Attn: Military People

[Austin_]

My good friend is in the Navy and he has been sitting off the coast of Somalia for the past couple of months. He says he can still get mail and packages. I am wanting to send some goodies his way, but I'm not sure what would be best as I don't know what they have access to on a destroyer. Any suggestions as to what you wanted/would like if you were stuck on a boat for the better part of a year?

 

[IrregularPulse]

a box of daylight?? maybe some dirt???

Cookies, porno mags, and beer.

 

[jmendez29]

Porn of any type for sure. If he has a laptop, DVDs work well. Cookies as already stated. Any good new movies you wish to spend money on that he probably hasn't seen or heard about. Maybe a couple of books if you know what types he likes. Beef Jerky is always a good one. Chewing tobacco if he's into that sort of thing. I remember thinking that I could have gotten rich on my last two deployments just by stashing a dozen logs of dip and selling it when the store ran out. A few magazines, again if you know what he likes to read.

But seriously, anything will work. If you were to send a few small packages a few weeks apart as opposed to one big one, that would be so much better. Any contact from home is enough to keep him in his glory for a few days, no matter how insignificant.

 

[david_42]

I vote for chocolate, but it would probably melt several times before it arrived. Fudge should be okay.

SOFT cookies. Hard cookies arrive as a box of crumbs.

 

[menschmaschine]

Just to add... I read a lot of books while on the boat. The tiny library sucked and it would have been good to have some interesting reading... novels, books about hobbies he's in to, etc. One thing you tend to do on deployment is dream about what you'll do when you get back... it helps you keep your sanity and pass the time.

 

[Displaced MassHole]

The best care package I ever recieved on deployment was a box of junk food with a bottle of hand lotion and one tube sock. Oddly enough it was from a group called Blue Star Moms. I think we laughed about that for a month straight.

Seriously though, any kind of junk food, magazines (maxim is always a hit) and batteries.

Like someone else said chewing tobacco (dip) is worth its weight in gold on deployment.

 

[Skins_Brew]

My vote is porno. I was on a destroyer for a number of years and while it was cool to get junk food from home, there was always plenty of it in the ship store. Even beef jerky never ran out. If you want to hook your boy get him a subscription to penthouse. I had a subscription when I was deployed and it was awesome when that mag showed up!

 

[gratus fermentatio]

Tobacco in whatever form he likes it, booze in whatever form he likes it, Hometown newspapers, paperback books, recordings of his fav hometown radio station, DVD's of movies and/or recordings of his fav TV shows, DVD's of stand-up comedy is really good too. His fav non-perishable foods, gourmet coffee and/or tea, sun glasses, sunscreen, just about anything made by family/friends. Good luck to your friend. Regards, GF.

 

[jmendez29]

I'd be careful about anything alcoholic. He can get in a lot of trouble if its found. Even if they find it before he gets it and it has his name on the package. But yeah, anything that reminds him or helps him feel connected to home is good. Pictures, magazines, etc. I remember reading books just that I would never have read, purely out of sheer boredom. I even got ahold of a college level textbook about finance and read that thing cover to cover. Twice. It gets that bad. If he has a favorite packaged food from home, that's always good. I once asked for Milwaukee brand dill pickles because I missed them so much. Maybe some hometown favorite seasonings for food. If the ships food is the same as it ever was, it sucks. You learn how to use salt, ketchup, and hotsauce creatively to make things taste palateable.

And again, if you sent several small packages instead of fewer big packages, you'll make him feel like a king to his peers. I guarantee you he will share with his buddies so nothing ever lasts long.

 

[Baja_Brewer]

I even got ahold of a college level textbook about finance and read that thing cover to cover. Twice. It gets that bad.

If that is the case, send him "How to Brew" and "The complete joy of homebrewing"! Get him hooked!

 

[johnnyboy1965]

Make a DVD of his friends and family back home, so he knows they are still thinking of him. Try to make it "off the wall" type of production, not just people saying "hello". His local sports team??/ Take your DVD recorder with you when you have a night out.