If I sent a Christmas card now from the U.S., would it reach my friend in Iraq with the military in time?

Due respects to those posters who assure you that the mail will get through on time... but at this late date there are not guarantees.

I believe the last week in November was the deadline for parcel post. I believe December 4 was the deadline for first class. There's always express delivery.

But you have to realize that the Post Office only delivers it to the military. The military does the best it can, but it has people all over the world... and they keep moving around. Some of them are on missions that preclude the deliver of mail in a timely manner. Some are under water for a month at a time. Even most surface ships only get sporadic mail delivery.

Add to the mix the tons of Christmas cards and packages that are now in the mails.

Those deadlines were more of a deadline for letters with a chance of getting to their destination on time... not a guarantee.

I'm sorry... but I'm afraid you're going to have to be satisfied with, "Better late than never." You might get lucky, but please don't count on it.

I'd send her a Christmas card with a hand-written letter telling her you hope she had a good Christmas and New Year, and that you're sorry you missed the days, but the thought was there just the same. And from a grateful nation, thank her for her service.

Mail it immediately and there is a pretty good chance she will get it.

It can depend on where you are mailing it from and what military PO it is going to. If you are sending it from the West Coast and it is going to a AP (Asia Pacific) then it won't be a problem, but if it is going to an AE (Atlantic Europe) it will take long, and then vice versa. When our friend was in Iraq it would take a week for letters and packages to get to him because we lived on the West Coast and he was out of Camp Pendleton so he had an FPO AP address. We have a FPO AP address ourselves as we are overseas, and it took a card from Maryland to us 9 days in total. I got two packages from Nevada in 5 days.

It won't matter if it is on time, send the greeting and a care package if you can, in war every day is special if someone reaches out to you. Happy Holidays is covering the time frame until he 12th of January so go for it.....Don't ask me how I picked the 12th I don't know I just know I heard it and I don't remember where right this minute,

I think a Christmas card would be fine.

I think in order to send it by dec 25, you should send it by 17? i guess 1 week is enough.

My husband was in Kuwait for a year and it took about 10 days to two weeks for him to get mail, but now that he is in Iraq, he usually gets it within a week or so. Send it soon and God bless your soldier!!

Yes, I sent my husband a package last week and he got it today. Letters travel even faster, don't let the post office bamboozle you into sending it priority, once it gets to new york it's in the militarys hands.

You can ask the people at the post office to send it express, i beleive that way they guarantee it gets there in three days(ish). I dont know if it would get there in time if you sent it through regular mail.

Get it to the post office tomorrow! It's going to be close. Especially if you're in the midwest and the mail is screwed up because of bad weather.

Advise the staff at the Post Office that it is going to a 'serving(Over Seas) service personel". The military have their own postal service. They will get it there on time.

The simple answer is no, it will not reach them for Christmas. You missed the "guaranteed" week by a week. However it will get there and they will love it all the same.