Mailing to U.S. military abroad from Germany

[BostonSportsFan 3]

A friend of mine from home is stationed in Afganistan, and has given me the APO address for how to reach him. Does anyone know if German post offices will recognize this? If not, what other information do I need to add? Any idea on the cost of mailing a letter through this system from Germany? Thanks.

[Inflatablewoman 34]

When mailing to British Forces, I just gave the full address then added UK at the bottom.

 

The BFPO (British Force Post Office) then dealt with it, and it got all the way to Iraq no problemo.

[Guest]

Most likely the APOs within Germany will take care of it here.

[kit 4]

@BSF...if for some reason the Germans won't take it, and you can get it to me here in Garmisch I can mail it for you.

 

-kit

[Darkknight 2,307]

APO addresses are known to DPAG, and all other countries with a US Military presents.. All mail from the german public going to an APO address is delivered by DPAG to the Military Airmail/sorting terminal in Frankfurt. From there it is either put on a plane for delivery faraway, or a truck for delivery to any of the bases in germany.

 

Sidenote: Miliitary members can also use US stamps (and postal rates)

to send letters/packages to the german system. So while we pay .55-1.10 Eur, they pay .40-.55 cents..

[Pieman 2]

yeah, prob like BFPO, where if it's got BFPO on it it'll get sent straight to Mill Hill, then distributed to whatever station it is. German post offices recognise BFPO

[Sweetypie 16]

I am interested in establishing contact with either a press secretary or the local commander of the US military facility (Corps of Engineering) located close to Sindelfingen-Böblingen near Stuttgart in Baden Wuerttemberg. My search on the net wasn't really successful. Is there someone here on TT who could guide me or should I consult the Deutsch-Amerikanisches Zentrum or is there an open directory somewhere ? All I need are the contact details of a spokesperson currently in charge to send out a formal letter or make an appointment with for a dialogue with the local people on an issue affecting them (I am afraid giving details on a public forum at this stage would be a little premature). Thanks for any help !

[Darkknight 2,307]

The closest and biggest US Military base near Sindelfingen-Böblingen is Panzer Kaserne

in Boeblingen which is home to various Special Ops Units of the various services.

It also falls under the command of US European Command based at Patch Barracks in Vaihingen.

Contact the Public Affairs office at:

Navy Capt. Jeffery Gradeck

Address: HQ USEUCOM/ECPA, Unit 30400, APO AE 09131

Phone: +49-(0)711-680-8574

Fax: +49-(0)711-680-5380

There are "Open Directories" and many websites that have info. on US Military in Germany. Google and you will find them.

Official US Army Homepage

Portal Germany

US Army Stuttgart

US European Command

Global Security

[Sweetypie 16]

Thanks a ton, DarkKnight! You made my day - we were planning to drive to the Panzer Kaserne but now we will drive to the Bodensee instead - kurz ausflug, you know.

Have a nice Sunday.

[Darkknight 2,307]

You can drive there if you want, but don't I don't think you'll get more than the standard "Go away" from

the front gate unless you have prior arrangements to have somebody meet and sign you in. Also the

best place to start contact is with the bases HQ, in this case thats Patch Barricks and the PA guy mentioned above.

[Lavender Rain 7,852]

Sweetypie, here's the link for the Public Affairs office on Stuttgart Kaserne. The phone number is different than the one that's been given you by DK. I would start here if I were you. You can also email PA as there is a link for email. I was curious as I was surprised to see a Naval Officer in charge of PA on a Army post, but this could happen. This Naval Officer is probably in charge of Public Affairs for the entire command of the United States Army in Europe as the European command is headquartered in Stuttgart. I agree with DK, don't expect to get onto Panzer Kaserne you are wasting your time going there. To get onto the post you have to be accompanied by someone who has kaserne access priviledges and this person will sign you in. http://www.stuttgart.army.mil/sites/installation/pao.asp

[Darkknight 2,307]

EUCOM is a Unified Combatant Command (Mix of all four services)

So Having a USN officer as PA is very possible.

The Commanding General is Army.

The Deputy commander is Navy.

The Chief of staff is Marine

The Senior Enlisted Leader is Army

LR's Link is for the "US Army Stuttgart" PA officer, this is for all US bases in the area. The one I provided

is for the PA Officer for EUCOM, which is the major tenant Org. for both Patch and Panzer Kaserne, the base SP requested info. for.

