I have an acquaintance whose son is leaving for his first deployment with an SF unit in Afghanistan. His mom isn't taking it well (for a variety of reasons), and she and my wife came up with the idea of sending him care packages. Can any current for former downrange guys give me some suggestions as to what we could send him? Some other people have already suggested things like baby wipes, hot sauce/bbq sauce packets, beef jerkey, and Gatorade powder.
Thanks
I've heard quality gloves are consumables and always in high demand. Might be old info.Originally Posted by Guerrero
Are you now, or have you ever been a member of the Doodie Project?
I think there was a big thread on this on Lightfighter a few years ago, I’ll try to find it.
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Work gloves. Socks. Snacks, but be careful that any jerky has no pork. Books and magazines, but porn is also ganz verboten.
My understanding is that you can no longer send shampoo or mouth wash, because certain individuals were dumping the legit contents and replacing them booze. Can you imagine it? Who would do such a thing?!
There are web sites with all kinds of suggestions, just google "care package for deployed GI".
Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
“It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
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Good coffee is always popular. We had a large supply of Dunkin Donuts coffee that well received. Need to find out if working off a large base or austere base. The large bases seem to have a lot available at PX etc. Austere sites are - austere - and need more goodies
Depending on where he is, and what he is doing (and he may not have been entirely truthful with his mom), Starbucks Via is great instant coffee. There's a YouTube video of some Canucks making "Combat Coffee", "Almost as good as Timmy's!"
Recovering Gun Store Commando. My Blog: The Clue Meter
“It doesn’t matter what the problem is, the solution is always for us to give the government more money and power, while we eat less meat.”
Glenn Reynolds
Being in an SF unit he's going to have it real nice in some ways and real ugly in others. It'll be best to talk to him first if you can, or otherwise provide an avenue for correspondence with him for feedback after the first package.
Good ideas:
There are never enough baby wipes. Impossible to have too many, really. Ideally send a large package of the smaller 15-wipe packages, makes it easy to grab-n-go.
Mio Energy - Liquid energy drink concentrate and you can only drink (or carry) so many cans of rip-its. Good coffee is also always in demand.
Disposable rubber gloves - damn nice to have around when you need to touch or deal with stuff you'd rather not have on gloves you're wearing every day.
Chewing gum - The car cup-holder size plastic pods of stuff like Eclipse tend to be best, or a big package of the smaller 12-16pc blister-pack boxes. Traditional sticks of chewing gum don't really survive the trip well.
Moisturizing eye drops.
Batteries (get types if possible, AA and CR123's are the most needed most of the time)
Good quality medium/large ziploc bags.
Lens wipes/microfiber lens cloths.
Small/Medium sized cotton towels.
Dr Scholl's or similar insoles (ask for preferences before guessing, if possible)
Shaving cream/razors of preference - AAFES/PX/Shopettes out there will usually have a somewhat limited if not very limited selection, so having the razors and shaving cream *you* like is a nice thing. Same for body wash, etc, but that tends to take up lots of space and weight.
Socks, underwear, and undershirts as requested.
Bad ideas:
Books (take up too much space and weight, get lost, etc) Magazines like Maxim could be good trading material among other military forces but can get you in trouble with the locals. Best avoided unless you hear from him specifically that he wants something. Gun and Car magazines are safe bets if he asks for them, though.
Anything that melts will arrive melted. Expect the package to spend time in a 140-150* conex before being delivered.
Anything that could get confused as a weapon or weapon component (I tried to send some replacement razors for a folding box cutter a friend was using a lot, and it ended up searched and pillaged of most of the good stuff before it made it to him)
If I think of anything more, I'll edit this post or post again in this thread.
Last edited by JRB; 08-31-2018 at 12:19 PM.
Feedback I've gotten more than any other are protein bars and dip. But baby wipes and basic toiletries pretty high too, esp when far from larger bases.
