I put this question up on the facebook side a while back and promised I'd port everything over here.

Finally getting around to making that happen and will consolidate to the best of my ability.
If you've read this one before, slide on past. If you have ideas to contribute beyond these, by all means let's build it out.

Without further ado... this is what kicked it off:
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Need some help from the hive mind gang.
Have a buddy that just deployed to a FOB over in the sandbox. He is an aviator so ground contact is expected to be minimal.
My family is adopting him as our solider and plan on sending care packs on a monthly basis.
For those of you that have been there and done that, what kind of stuff did you wish you could get your hands on?
Stuff that has come to mind:
CLP and cleaning patches for sidearm
Bore snake
Hard candies
Altoids and inner tube bands for re-use.
Hydration powder supplements.
5 hour energy shots.
Right track or not?

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Here's an attempt to clean up and consolidate all of the 60 replies we had on the thread:

URLs Provided:
https://www.veteransunited.com/netwo...guF7mXvNeTOd80

https://www.military.com/deployment/...3d80IMVf49boI4

https://www.dollarshaveclub.com/our-products/fresh/wipes

https://thebuffalowoolco.com/collections/rtw-socks

Recommended stuff:
Coffee, lots and lots of coffee and I don’t mean Sanka or Folgers either!
Good toilet paper vs the gov single ply was always good too
Jerky
dried mango
medium grit diamond knife stone
socks good ones "darn tough" quality.
Powdered graphite for their weapons
sweetened coolaid to flavor their water
Pogie bait of any kind. - ("Pogey bait" is a reference to sweets or candy, which was in usage in the military as early as 1918. The term alludes to food (and other luxuries) rarely afforded to grunts in the field.)
Rip-It,
Copenhagen,
socks,
foot powder,
adult diapers..
Magainzes of a decent topic - think hunting, Automotive, women, or funny stuff.
DVDs. Any and all movies.
Butt dust (Gold Bond powder).
Baby wipes!
this!!! ^^ life saver
DVD’s Books, powdered Gatorade any flavor but green.
Magazines (reading not 30 rounders)
Pocket music players headphones.
Baby wipes hands down.
Wet wipes(flushable), dried fruit, jerky, q-tips for weapons cleaning, foot and butt powder, individual drink mixes.
Oreo’s.
Not cigarettes or gum. Peanut butter was always appreciated.
Whiskey 🥃 N beer 🍺. Lol 😂in shampoo n conditioner bottles.

Baby wipes, body powder, playing cards, individual drink mix, coffee, gum, coffee, lots of candy (don’t worry about it melting), cheap ear buds, various magazines, jerky, cheezits. Whatever he doesn’t want he’ll trade or give away.
Retired aviator here as well, care packages are the best.

If you don’t wanna spring for baby wipes, good toilet paper is also appreciated and can double as packing material. I also enjoyed sunflower seeds and they kept me from smoking. If they work out or start to a box of supplements is also appreciated

Cleaning tablets for a camel back if he has one.

Cornhuskers lotion, baby powder


Stories related:
Not knowing how or if they have a PX type of store setup at his location, and my deployments were between 2002-2005, things I needed on my deployments to the sandbox- SOCKS, t-shirts (appropriate color for uniforms), footpowder, shoe inserts (as heavy duty as you can get them), deodorant (just think your daily hygiene products). Things WANTED - deck of cards, Gatorade or similar, prepaid phone cards, books/magazines, non-heat sensitive non perishable snacks.... Again, not knowing whether they have a PX setup this list could go on for days.....
They say that in the Army, the coffee's mighty fine, looks like muddy water and tastes like turpentine! (That's why you send them the good stuff, and the TP? All the anti malarial stuff will give you the runs, so multi ply TP is a God send)



^^^^^^^^^^^ ×100

Pack everything thing in peanuts in the shell the can now eat the packing just a little extra treat
Been there done that.

Might sound crazy but baby wipes is what I needed. No showers when you go down range. 🤨Tuna in the packs, great for stuff a few in a cargo pocket and easy to eat on the go.

Ex-USN so can't speak for the guys in the sandbox, but deployed is deployed. Socks, baby powder (Gold Bond is the perennial favorite), good TP (you'd be amazed and dismayed at what they provided for us), and even underwear & t-shirts. First thing our tiny ship's store would run out of was cigarettes, chewing tobacco, anything you could legally smoke or chew). Any kind of jerky / snack sausages, Pringles, nuts or other snacky things (literally anything they can snack on will be appreciated, just make sure it's shelf stable). Think about squad wide stuff also, as the people who are getting packages are usually in the minority, so you end up sharing a lot of the stuff you get sent. It's nice if you include stuff for the squad along with personal stuff for the soldier / marine you're supporting so they get to share as well as something special just for them. Baby wipes didn't exist when I was in, but sounds like a great idea. Letters (actual written letters) were like gold, maybe talk your local grade schoolers into writing to them? We didn't get mail very often when we were deployed, and getting a letter from home was great, instead of getting "windows" (bills with windowed envelopes). I suppose everyone has email now, that was another thing that didn't exist when I was in.

Just not the Gold Bond in the bottle. . . . Had a soldier use that one time for that personal area sticking problems.... . Just trading things sticking to things for burning things. . . . . .

Retired aviator here. The best thing to do is ask him/her directly. Also, makes sure that soldier asks around and sees what anyone else needs. That one brand deodorant or snack from home is usually the best thing ever when you’re over there.




Former 11B that was in wardak province OEF 10-11. Candy lots of it jerky baby wipes. Porn is pretty much free anymore so that’s 👎🏻. Cigarettes if he smokes. And if you can liquor in scope bottles. Even better than toiletries . Lol 😂
Tobacco of any kind. Either they will use it or can use it as currency for those that do.
My favorite stuff to get was just random shit my dad put in the box to take up space use your imagination, sauce packets from what his favorite restaurant is little things like that.

Awesome. Depends where he is at. Some places are different than others. Drink mixes are usually great.
Buy a gallon of Arizona iced tea. Open the cap without breaking the seal. Dump out tea. Fill with Crown Royal. Reinstall cap.

🤙😁
Without reading the comments I’ll say as an aviator he will not be lacking or roughing it in anyway and probably won’t ever fire his weapon so gun stuff prob not needed.

I will say baby wipes and snacks were the best thing to open in a care package when I was down range.

As an old navy man the thing to get was an honest well written letter. A letter is a wonderful thing. Being at a FOB is hot dirty work, wipes with aloe. An hard candy it keeps your mouth wet. A tailoring for water makes a Oktoberfest.


Mosul 05-06 Helmand 11-12 I was a huge fan of Huggies Natural Care baby wipes, tobacco if they use it, jerky and Gold Bond Medicated foot powder...
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Thanks everyone for all the help.
Talked to my aviator bud today, and the one thing he asked for that we didn't get on the list is a memory foam seat cover because those aircraft seats are too bloody hard!