see, that's something i would never think of because i'd assume they wouldn't make it. i'm getting ready to do my annual bake-off, and i might have to add to the list of people i make for. thanks!
A brief and free thank you for our troops.
- Thread starter Sarcasmo
- Start date
see, that's something i would never think of because i'd assume they wouldn't make it. i'm getting ready to do my annual bake-off, and i might have to add to the list of people i make for. thanks!
I can tell you from the first hand accounts of people over there, aalmost everything on the "practical items" portion is pretty much crap. The rest of the stuff is pretty good. When we did this for a coworker who had two sons in the USMC and this is what we sent :
1. Skoal. No lie. The Armed Forces are now officially powered by Skoal and Red Bull. These guys get very little sleep and need the boost. Even if a soldier doesn't partake, he can certainly trade it off for something else he needs. Note you'll have to hid it in some other packaging as its technically not allowed. We dumped out a Pringles can and filled it with Skoal.
2. Food. The list got this right. Any kind of food you don't have to cook and is fairly non-perishable is good. Homemade or store bought, makes no difference. Energy drinks are in extremely high demand.
3. Thumb drives. We loaded up one with an entire season of Rome (HBO show) and another with current music. That was a huge hit. Both were set up to play directly off the drive using an included copy of VLC. Any other memory cards or DV tapes are also big, since home videos and photography seem to be big hobbies while offduty.
4. Porn. Nuff said.
5. A hand written letter. Sounds cheesy, but they just want to know that people remember them and care.
6. The personal grooming stuff is also a biggie. Especially sunscreen and bodywipes. Some troops don't get to shower every day, so any method of cleaning one's self in the field is appriciated.
7. Local papers. Big name magazines aren't too hard to come by, but local news is next to impossible.
8. Guitar strings. YMMV on this one, but there are seemingly a ton of closet musicians in the USMC. Some have managed to smuggle over or buy guitars while over there, but strings are hard to come by.
As I already said, YMMV, but this list was based on conversations with actual Marines who are currently are there or were there.
thank you.
next question: can you send whatever size package you'd like? i've been reading that you don't want to get too big with the size. any thoughts on size of box?
Dharma1521
Soooo do I look as young as I look?
We sent a copy paper box. I'd call before sending anything bigger than that. In fact, I'd call whatever organization you plan to send this to and ask. They keep a current list of general wants and needs. Chances are if you don't send the box directly to a person or make arrangements for it to go to a single person, it'll be split up long before it hits Iraq and passed out piece meal.thank you.
next question: can you send whatever size package you'd like? i've been reading that you don't want to get too big with the size. any thoughts on size of box?
Alright I can tell you first hand what's good.
1. Theac hit my number one on the head. Guitar strings saved our life. After going about 3 months with 2 broke strings it was such a nice unexpected item to get in the mail. This goes into the category of stuff you use on a camping trip but you don't bring extras of.
2. I will tell you if you send any homemade food items to someone you don't know 90% of the time they won't get eaten. Some of the time it's due to the long time/ass pounding packages take to get to the "any troop". Plus alot of us won't eat any open items from people we don't know. Granted most of the time everyone has good intentions but you never know.
3. Porn is always good but keep in mind General Order 1 prohibits having porn. Depending on your location you can get in alot of trouble if you get caught with it. If you package does get hit for an inspection and porn is found your package will be taken. So be smart and send softcopies on unmarked or improperly marked (i.e. marked as Rocky II) media.
4. We do read all the "BS" postcards sent but the problem is that people will sit down and write up 100 of them that are the exact same card with the same thing written inside. And for some reason they will all get delivered to the same unit and alot of the times the same person. I couldn't tell you how many times I received 50 of the exact same card at the same time. So mix it up.
5. Any hygiene items are always a big hit. Especially wipes.
6. Paperback books. The AOR is like one huge library of paperback books. You read one and just leave it someone for the next guy to find and do the same.
7. If you send a package out soon put holiday decorations in. We always enjoyed decorating our areas during holidays but most of the time you can't find anything to use.
8. But for the most part anything you send will be used and appreciated. We would always put our packages in a common area and everyone would just pick through and take what they wanted/needed.
9. Include a return addy or email address. We always enjoyed thanking people for items we received. Plus you never know what kind of crazy crap they may send you back (hint to you Knyte)
1. Theac hit my number one on the head. Guitar strings saved our life. After going about 3 months with 2 broke strings it was such a nice unexpected item to get in the mail. This goes into the category of stuff you use on a camping trip but you don't bring extras of.
2. I will tell you if you send any homemade food items to someone you don't know 90% of the time they won't get eaten. Some of the time it's due to the long time/ass pounding packages take to get to the "any troop". Plus alot of us won't eat any open items from people we don't know. Granted most of the time everyone has good intentions but you never know.
3. Porn is always good but keep in mind General Order 1 prohibits having porn. Depending on your location you can get in alot of trouble if you get caught with it. If you package does get hit for an inspection and porn is found your package will be taken. So be smart and send softcopies on unmarked or improperly marked (i.e. marked as Rocky II) media.
4. We do read all the "BS" postcards sent but the problem is that people will sit down and write up 100 of them that are the exact same card with the same thing written inside. And for some reason they will all get delivered to the same unit and alot of the times the same person. I couldn't tell you how many times I received 50 of the exact same card at the same time. So mix it up.
5. Any hygiene items are always a big hit. Especially wipes.
6. Paperback books. The AOR is like one huge library of paperback books. You read one and just leave it someone for the next guy to find and do the same.
7. If you send a package out soon put holiday decorations in. We always enjoyed decorating our areas during holidays but most of the time you can't find anything to use.
8. But for the most part anything you send will be used and appreciated. We would always put our packages in a common area and everyone would just pick through and take what they wanted/needed.
9. Include a return addy or email address. We always enjoyed thanking people for items we received. Plus you never know what kind of crazy crap they may send you back (hint to you Knyte)
I did this off an email I recieved but I regularly send my friends care packages and stuff
Actually my mom sends them for me, bwhahahahaha, sad, very sad
Actually my mom sends them for me, bwhahahahaha, sad, very sad
that's awesome
One of the books I've read (Bravo 2.0) described in great detail about how one of the things that soldiers in Iraq were totally unprepared for was how cold it got. They were out on a "walk" and got caught in a snow storm that almost killed one of them from hypothermia.