KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Operation Dear Abby, which has encouraged readers of the newspaper column to send holiday greetings to the military for 17 years, has been halted this year because of the anthrax scare.
The Pentagon this week asked the column's distributor, Universal Press Syndicate, to halt the service aimed as boosting morale for troops away from family and friends.
In the past, the column asked readers to send letters to a centralized address, and military officials distributed them. The letters weren't addressed to a specific person and were distributed randomly.
"As important as emotional support for our men and women in the military may be, their physical well-being is far more important," said Jeanne Phillips, who co-writes the Dear Abby column.
The government also is suspending its year-round Any Service Member postal campaign. Any mail sent to the programs will be returned.