U.S. troops in Iraq can carry Bibles into combat. But don’t send them pork.
Families mailing packages to their loved ones fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom are asked to avoid the “three P’s” abhorred by Islam: pornography, pork and political propaganda.
The mail restrictions, announced recently, are due to customs regulations in countries where military personnel are stationed, according to the Pentagon and the U.S. Postal Service.
Rules in Muslim host countries such as Kuwait “mostly prohibit the entry of alcoholic beverages of any kind, narcotics, munitions, pork and pork by-products, pornography and material contrary to the Islamic religion,” the Defense Department said in a statement.
But Bible societies say the prohibitions on “material contrary to the Islamic religion” don’t include Scripture and U.S. troops and chaplains are requesting thousands of Bibles a month.
Military Ministry, a department of Campus Crusade for Christ, said it has been swamped by an average of 25,000 requests per month. Over 400,000 Bibles have been sent to troops in the past 18 months via military channels. Currently, the ministry has orders for 42,000, many of those orders coming from the war zone, the group said.
Military Ministry distributes Bibles camouflaged New Testaments with Psalms and Proverbs in a waterproof bag designed to fit in soldiers pockets. The packs also contain a verse-by-topic booklet and a 90-day devotional guide. The group calls the packets Rapid Deployment Kits.
Military Ministry sends the RDKs nicknamed “combat Bibles” to military chaplains, who distribute them to soldiers. This delivery method avoids the mail system in Muslim countries.
Sometimes the kits end up in the deployment line where soldiers are picking up their equipment, said retired Brig. Gen. Dick Abel, executive director of Military Ministry. The Bible kits, he said, are something that they can pick up if they choose.
Chaplains say the Bible kits are welcomed by the troops.
“We received our order of kits yesterday afternoon,” one chaplain wrote in an e-mail to Military Ministry. “They are nearly all gone now. The Marines gobbled them up quickly and just in time. We leave for Kuwait tomorrow.”
One soldier sent a homemade postcard made from a ration box: “I have a Bible … but the guys in my unit don’t have any. Can you send [Bibles] over?”
“We have been distributing Bibles to troops all along, but there has been an increase in requests since September 11,” said Karen Trimble spokesperson for Military Ministry.
While Islamic countries restrict a variety of items from pork to playing cards a Department of Defense official said nothing prohibits soldiers from carrying the Bible.
In fact, soldiers are told that they are permitted to carry two books on their person: their soldier’s handbook and a Bible, according to Capt. Tommy Vaughn, an Army chaplain.
Providing for the soldier’s spiritual needs is just as important as providing for their physical needs, Capt. Vaughn said.
“There needs to be a foundation that is laid for hope, for encouragement, to know that they are not going into battle alone,” he said.
However, while Bible societies can distribute Scripture to troops, ordinary Americans can’t send them to soldiers through the mail.
“If I am a father in Washington, D.C., and I wanted to mail a Bible to my son who is stationed in Saudi Arabia or Kuwait, I couldn’t do it,” said Roy Lloyd, spokesman for the American Bible Society in New York. “It would be intercepted in the regular mail.”
But the military has its own means of delivering Bibles through chaplains, Mr. Lloyd said. So a soldier in a Muslim country can get a Bible, “they just wouldn’t get it from Mom and Dad.”
The mail restrictions “are not our choice,” he said, “but we work within the system, and it’s proved to be effective.”
Keeping pork and other prohibited items out of packages for troops is important because the packages are subject to search by customs officials in the Islamic countries including Kuwait and Qatar where U.S. troops are based.
Customs inspectors can go through any package they think is suspicious and confiscate illegal items, a Pentagon spokesman said yesterday. The onus is on the families not to send perishable or illegal items, he said.
Forbidden pork products would include such things as pork rinds, sausage, Spam, canned hams, pork and beans, and products containing “bacon bits” or lard.
Also prohibited are paintings, cards, films and videotapes with nude or seminude people as well as “nonauthorized political materials.”
The general public used to send packages to troops through programs such as Operation Dear Abby or Any Service Member, but these programs were canceled in 2001 for security reasons. Today, only family members and close friends are given address information of military personnel.
Instead, the public can send messages to troops via Internet sites such as www.OperationDearAbby.net or www.defendamerica.mil.
The public can also make financial donations to the United Service Organizations (USO), which sends packages to military personnel.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.