October 30, 2020
Practicing Perfection: NAVSUP’s Postal Teams in Europe Ensure Warfighters’ Voices are Heard During Election Season
By Joe Yanik, NAVSUP FLC Sigonella Public Affairs
ome of you may not know that Naval S Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Sigonella (NAVSUP
FLCSI) (FLCSI) is responsible for mail around the region, which includes operating military mail services at Naval Air Station Sigonella, Naval Station Rota, Spain, Naval Support Activity (NSA) Souda Bay, Greece, Naval Support Activity (NSA) Naples, and Camp Lemmonnier, Djibouti, Africa. The below feature story highlights a small portion of the behind-thescenes work that goes into processing absentee ballots. Chrystalla Horianopoulou is among the dozen or so postal clerks assigned to NAVSUP’s three aerial mail terminals (AMTs) strategically located across Navy Region Europe, Africa, Central (EURAFCENT). The two others are located in Rome, Italy and Madrid, Spain. As it is for her postal clerk colleagues, one of Horianopoulou’s duties during a U.S. general election season is to complete receipt forms for postal customers who mail their absentee ballots at NAVSUP’s AMT at Athens International Airport. Each receipt
includes a tracking number so that the postal customer can monitor the movement of his/her ballot to the state’s election office. “Generating a tracking number for absentee ballot mail is not a requirement for us, but we do it as a courtesy so that our customers have full visibility of the movement of their mail, and are able to verify that their votes are counted,” said Joel Lee, AMT Athens postal officer. Another way that NAVSUP’s postal clerks ensure the secure movement of absentee ballots to the U.S. is to clearly time stamp the envelopes that show the date when the mail was processed. A clearly-printed stamp, Lee said, is an important aspect of what makes a ballot valid. “Because nothing is more important to us than a ballot, the election season highlights the need for NAVSUP’s postal professionals, like Chrystalla, do their job perfectly and with exactness to ensure the voices of our warfighters, their dependents and U.S. citizens living in Europe are heard,” Lee said. “I consider it an honor to be able to "Postal" cont’d on page 11
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THE SIGNATURE
U.S. NAVAL AIR STATION SIGONELLA
Commanding Officer Capt. Kevin Pickard Executive Officer Cmdr. Ronald Cappellini Command Master Chief CMDCM Anna Wood EDITORIAL Public Affairs Officer Lt. Karl Schonberg karl.schonberg@eu.navy.mil Assistant Public Affairs Officer Megan Mills megan.mills@eu.navy.mil Public Affairs Leading Petty Officer MC1 Kegan Kay kegan.kay@eu.navy.mil Community Relations Officer Dott. Alberto Lunetta alberto.lunetta.it@eu.navy.mil PAO Staff Writers \ Photographers MC2 Joshua Coté joshua.m.cote@eu.navy.mil MCSA Triniti Lersch triniti.lersch@eu.navy.mil CONTACT US
Naval Air Station Sigonella, Sicily thesig@eu.navy.mil DSN 624-5440; 095-86-5440 PSC 812 Box 7, FPO, AE 09627-0001
This newspaper is an authorized publication for members of the military services overseas. Contents of The Signature are not necessarily the official views of, or endorsed by, the U.S. Government, the Department of Defense (DoD), or the U.S. Navy. Editorial submissions are welcomed from all Naval Air Station Sigonella departments, divisions and tenant commands. Editorial submissions should be sent to the Public Affairs Office via thesig@eu.navy.mil. All articles submitted by non-staff members will be considered contributing writers.