[Sweetypie 16]

@LR: Thank you. The link you provided turned out to be a part of the link provided by DK - so all's well.

Have been trying but keep getting only recorded msgs. asking me to leave a msg. Hope there is someone who actually takes calls - so will continue to try later. Must rush now.

[NicoinKufstein 0]

Help! I have a package that is going to FPO AE address. I have gone to various post offices in both Germany & Austria and neither has ANY IDEA what to do with this package. Once I was told I was just needed postage to Germany, but the German postal worker indicated that was not true. Do I need to pay postage to get it to the US??? Seems crazy as it is supposed to be routed thru Germany.

 

Where shall I tell the ever helpful postal employee the destination of the package??? I have gone to a lot of trouble to send some nice things & dont want this package to get lost in transit.

 

Thanks in advance!

[Darkknight 2,307]

An APO/FPO address is only valid for the US Postal system, so it's no surprise the Germans, Austrians and others don't know what to do with it.

 

You could try changing the address to the following:

 

Bob Smith

PSC4 Box 123

APO AE 39811

 

Becomes

 

Bob Smith

PSC4 Box 123

APO AE, Newyork 39811

USA

 

Change the values to fit the remote APO/FPO. In the example above "AE" is short for Allied forces Europe".

All Mail with "APO AE" in the address leaving the US gets consolidated at the Overseas sorting center in Newyork.

(And perhaps now also Lax Angles) before being sent to Europe. Ask the receiver to get the details from their Mail

room and pass them along. Bear in mind that since you will be using a foreign mail service, you will be paying more

than the standard USPS prices.

 

Also if your recipient is also in the same area of the world as you, it doesn't make sense to send the package to the US

only for it to be sent back via the Military mail system to the same area it came from. All APO/FPO address also have

local Mailing addresses as well, try getting that too. The above example would look something like:

 

Bob Smith

BBAB Box 123

60549 Frankfurt

[ana 9]

I'm not sure about in Austria, but in Germany, you would pay the local postage cost (in other words, the same as you would if you were sending a package within Germany).

 

I've had the same experience at some of the smaller post offices - blank looks and much confusion, asking me to add the name of a country under the APO address. At the main post office here in Stuttgart, however, I haven't had any problems. So far my packages have always reached their destination, even when sent from one of the post offices where they weren't sure what to do with them initially.

 

So as much as they may tell you otherwise, you do not need to add a country to the APO/FPO address. Try going to the main branch of the post office, if you can. If you still get someone who doesn't know what to do with the package, try explaining to them that they are sent to the nearest(?) military base in Germany (therefore you only need pay local/national rates), and then forwarded by military mail.

 

Hope this helps!

[spacemanspiff 3]

I was also curious how to convert my APO box into a German address so i can receive mail from my German doctors etc. any ideas?

[SJ1 2,046]

Apo is really only good US - US base and base- US.

 

 

If you are sending or receiving a package from anywhere else, local shipping rates apply. It is a US postal agreement, thus why germany does not offer the local rate. Even if you send to an apo in germany you would pay postage to the US.

 

My friends on base here say only time they use it is to the US, otherwise they pay into the local post offices, costs just as much if not more to use the apo post. IE Paying from apo to germany postange when you could just cross the street and pay germany to germany postage.

[Darkknight 2,307]

 

I was also curious how to convert my APO box into a German address so i can receive mail from my German doctors etc. any ideas?

 

Ask the people that work in the mail room/Postoffice. Each location is different.

[holyloch 162]

 

EUCOM is a Unified Combatant Command (Mix of all four services)So Having a USN officer as PA is very possible. The Commanding General is Army. The Deputy commander is Navy.The Chief of staff is MarineThe Senior Enlisted Leader is ArmyLR's Link is for the "US Army Stuttgart" PA officer, this is for all US bases in the area. The one I providedis for the PA Officer for EUCOM, which is the major tenant Org. for both Patch and Panzer Kaserne, the base SP requested info. for.

 

EUCOM has done another shuffle so it's: CDR=Navy, Deputy=Army, CoS=Navy, SEL=Navy

 

 

I was also curious how to convert my APO box into a German address so i can receive mail from my German doctors etc. any ideas?

 

You can't. Ever. You'll need to rent an address in town or know someone in town who's willing to receive for you.