Deployed or still at home, a soldier’s life can be boring, stressful, and constricted. Your job, as someone who cares about him, is to help him entertain himself, relax, and expand his mind. There are hundreds of gifts you can send your soldier to accomplish this, but the best ten are listed below.
An MP3 player today may well be the best thing you can send. On the top end, the iPod is still the king, though Sony’s giving Apple a run for its money; but even on the low end, you can get a surprisingly good player for less than thirty dollars. If you or a relative have a little technical savvy, you can even pre-load the player with music you think your soldier will love. Do note that if you send a gift like this, you should insure the package. The more expensive and technically advanced the gift, the less likely it will arrive as shipped.
If your soldier doesn’t already have one, send him a cell phone. You must watch this, though. For stateside assignments, a simple prepaid cell phone, or one using any service, is fine. But if he’s stationed overseas, a cell phone is unlikely to work. For overseas soldiers, send a cell phone that takes a SIM card. He can purchase a new SIM card in the country where he’s stationed and swap it out to make and receive phone calls. (The phone number will change with each card.)
What do soldiers do, a lot? March. In sweaty, non-breathing footgear. Through nasty terrain. Answer: a foot care kit. This doesn’t have to be anything frou-frou – just fill a shaving bag with Dr. Scholl’s gel insoles, fungus spray, foot powder, heated socks (yes, they exist), foot deodorizer, charcoal odor absorbers, and whatever else seems appropriate. For those who complain a lot, a foot massager might even be a good choice.
Soldiers also tend to be concerned about advancement. A great solution for this: a copy of ASVAB for Dummies, for young men just going into the service; or study references that apply to his or her specialty, for those who’ve been in a little while. You can always make this really easy on yourself by asking your soldier to go out to Amazon and putting together a wish list.
Has your soldier racked up a couple of awards already? Order a custom display case for them. There are plenty of online services that put together shadowboxes and other cases that hold a folded flag, space for medals, and even have custom sections where he can display war trophies or maps of places he’s been. You’ll probably have to give him a certificate for it, and have him work with the case maker, but he’ll love it.
Soldiers also love sharp pointy objects. Go to your local law enforcement professional store (not sure where that is? Call your local fraternal order of police and ask.) and tell them you’d like to see the M16 Military Knife or Law Enforcement Knife. Alternately, if your soldier is a bit of a techie, pick up a good Gerber multitool; since there are dozens of different types, keep in mind what your solder does when you look at the different examples.
Gameboy DS or the new PSP could be perfect. Handheld game systems are becoming increasingly versatile and multifunctional, and today’s games can often play DVDs and perform other functions, like personal planning. If you do get a system like this for your soldier, let others in your family and circle of friends know so they can send games for it as well.
Home-baked cookies, fudge, brownies, no-bake cookies – any of these sweet treats will be received with joy by your soldier and his buddies. And because the buddies are an integral part of this, be certain to send plenty of whatever treat you’re making. For most treats, four dozen or more is a good number to aim at.
Wargames, like Soldiers of Anarchy or H.A.L.O. or SoCom, will all go over great for the soldier who has access to a computer. If he’s deployed, he should have a laptop with wireless. Remember, one of the biggest complaints out of military members is the boredom when they have to wait long times for any kind of action. Addictive wargames will keep his mind occupied and, with the best first-person shooters, his skills sharp.
Ultimately, nothing is better than a regular letter and little care package from home. If you can’t afford much, just buy a bunch of stamps and write him a letter every single day, enclosing pictures if you can. Military members hover at mail call like vultures waiting for that special time when it’s their name being called. This, more than anything, is what they live for.
