06 February 2008: VBC Post Office

I had three large packages to mail. Two were going home and the other was going to my parent unit down in Kuwait. The "APO to APO" mail is cool because it's free. I had planned to mail from the Camp Liberty post office. Since I don't have the NTV, I asked my NCOIC to pick me up. He drove past the Libery PO and kept on going. Then he turned to me and said, "Sir, I figured we'd go to the Victory post office. It's a lot better than the one here." I'd never been to the Victory PO so I figured that's cool. However, I knew from experience that the Liberty PO was large, roomy, and probably not crowded after lunch.

After driving the labyrinth of palaces and man-made lakes of Victory Base, we reached the post office. It sat adjacent to the "Rock of the Marne" HQ. I would never have known it was there. The place was tiny - tucked away astride some old war junk. We parked and lugged the three boxes inside. It was packed. There must've been twenty Joes lugging gear. The post office has two lines. Everyone with packages has to negotiate both. The first line is where the boxes are inspected by customs. The second line is the postal counter. After filling out the appropriate customs forms for each box, we got in the first line. About twenty minutes later we got to the inspector. That's when I figured out why my NCO wanted to come to this tiny, cramped place. He was hitting on the inspector. I should've known there was some angle! My NCOIC is a schmoozer through and through. I ignored the small talk. I realized, though, that the way he was distracting her I could've packed some contraband. By the third package she barely even looked inside.

Note to self - next time I need to use the post office I'm going to the Liberty PO. A full hour after we arrived we were finally at the postal counter. My boxes were weighed and I paid for the postage on the two boxes going home. The line now stretched out the door and into the parking lot. We definitely got to the place at the right time. I thought it would be a good idea if a sign were posted similar to what you see for amusement park rides. A sign at the door could read "One hour wait from this point".