Service members have always looked forward to mail call.

"In my day, the biggest thing was mail call," said Maj. Gen. Robert Dickerson during a holiday interview with The Daily News.

However, the Camp Lejeune commanding general added, it wasn't always the fastest thing.

"You were talking months between correspondence," said Dickerson, noting the time it took for a mail system to be established in the field was followed by a two-week to one-month lag between when a letter was sent and when it was received.

Now e-mail, cellular phones and even embedded journalists toting satellite phones have improved contact with home.

"Communications have gotten much better to keep the families connected. It's gotten a lot better even in my short time in the Marine Corps," said Dickerson.

Communication has just received another boost.

MotoMail is the new "Marine Corps Motivational Mail System," where users can send an electronic letter to Marines in the field, even those without access to computers or e-mail.

Once users set up a free account at www.motomail.us, they can log onto the site and type an electronic letter. Once they hit send, the letter is transmitted through the MotoMail server to a designated Marine Corp Post Office. The message remains private - a machine prints, folds and seals the letter, which is then sorted and delivered as a hard copy - not an e-mail - within 24 hours.

More than 17,000 Motomails have been delivered already.

"It's been working wonderfully," said Chief Warrant Officer 4 Don McCarty, Headquarters Marine Corps Postal Affairs officer and the driving force for getting the new service operational within the Marine Corps.

McCarty came across the technology, which has been in use by British troops, at a 2002 conference. Its recommendation for Department of Defense-wide use was not accepted, but McCarty thought it would be a boon for the Corps.

He began the effort, which took about a year, to have it modified for Marine Corps use. MotoMail underwent operational testing at Camp Fox in Kuwait during Operation Iraqi Freedom.

McCarty said everyone from colonels to privates first class was wondering what had happened to the new technology, which didn't go into full effect until December.

"Everybody's on board. Everybody's loving it," said McCarty, noting that there were nearly 2,000 users in December and an average of 400 new users a day before HQMC had even started marketing the program.

"I know once we open it to the public, there'll be no turning it off," he added. "We're excited about it."

MotoMail stores the message for 60 days; senders can go into the system and re-read what they wrote. They can also "track" their MotoMail - the service keeps track of when the message was uploaded to the server, downloaded to the field post office and printed.

Machines with scanning capability eventually will be installed aboard most Marine Corps bases, including Lejeune, for users who don't have access to a computer and for more personal touches, particularly for sending children's handwritten letters.

"This is going to shoot morale through the roof," said McCarty, who is expecting to average about 20,000 MotoMails a month.

In comparison, 50 percent of the mail the British military delivers in the field is through E-bluey, their version MotoMail.

But the system is only in operation to augment, not replace, the handwritten letter.

"Of course," said McCarty, "you can't have perfumed envelopes."

For information or to set up an account, visit www.motomail.us.