A cool tip I got from Kevin B based on his experience are ball point pens. They are highly prized by the indigenous people when presented as tokens of good will. We were fixing to send some to our 11B who was out'n about supporting SF and interacted with some locals.
(My funny little honey bought a gross of them at a "dollar store" but we never shipped. I tried them out and at least half were dried out and junk. I wouldn't have shipped them for fear of a gift failing and creating some incident. )
“Remember, being healthy is basically just dying as slowly as possible,” Ricky Gervais
First: If he's SF as you say, his logistical support will (normally) be more robust than the average joe. That, of course, depends heavily on whether he is bunking at an established site (i.e. Bagram), or some shithole combat outpost. Internet access is way more prevalent now so communicate and find out what he needs/wants that he can't get through supply channels. Quality civilian equipment/kit that isnt available through DOD OCONUS supply channels never fails to please. Items like: A comfy down light jacket that packs into a small ball, good merino socks, or a quality wicking shirt for PT.
Even though ipads and internet are commonplace, magazines relevant to his hobbies(cars, hunting, (gasp) guns, etc) are a plus. No one wants to take an expensive ipad into the latrine. Plus they still work when the c-17 crew tells you to shut off all electronics.
As far as goody boxes, the best stuff i ever got were things that kept me connected to home. Pictures of my son, a scribble he did at school, or a copy of the menu from a favorite restaurant with tick marks by what my wife said she was gonna order when I got back. Anything that elicits memories of the sounds, smells, etc of home and family. My wife sent me an alarm clock on one rotation that had a recording of her saying, "Time to get up baby... Time to go to work....Now get that ass outa bed!!" Then I could hear her giggling in the background before the recording cut out. I laughed every morning. I still have that clock.
Most of the time work will keep him busy as all hell. But there will be days/nights where stuff will be going wrong. Sometimes a little. Sometimes alot. The ability to touch, or smell, or hear something that lets you cross that mental bridge back home is a Godsend in those moments. Be creative, be insightful.
Secondly: Mailcall is like Christmas only bigger. On short rotations, not quite so much, but on longer or more austere ones it's a big deal. Even if you don't send some earth rocking memento every time, send stuff often. When a box has your name on it, it means someone cared enough to jump through all the hoops to obtain, package, and mail it. It is tangible evidence that you are missed. Anybody can send an email, but you gotta really care in order to deal with the crowds and cranky gov employees at the post office.
Lastly: For those without prior knowlege, the APO passes all packages through a machine that tests the tenacity and devotion of your packaging process. Your package will be stomped, run over, rained on, kicked, frozen, sit forgotten in the sun and generally treated with contempt and violence in its journey through whatever theater he happens to be in. Package everything as if you want it to survive coming ashore at Normandy. Heavy, 3 or 5 mil contractor grade plastic yard bags are great to wrap eveything up in prior to going in the box. Then, don't spare the tape. Tape sticks to wet tape pretty well. Wet cardboard, not so much. I watched one of my soldiers have his name called one time only to be handed a wet label. That was all that was left of his package. Everybody else's boxes were hammered all to hell as well. But we shared our bags of cookie crumbs with him nontheless.
If you ship booze or other contriband (I will never judge), don't put irreplaceable items in that package. If it gets x-ray'd(sp?) your "gift" and everything with it probably just became property of the xray guy.
Lastly/ lastly...: If and whenever able, put some extra baubles and trinkets in there for him to share with his mates. Not everybody gets a box every time, and some never do. Those guys are literally his family away from you. He will experience things with them that will take him through the breadth of the human experience. So send a little extra for the guys you will be seeing at Thanksgiving or on Christmas in years to come.
Godspeed to He and his. And to all those who love him.
"Dip" meaning "chewing tobacco" or something to go with chips, like guacamole? Not being a smartass, here (which would be a change for me).
Last edited by Guerrero; 08-31-2018 at 12:50 PM.
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