addition to free Internet access and free 20 minute phone calls each week. Families may also send packets up to 2kg in weight to personnel in the Gulf at a concessionary rate—the equivalent of the UK inland First Class postal rate. The NAAFI/Expeditionary Forces Institute also sells through its outlets in theatre many of the small 70WS consumable items that families were previously sending to personnel and this has led to a significant decline in the demand for the free packet service.