Practicing Perfection: NAVSUP’s Postal Teams in Europe Ensure Warfighters’ Voices are Heard During Election Season

By Joe Yanik, NAVSUP FLC Sigonella Public Affairs

Some of you may not know that Naval 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-the scenes 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 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

be part of this very important process at the Athens Post Office,” Horianopoulou said.

Lee, Horianopoulou and FLCSI’s other postal professionals working at AMT Athens are responsible military mail transiting between the airport and NSA Souda Bay, Greece. Their postal mission also includes supporting contingency operations in Larissa and Volos, Greece and US Navy vessels transiting the Mediterranean Sea. The Athens AMT, added Lee, moves approximately 600,000 pounds of official and personal mail for the DoD per year.

NAVSUP’s AMTs in Europe fall under FLCSI, one of the Navy’s eight globally-positioned logistics centers that provides for the full range of support to the fleet’s military operations. FLCSI delivers solutions for logistics, business and support services to the Navy, Military Sealift Command, Joint and Allied Forces throughout EURAFCENT.