Outgoing Soldier

[MikeHaas]

Here are a couple of the most recent "Thank Yous" we've received at Project Bore Snake...

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From: SSG T.H.
Date: 11/06/06 12:31 PM PST
Subject: Thank You from B Co 2/136th INF

I just wanted to send a personal thank you to all involved in this project. Recently one of the soldiers in my company received one of your kits. The Bore snake is great! Some of us had them before, now some of our soldiers are getting them free from your project. It is the support of not just our families, but support from great companies and employees like yours that get us through every day here in Iraq. Thank you again!!
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From: M.P. (Mom of soldier)
Date: 11/02/06 04:49 AM PST
Subject: Order for snake kit

...Thanks so much for your help.This one's top on list of things he said he needed when last we spoke before entering Iraq. Thanks for all you do for the soldiers!
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From: Sgt. R.C. (Iraq)
Sent: Friday, October 13, 2006 7:59 AM
Subject: Free Bore Snake

...My unit is a maintance unit which repairs everything to generators to weapons, of which I am part of. I have 6 soldiers under me in the small arms shop. The main weapons we service is of course the M16a2- M4 but we also serve 249's 240;s and M2's. But to keep it simple M16's. Sending us enough for my soldiers under me would be great then we could help out all the others in the unit. If other units are in more need than ours please aid them first. Again thanks for what you are doing as well. If it weren't for individuals like yourself, our job would not be worth fighing for.
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More available at:
http://ProjectBoreSnake.org.com/testimonials.html

If you are a soldier/marine in Iraq or Afghanistan, MAKE SURE YOU SIGNUP FOR A SET OF KITS (we send 3 extra kits for you to give to buddies) AT:
http://ProjectBoreSnake.org/identify.html

If you're not, WE NEED YOUR HELP. A $56 donation will equip 4 soldier/marines with 2 bore snakes each. We have sent almost 5,000 soldiers/marines bore snakes - nearly 10,000 bore snakes since April 2005 - and it only scratches the surface.

Mike Haas
http://ammoguide.com/

 

[SoCalShooter]

care packages are the best thing in my opinion, food from home, pictures from home, garments etc, get together with his family in fact see if you can get the company to sponsor his platoon or unit depending on the size or their funds.

 

[RustyShackelford]

Blackhawk gift certificate...

I'd pitch in with your co-workers and get him a Blackhawk.com gift certificate. www.blackhawk.com

He can get some high quality gear and will use it often in OIF/southwest Asia.

Rusty

 

[MrTwigg]

If he's going on house to house searches, a couple cans of silly string. Have some friends who came back and said it's used to find tripwires on booby traps. It's light enough to just hang and not set anything off.

 

[rangerruck]

a nice leatherman, or some other multi tool. also a good pair of full coverage sun glasses.

 

[Bravo11]

We plan on sending him the care packages. Local newspapers and magazines along with non-perishable food items. I remember when I was in and getting something at mail call was great, especially if it was a package.
Thanks for the ideas.

 

[strambo]

I like getting magazines best...and good coffee when I run out.

High quality Beretta mags is a good idea, I deployed with 2 personal ones plus the factory origional the gun was issued with. The rest are "Checkmate" brand and supposedly not real good. So far my Checkmates have all functioned though...

 

[thefitzvh]

Well, a surefire works well. Some are issued, but not one for every soldier. The batteries are readily available. I get cases at a time from my supply NCO

The most useful "toy" i have over here is my ipod. I also have the Altec Lansing "tube" dock for it. It's a big long tube speaker thingy that can take rechargable C batteries. We put it in the truck so we have tunes for the longer trips.

As far as optics, the Army issues an aimpoint to every deploying soldier as part of the RFI. It also issues a certain number of ACOGS (I have one), so I woudn't worry about optics.

Magazines are always a good choice. I brought 18 of my own with MagPul self levelling followers, and they've been reliable as all hell so far.

Lots of cleaning supplies. CLP sucks. I ran out of Hoppes solvent recently, and have been using this "Strike Hold" stuff... it seems to work real well also.

Eyewear is issued, but extra is always good. They get scratched up easily. I got some wiley-Xs with light adjusting lenses.

Tactical tailor stuff... a gift cert wwould be neat. The issued MOLLE gear is crap, IMHO, and the tac-tailor mag pouches and 203 round pouches are way superior. I turned in my entire issued "rifleman's pack" in favor of tac tailor stuff.

DVDs... lots of DVDs... LOL

 

[MikeHaas]

http://ProjectBoreSnake.org/
From SFC J.R. (Iraqi Infantry Battalion Advisor), 6/11/2006...
"Comfort items are nice but the 'Snakes are life-savers!"

 

[SFvet]

I remember when it was my 1st year at my duty base and my family sent me a care package and letters telling me how proud they were. I sat there and cried and right there I knew that my folks cared about me. Some of you guys know how much it means to have care packages... even the smallest things can make a Airman,Soldier,Seaman,Officer(s) day.

 

[ArfinGreebly]

Couple of Things

In the field, a good flashlight and multitool can be very handy.

In the flashlight department, Streamlight has a new line of very nice aluminum LED + Xenon flashlights.

I recently picked up the 2D off the rack at Batteries Plus:

which uses 2 D-cells, has 10 LEDs, 3 modes: 5xLED, 10xLED, Xenon bulb.
Nice heft. Very substantial. Bright. Wrist strap.

They also carry the slimmer 3C, which has 6 LEDs:

and they have a bunch of variations, some using Lithium ion batteries.

There's quality there.

In the tool department, the Leatherman Supertool (do they still make that?) and the Leatherman Wave are quite useful, as well as Gerber's various multitools.

Something I recently discovered (separate entry to follow) is that the Supertool is just the right size to wrap one's hand around, very solid, providing a stout hand-filler not entirely unlike rolled coin. And all this time I thought I was carrying pliers and miscellaneous handy blades.

 

[Lebben-B]

Another nice to have item is pre-paid calling cards. Some have suggested flashlights. Good idea, but don't forget extra batteries. CR123s in particular are in great demand and somtetimes hard to find over there. A bottle or two of a good dry lube like Tuff-Glide, Militec or Strike Hold would surely be welcomed as well.

Mike