Spc. Austin Gamache, from Tacoma, Wash., the mail clerk for the 610th Brigade Support Battalion, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division, sorts mail in the 20-foot container he converted into the battalion mail room. Gamache said he takes pride in helping improve the morale of Soldiers. Official U.S. Army photo.


Wednesday, 27 June 2007
By Capt. Allen Hill
610th Brigade Support Battalion

BAGHDAD — He can be the most popular or the most despised person in the 610th Brigade Support Battalion, depending on what day it is and who you ask. Spc. Austin Gamache is the battalion’s mail handler and is responsible for the pick up and distribution of the battalion’s mail to all the companies.

With the exception of a day or two out of the week, the Tacoma, Wash., native can be seen driving his Humvee full of packages and letters into the battalion’s headquarters and over to his 20-foot metal container, which he converted into his mail room.

It is here that he sits in a hot, humid, enclosed area and sorts by name, and by company, hundreds of packages and letters coming in from family and friends back home.

Mail is an important part of military life to Soldiers deployed overseas, a link to loved ones that cannot be gained through e-mails and phone calls. It is through this mail that those hard-to-get items are received; pictures from home, small tokens of affection, baked goods, and even everyday necessities not always readily available through the Post Exchange.

Gamache understands the huge impact that mail has on the morale of the Soldier and his role in it.

“My job is great, and what I get to do affects so many (people) in the battalion,” he said. “I like knowing that I made someone’s day just by handing them a package or a letter. It is a very rewarding feeling knowing that I was capable of making their day.”

Labels: Baghdad, Iraq, Supporting the troops, US Army