Ann, when DS was deployed over there, I sent many things listed below, but before that I need to stress that you NOT put your name or his on anything inside the box you send. A letter and/or card with his first name and yours is ok, though he'll be shredding it after he reads it. Do NOT send newspapers from home, magazines with anyone's return address still on them or anything that might help the enemies over there retaliate against his family and friends here. This, my son STRONGLY insisted on. His name and the senders name will be on the front package on the form you'll fill out at the post office. ALL identifying info will have to be immediately shredded when he gets it. I can't stress enough how important this is for everyone's safety! And, believe me, my son was not exaggerating the seriousness of this!

Things to send:
Chapstick; sunscreen; hand/body lotion (anything that could possibly leak, pack in a sealed ziplock bag!). Snack bars that won't melt in the heat (non-chocolate); small cans of food stuff, if they have a pull tab to open them, as can openers are not to readily available; soothing eye drops; magazines like Sports Illustrated with no address label on it; a small travel pillow (my son, who was an officer, had no pillow for almost 5 months over there! He mentioned it to his girlfriend in a letter once and she sent him a pillow and warm but thin blanket); a thin, lightweight, not colorful (dark is practical) warm blanket; gloves; pocket comb, throat lozenges, gum; pen; nail clippers; travel-size toothbrush and toothpaste; Athlete's Foot powder; Beef jerky is a BIG hit over there; Tums.

I'm sure that there are many things I'm forgetting but if you're sending something, you need to get it in the mail very soon.

What not to send: cologne; chocolate or anything else that will melt, get crushed or go bad quickly; nothing for him to give to any kids in the area ( if any Taliban, etc. see a kid wearing or using something from a GI, it could be fatal for him, his entire family and the friends he's with!); anything that will get crushed, spoil or needs to be opened with a can opener.
Lynn

My first thought was a crossword puzzle book.

Lynn - Very interesting about your son's lack of a pillow. I think it was about 3 years ago one of the medical corpsmen at Langley AFB issued an installation-wide public request for donations of clean bed linens. The in-theater need for bedding (for the wounded, no less) had not been met through DoD sources. They even had to make special arrangements to hitch "rides" for donated linens on scheduled cargo flights. Within days, they had more than they could ship and DoD funding going forward.

Zackey: yes and Sudoku, too! But, small enough to tuck into their packs. With mechanical pencils and extra lead.

Java: glad somebody came through for them!

DS requested a warm, black, very light weight jacket and a thin, warm, acrylic (easily washable, non-shrinkable) sweater, too, but I'm not sure if everyone over there is able to wear them. Probably so.

I forgot a big one: single serving packages of drink mixes to add to their water bottles, etc. (coffee, tea, lemonade, Gatorade, power drinks, etc. are MUCH appreciated!

I've just sent off an email to DS for more suggestions. I'll get back to you when I hear from him.
Lynn

Ummm, I hope that this doesn't offend anyone, but it is coming directly from a former GI who did two tough tours in Afghanistan. Ann, I don't expect this would be something you'd send, but perhaps someone else here with a brother or friend might be looking for some things to send. My son's suggestions, beside the ones I've already listed above: Energy drink mixes and Maxim magazines. He mentioned a few other things, but they might get me kicked off GW if I mention them here (LOL)!
Lynn

{{!gwi}}

This post was edited by LynninNM on Mon, Nov 24, 14 at 20:15

An organization I'm involved with recently sent 5 large boxes of items for care packages through Operation Gratitude. Under their "get involved" section there's a list of items that service men and women like and another link to items on Amazon that they like. For those who don't personally know someone, it's a great way to support our troops.

Here is a link that might be useful: Operation Gratitude

Cans of mixed nuts, dried fruit, single serve packets of hot chocolate, tea and coffee (the instant Starbucks Via is pretty good), If you look in the snack isle of the grocery store, they make all sorts of individual serving packages- cereal bars, oatmeal, crackers, brownies, etc.

GREAT ideas, Franksmom!
Hilltop, that's kind of what we do here, only it's the Blue Star Mothers group that does it.

For those of you who are not familiar, Blue Star Mothers is a national organization of women whose sons or daughters are serving in the military. They help support our troops and each other, as well.

Gold Star Mothers is a national organization of mothers whose sons or daughters were killed while serving our country. It's a wonderful, very much needed organization that supports surviving families.
Both organizations are incredibly worthy and do so much good!
Lynn

Thanks Lynn, Hilltop and everyone who sent such great suggestions! I am going to get this package organized ASAP and send it out.

It's actually a little selfish of me too; this season I'm so sick of the whole buying-stuff-for-those-who-already-have-too-much-stuff cycle. I am excited about preparing a gift that I hope will be useful and helpful for my boy and some of his buddies.

Ann

When my brother was over there, he liked any kind of salty snack--I sent a lot of Pringles. And hard candy, which he normally isn't fond of, but apparently is helpful out in the desert.

Thinking of fun stuff, a pack of cards or puzzle books. Depending on where he is stationed, a DVD might be nice. I sent my brother "A Christmas Story," his favorite movie, and he shared that with several other people--and left it over there with the guys who came to replace his unit.

And if he celebrates a specific holiday, you could include one or two unbreakable decorations for that holiday. I have a picture of my brother and his buddies with an artificial "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree that's less than a foot high, and you can see a bit of some other decorations in the background.

My BFF's son went into the military right after high school and was just a big old kid. She said he loved getting junk food/candy such as Starkists, Skittles, Gum, Hard Candy, Beef Jerky, individual size bags of peanuts - things he could carry in his pocket - and ALWAYS enough to share with his buddies.

They liked cheap "kids" toys like frisbies, cheap dart games, etc. She said they played with the frisbies when they were on roof-tops. Things to give them just a touch of their normal life at home.

We live in a highly military-oriented area and have helped put together many boxes over the past years.

One thing I recall being on the list that hasn't been mentioned was plain white socks. I know it may sound weird, but apparently soldiers go through these pretty quickly. The multi-packs are much appreciated for warmth, for walking around the barracks when not in uniform or sleeping in them.

I can't add much else except to ditto the individual packs of nuts, jerky, skittles, gum, etc, and up-to-date magazines. Don't forget there are women over there too and outdoor magazines such as Outdoor Life, People, or fitness magazines might also appeal to them.

I would think they need games to play to take their mind off of being there. Parcheesi, backgammon and Scrabble make minature versions.

I would think they need games to play to take their mind off of being there. Parcheesi, backgammon and Scrabble make minature versions.

My hubby's BF did a tour in Afghanistan, and Lynn has already mentioned some of the popular/requested items we sent to him... chap stick, individual drink crystals for water bottles, sunscreen, beef jerky.... etc., etc. Our friend was often "out" on patrol away from camp and eating only MREs (or whatever they're called now) for long periods of time. He would crave fresh fruit, but it was hard to come by, so we sent him the small lunch-size cans of mandarin oranges, fruit salad, etc. We even sent him my MIL's homebaked molasses cookies that she packaged individually with her FoodSaver.... he said they arrived in remarkably good shape, and if heated were almost like freshly baked. I think he said they set them on the engine compartment of their vehicle to heat, or something crazy like that.... he came home with some incredible stories.

A friend's son requested all kinds of "gummy" candy (Swedish fish, gummy bears, sours, etc.)