Use a sturdy, box and cover all previous labels and markings with a heavy black marker or adhesive labels. (They can confuse and slow down processing). Fill all extra space with foam peanuts, newspaper, bubble wrap or popcorn. I also like to use loose candy for fill. Double tape all seams with strong packing tape.

The larger the box, the more it will cost you to ship it. Packages must weigh less than 70lbs and be smaller than 130 inches in total length and girth.

I suggest using the USPS Flat Rate boxes. No matter which Flat Rate Box you choose, the postage is $8.95, regardless of weight or destination. This is anywhere in the U.S., and DOES include any APO/FPO mailing address as well.

The Post Office also offers a Priority Mail APO/FPO Flat Rate Box. These boxes are 50% larger than the $8.95 boxes and they only cost $10.95 to ship to military personnel serving overseas. Pick them up at your local Post Office or order the flat rate boxes on the USPS Website in packs of 10 or 25. There is no charge. Order boxes by clicking here.

Insured and Registered?
If it is expensive, insure it!

Mail Your Package
Take your package to the post office and fill out a customs declaration and dispatch note. Postal services form 2976-A (Customs Form) is required for all mail addressed to an APO or FPO regardless of weight. If you need help with the customs form, click here to read my tips.

Note that packages addressed to APO AE and FPO AE only go to New York and packages addressed to APO AP and FPO AP only go to San Francisco. So you don't pay postage all the way to Iraq/Afghanistan. Once mail reaches these stateside military installations, all mail is then taken over by the Armed Forces.

You might consider picking contacts closer to your mailing area to help cut the cost of mailing. If you live on the East Coast, pick "AE", West Coast, pick "AP", Midwest… you decide.

Mail addressed to “Any Service Member” or similar wording such as “Any Soldier”, “Sailor”, “Airman”, and “Marine” or “Military Mail”, etc., is prohibited. Mail must be addressed to an individual.

In the upper left corner, write your complete return address (packages without return addresses might be discarded).

On the bottom right hand side, you will see “Senders Instructions in Case of Nondelivery.” You can check Return To Sender. Or you can write "Chaplain at Same" and if your care package cannot be delivered to your troop, the package will go to the Chaplain who will give it to someone who doesn't get mail or care packages.

APO AE, FPO AE and APO AP, FPO AP?
APO = Army Post Office
FPO = Fleet Post Office
AE = Europe
AP = Pacific

DO NOT SEND pressurized or aerosol items (such as shaving cream), chocolates (they'll be soup in the desert), pornographic materials, alcohol, bulk religious materials or pork or items with pork by-products.

Also, people have written and asked about sending silly string to the troops so they can spray it into a room and detect trip wires. Since the silly string comes in an aerosol can, it is considered a hazardous material, meaning the Postal Service will not ship it by air.

Liquid Hand Sanitizer is refused. Prohibited for International Military mail for it consists of flammable alcohol prooperties.

Batteries - Lithium is restricted in International mail so you must identify what type of batteries you are sending (ie Alkaline AA batteries, AAA nickel Cadmium batteries (Ni-Cd), AA Nickel Metal Hudride (NiMH) batteries, etc.
Sunscreen must be marked non aerosol. If it is a product that is possibly aerosol, it will be refused.

Postage for letters - When you send a letter to an APO or FPO address, the US Postal Service only transports that letter from where you've dropped it off, to the APO or FPO locations stateside. Once your letter reaches a stateside military installation, all mail handling is taken over by the US armed forces. This means that you do not have to pay postage from the US to Kuwait or Iraq, but you only have to pay postage for sending a letter from one place in the continental United States to another. 42 cents should cover the cost of a letter shipped overseas. But, you can always check with your local post office to make sure.

It is recommended that you stop sending packages to your troop one month before the are expected home. Military bases usually stop all mail one month before redeployment.