e-bluey

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It is the e-bluey system quite simply electronic blueys.

To send them you need to register an account, to do this you have to enter your name and address, and the contact information for the service personnel you are wanting to send them to. You need their service number, name and the address of the camp they are posted to. This information is stored in your e-bluey address book, accessable only when you log in.

...despite navigating away from the e-bluey site and returning up to and hour later).
I have the file saved on my home PC as it means I can write down little things that have amused me or that I think would amuse him which I might not otherwise tell him as I would forget them.

They also have an option to send photo blueys, these are again a simple idea you can upload a photo to the bluey system and add a short letter to it, of ... more

While this review may be of interest to anyone who has a friend or relative in the armed forces I'm afraid it won't be of much use to anyone else.

My boyfriend is in the army and is currently posted on a 6 month tour, he introduced me to this service as a letter I posted got lost. Most people in this situation are used to writing blueys to their loved ones when they are away which then have to be posted through the normal postal system, but there is another way to do the same thing.
It is the e-bluey system quite simply electronic blueys.

To send them you need to register an account, to do this you have to enter your name and address, and the contact information for the service personnel you are wanting to send them to. You need their service number, name and the address of the camp they are posted to. This information is stored in your e-bluey address book, accessable only when you log in.

Once your account is set up to write a letter you have to check the bok next to the address you want to send it to, then choose the letter writing option you want to use. The choices are standard composer, default editor and advanced HTML editor, for simply wrting a letter I use the default edior option. Then click compose bluey. There is a restriction on the length of the letter you write, they can be only the length of a single side of A4 paper, this is because as they are printed they are folded like an airmail letter or a regular bluey.

They are much quicker as the letter gets typed much like an email, once it is completed you click send. The letter then gets uploaded to a main server and then sorted according to the BFPO address on it.
Once that happens it is put in a queue for downloading at the location server. Most places will download and print the blueys once a day, but obviously they can sometimes take longer if there is alot of mail to that location. They are then taken out to the address and is delivered to the recipient, if t hey are at the same location as the print server this can take less than 24 hours if not it can take somewhat longer, as they are sometimes done by courier between camps.

One of the best things about this system is that to send to BFPO addresses which are located in Operational Tour areas it is free to send and for your loved one to send them back to you. If not then you will be charged, the cost is roughly the same as it would cost to post a normal 'snail mail' letter, but still has the advantage of being much quicker, so for example if you have the address at BFPO 1234 and that is located in Germany you will be charged for the post but if you have the address BFPO 2345 and that is in Iraq then it is free (these are not real BFPO numbers!!).

The reverse is possible, so my boyfriend can send free e-blueys to me from his camp, as long as he has access to the internet to register an account. E-blueys posted back to families and friends get sent via the Royal Mail once they are printed.

The site explains the security measures taken to ensure that what you write is kept confidential, including by having the letters folded and glued by the printer.

Also if you want to there is a link you can click to find penpals, as there are some service personnel who don't recieve much mail for one reason or another and are looking for people to write to them, though I haven't explored that option.

Another thing that is good about this service is that they have a downloadable file that allows you to write your blueys off line then when you log on can be transported from the offline files to the online service and sent, they offer this as a way to reduce your internet bills but in todays world of broadband where your time is not limited by the old dial up charges this is slightly redundant unless you are likely to be called away from the computer and your session gets timed out (I have had sessions which have not timed out despite navigating away from the e-bluey site and returning up to and hour later).
I have the file saved on my home PC as it means I can write down little things that have amused me or that I think would amuse him which I might not otherwise tell him as I would forget them.

They also have an option to send photo blueys, these are again a simple idea you can upload a photo to the bluey system and add a short letter to it, of course you have the same space constraints as a regular e-bluey and the photo whether it was originally in colour or not will be printed as black and white. Although they do state that they are trying to introduce colour printers at some sites so while the majority of pictures will be black and white still some lucky people may get to see them in colour. Again there is no charge for attatching and sending the photos but given that they are likely to be black and white you may be as well to get them printed and snailmailled too.

So for sending short letters or just general notes to cheer up your service person this is an amazing service, its a relatively quick and reliable service which I'm sure has been responsible for the good mood of many service personnel even when in difficult circumstances. It is of course far quicker than writing a letter but can in no way replace the written word in my opinion, after all what is nicer than a letter with the familiar scrawl of someones handwriting? Or knowing that a handwritten envelope means that something is enclosed, pictures maybe or small gifts. It is all these things that e-bluey cannot provide that cannot be underestimated.

But of course the simple words you write are what have the greatest effect and it is for this reason that e-bluey is for me one of the best sites I have ever used on the internet and long may it last! 

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