Since it's been asked for, here is my Care Package Master List cross posted from another online forum.
Things We NEED (either unit Supply cant or wont get for us)
* Work gloves: Best ones (Army issue) are @ Camelbak.com-->Military-->Gloves--> Impact CT. All sizes. I wear Small, guys in my section wear up to XXL.
* Eye Protection A:
ESS Goggles - Protective Goggles - Ballistic Goggles - Eye Protection -- This is the eyepro that our prescription inserts are designed to go into. The inserts are easy to get, but the unit before us ordered the frames by the bucketload, so theyre blacklisted and nobody can get them in country anymore. Seven out of the eleven guys in my section need them, and only one (not me) has them. I bought them myself, and they got stolen off my cot in Kuwait. Asshats.
* Eye Protection B:
ESS Goggles - Protective Goggles - Ballistic Goggles - Eye Protection -- This is the stuff we wear during sandstorms or when rollin on the M88 Track Wrecker. Only three of our eleven guys have these. I am not one.
* Solar Shower: store.sundancesolar.com/sosh5ga.html -- Here in Northern Iraq, drought is a serious concern (in the desert, ya think?) So when summer comes around, Soldiers are restricted to three showers PER WEEK. Bottled water, however, is nearly unlimited. A trick we were taught from the unit we replaced is these little babies. Five bottles of water and BAM--instant shower that doesnt add to the unit's bulk water consumption.
Things We'd Like
* Coveralls: Try to get these from a Surplus store and you'll lose an arm and a leg.
Dickies® - Error are the best, hands down, and cheaper than most Surplus stores. Olive green, of course. I am a Large Regular.
* Gatorade/Flavor Powder: The little single-serving flavor powders you add to water bottles? Yeah. Lots and lots and LOTS of those, please. When the hot season comes (and it will, SOON), we'll be drinking 7-8 1.5 liter bottles of water a day. Thats a lot of flavor packets. Any flavor is great. Same with Gatorade powder. I personally dont like the Orange flavor, but thats just me.
* Batteries: We use the crap outta some flashlights. AAA and AA especially.
* Baby Wipes. By the truckload. Scented is okay, because unscented smells like ASS when sealed in the package for a few days in the heat.
* Air Fresheners. By the truckload. Not aerosol kind.
* Dawn Dishsoap. Cuts grease like crazy. We're all mechanics and the dirtiest MFers in the Motor Pool.
* Dish scrubbers: The brush variety, NOT the sponge kind. Along with the Dishsoap, works wonders on bodyarmor and uniforms after a mission.
* FEBREEZE-- Desert. Motor Pool. Soldiers working 8-12 hours a day. Need I say more. TRUCKLOAD.
* Deodorant. NOT Anti-persiprant. Most of that stuff just turns to thick paste by lunchtime over here. Old Spice High Endurance, Speed Stick, and Right Guard make good stuff.
* Powders: Cornstarch powder, Gold Bond Powder (green bottle or blue bottle are best), Baby Powder
* Boudreaux's Buttpaste (tube, not tub)-- keeps the IBA body armor from wearing holes in your flesh and in the heat of summer keeps rash from forming.
* OTC Medications: ibuprofen, Ny/DayQuil, Allergy meds, etc.
* Emergen-C and Airborne: I am walking proof that this s#$% WORKS. MADE. OF. AWESOME.
* Shaving Cream/Gel.
* Newspapers from home. Magazines too. all kinds. I'll find someone to read them, even if theyre not my style.
* Shampoo-- We dont have MUCH hair, but it needs lovin too
* Razor Blades-- Disposables are great for when out on mission. A lot of us use the Gilette Fusion 5-blader.
* American Cigarettes-- Marlboro Smooth and Camel Crush and Newports especially.
* Phone cards-- AT&T website has the best deals for deployed rates.
* Q-tips
* Toilet paper: imagine only using the toilet paper at your office or high school for a year. Ouch.
* Carmex/Chapstick-- wind makes for nasty, cracked, bleeding lips.
* Burts Bees: the hand salve for us mechanics and the peppermint lip balm. ONLY METAL CONTAINERS. Melts in the plastic ones and becomes useless. Anything else in the Burts Family you think might be useful, too.
* Loofa/plastic spongy things
* Bodywash. No girly scents, please. Thats just cruel.
* Fingernail Brushes. We're all mechanics. Nuff said
* COFFEE: We can get Folgers pretty easy, but GOOD coffee is nigh impossible.
* Power Strips: Especially those "Squid" kind. They rock.
* Sunscreen. Dont bother with SPF less than 30.
* MAGNETS: The walls here are metal. Magnets hang things best. Strong magnets, like the Home Depot kind.
* My Section Chief (codenamed Papa Bear) is a HUGE Star Trek fan, but he's all kinds of in the closet about it. Anything anybody could send that I can geek out with him on (books, paraphenalia, etc) would be GREAT.
* Our Welding NCO loves the Dallas Cowboys and Texas longhorns.
* Little Boss (my first-line supervisor) is a Tenessee fan.
* Dave (best friend) Is a Michigan boy-- loves the Lions[NFL] and Wolverines [collegiate]. Also very much into Irish heritage, Guinness, and suicidegirls. His wife actually IS one. Lucky bastard.
There will be more addendums to this list as time goes on. If you send stuff in a box to me for one of these guys, please include an inventory of who gets what.
Stuff *I* Would Like
* Twin Bedsheets. The crazier the better. If you have any stored up in an attic somewhere, send them my way. I dont care if therye are pink, purple, polka dots, Power Rangers, Barbie, Disney Princesses, Transformers... whatever. Bring them on!
* A Watch. Everything sold here is either a Rolex knockoff or uber-expensive. And all of them are entirely metal. Bad for a mechanic. Nylon band, Zelcro closure, Coleman or something able to stand up to a beating. Wal-Mart prolly has em by the dozen.
* Alarm Clock. Batteries or 220 volts. I am a LIGHT sleeper in country, and the one i have wont even wake me half the time. Blargh.
* Anything Harley Davidson, Superman, Wolverine, King Arthur, or Lion...
* D&D Materials: Notebooks, mechanical pencils, wet-erase markers, dice, sheet protectors (heavy duty), dry erase markers, game pdfs on CD/DVD, movie soundtracks of game-appropriate music, etc.
* Beef Jerkey: The only kind better than Jack Link's is the stuff you get in the little mom-and-pop grocery/gas stations on the highway. Regular, smoked, or peppered only, please.
* Blues/Techno/Rock/ Psycho Rockabilly CDs. Music lifts the spirit and mind.
* Hotpot/Coffee Pot: 220 volts, no glass. Went through two last tour because I'm dumb.
* TEA: Earl Grey and good black teas are my faves. Not so big on green teas.
* CALENDAR: One of the above favorite things would work nicely.
* PIPE TOBACCO: A nice long smoke is a part of my evening relaxation ritual. Its very nice, but good tobacco is HARD to get over here; at least stuff that isnt dry as hell or meant for a hookah. Not the mass-produced Wal Mart stuff-- the good, moist, rich, SWEET flavored kind from actual smoke shops. That's the best stuff. The sweeter the better, and please nothing peaty-flavored.
Anybody who is interested, please email me off line (check my first post for email addy at bottom) and I'll be happy to send you the address.
GAME ON!!!
