My friend is at Fort Benning, I am going to send him a letter.  Do I have to put postage on it?  I don't really care, it's only $.37 but for some reason I think it's free.  Am I crazy?

Yes do have to.

The exemption is for members in war zones to send letters home.

Yes, you do, and he has to use postage,too, until he gets deployed overseas.

That makes sence, thanks.

Quoted: Yes do have to. The exemption is for members in war zones to send letters home.

Which always confuses me because a lot of the "Support the Troops" organizations say they use the money to buy stamps and phone cards for the troops. Both are free when in theater last I checked.

39 cents actually.  

Quoted: 39 cents actually.

37 cents waay back when this thread started

Phone cards are not free except what the VFW sends us. We can call back to DSN morale limes when we call home, and if it is a local call from where the DSN switch is we called the call is free, otherwise we use phone cards to cover the expense from there to the calling destination, billed at stateside rates.

Now in places like Kuwait with the AT&T phone centers set up the rape you on the rates, so we always go the DSN route. Our only option here is DSN via VOIP via sattellite to a DSN stateside switch, call the 800 number on the phone card, and dial the number we are calling.

Quoted: Phone cards are not free except what the VFW sends us. We can call back to DSN morale limes when we call home, and if it is a local call from where the DSN switch is we called the call is free, otherwise we use phone cards to cover the expense from there to the calling destination, billed at stateside rates. Now in places like Kuwait with the AT&T phone centers set up the rape you on the rates, so we always go the DSN route. Our only option here is DSN via VOIP via sattellite to a DSN stateside switch, call the 800 number on the phone card, and dial the number we are calling.

I didn't mean phone cards were free but you cleared tha up for me. I didn't realize ATT7T set up phone centers. I was under the impression that all of the calling centeres were free. The ones I had used when I was down range were DSN linked to DSN switchboards, but they switched the call to a local number and it never cost anyone a cent. AT&T charging troops is an insult if you ask me...

Quoted: Phone cards are not free except what the VFW sends us. We can call back to DSN morale limes when we call home, and if it is a local call from where the DSN switch is we called the call is free, otherwise we use phone cards to cover the expense from there to the calling destination, billed at stateside rates. Now in places like Kuwait with the AT&T phone centers set up the rape you on the rates, so we always go the DSN route. Our only option here is DSN via VOIP via sattellite to a DSN stateside switch, call the 800 number on the phone card, and dial the number we are calling.

Or MARSGRAMS. They are free. It is also possible to get a telephone patch through via MARS.

If you have a message that is short and too the point, look up your local MARS operator.