Forces Mail 'is pants'?

• BFBS Reports - 12 March 2008

• The BAFF line on this issue

Update May 2008: BAFF in consultation with British Forces Post Office

BAFF is in constructive consultation with BFPO management about forces mail. The correspondence will be made available to BAFF members.

BFBS Reports - 12 March 2008

Recent comments about postal delays in Afghanistan were widely reported in the media.

BFBS Television's flagship 'Forces Reports' programme have now run a special report on 12/03/08, the day of the official opening of the new BFPO facility at Northolt:

Prince Harry called it "Pants".  But does the British Forces Post Office deserve such a Royal brickbat?  We'll be examining the highs and lows of the BFPO service ...

The report mentions the fact that BAFF had made contact with BFPO, before the recent publicity.

The report also includes a short 'down the line' interview with a talking head from BAFF!

See Martha Fairlie's report - Click 'Watch BFBS Reports'.  This is a temporary link.

The BAFF line on this issue

The following Q&A has been written up from our spokesman's preparation notes for the interview.  We will review our comments in light of any further information we receive.

BAFF has not approached this as a blame game directed at the British Forces Post Office. Some resource factors are clearly beyond BFPO's control. We have also had several reports from deployed BAFF members that (for whatever reasons) mail is sometimes being delayed within theatre, after delivery by BFPO. We do not comment on operational decisions but it is right to mention the concerns, which appear to coincide with Prince Harry's reported remarks.

How long has the BAFF been aware of a deterioration in the BFPO service?

I suspect some of the deterioration goes back to Options for Change in the 1990s. I was personally shocked at BFPO delays in delivering voting papers to troops for the last General Election, even to Northern Ireland. But we’ve been aware of rising complaints in recent months.

How important is an efficient postal service for the morale of soldiers on operational tour?

Its vital. For many years the classic morale questions have been Do your boots fit? Are the rations OK? And is the mail getting through? And I’m afraid in some cases, now it isn’t.

Internet and sat phones and eblueys are great if you can get them, but real mail is still vital for morale.

And don’t forget the effect on the morale of service families and the implications for retention.

Should the forces be in the position outlined by CDS last week where they are having to make decisions between whether to move the ammunition, rations or the post?

CDS said you’ve got to make some choices about what is more important on that particular day. What gets space on the helicopter. Of course ammo and rations must take priority. But if you haven’t got room for the mail day after day and it actually never gets on the helicopter then there’s something wrong with your resources - or your planning. Further to that, our understanding is that in many cases mail having arrived in theatre is being held back by units and not being sent forward to the FOB’s, the Forward Operating Bases.

Are soldiers expectations too high?

Not at all. Actually I think expectations are too low in relation to the service which people should be getting, the service which they used to get, and which in many cases they are paying for. I’m talking not just of the problems in combat theatres, but in places like Cyprus, Germany and Northern Ireland where complaints are often met with the excuse that priority is being given to operational theatres. It’s a case of “don’t you know there’s a war on” and it’s a shoddy excuse to give to personnel who are themselves recovering from operations or getting ready for the next.

Where do you think the problem lies?

It seems to be partly down to over-stretched resources, especially air transport, but the problems with BFPO seem to have worsened in recent months with the move from Mill Hill to Northolt combined with the Christmas rush and of course the extension of the free packet service.  And the problem isn’t just with BFPO. Units have their own policies but not only that, I’m not sure that unit staff who handle mail take it quite as seriously as they used to. If you are posted out of theatre it used to be you could pretty much rely on your mail catching up with you – eventually – and I’m not sure this is quite the case any more.

What would you hope to see done to resolve the problems with BFPO?

Let’s hope that BFPO swiftly overcome the teething problems at Northolt. The criticism from the British Armed Forces Federation is not of the people working in the BFPO system with the resources they have been given. But I think the problems go much deeper than Northolt and I would like to see the provision of a reasonably fast and above all RELIABLE mail system being accepted as an integral and vital part of the Military Covenant. Instead of some of the excuses we��ve been hearing, officials could make a great start by accepting there’s actually a problem.