What do soldiers need?

[Timefortruth]

Last month we sent a package to a soldier whose name I found here and today we received a letter back. He said it had been so long since anyone sent him anything he thought he had been forgotten. Anyway, when we sent the original package we asked him to let us know what he needed but he didn’t do that in his reply. Maybe he is embarrassed or something.

He is in the infantry in Iraq near Kirkuk. Today the kids and I went shopping and bought Gold Bond Powder (my son insisted this was essential), lotion, nuts, hard candy and wet wipes. The soldier is Latino from California and I’m a Southern wasp so since our worlds are so different there may be something that he would really appreciate that I wouldn’t come up with in a million years. Any thoughts?

[alcuno]

1. I found a website that gives some suggestions

http://law.vanderbilt.edu/about/news/2003/03_25.html

Look at the bottom of the page. I think they have enough decks of cards.

[Timefortruth]

5. Thanks. nt

[cliss]

2. Time, that's so nice of you

to send a "care" package to this soldier. We should support these men & women who are fighting a battle that they did not choose. I can't imagine the price they are paying right now as I write this, not to defend me or this country, but because they are part of the armed forces which sent them there.

"They need to come home"

[Timefortruth]

7. They need to come home.

To read the letter from the soldier was enough to break my heart. What I want to do is buy him a ticket home, but they’d arrest me for that.

[alcuno]

10. How about some letters?

Big long letters with pictures of normal things in your lives to give him perspective. It sounds like he's probably hungry for family-like contact.

[Timefortruth]

14. OK, but we do not lead an interesting life.

I gave up on interest long ago and traded it for spelling tests and soccer games.

[mandyky]

17. Since you have kids, call their teachers, and

have the classes formulate a class letter or allow each child to write one, and include pictures.
I wouldn't send any perishable foods, since it is still hot there. Water and sports drinks (gatorade) would be appreciated since last we heard they only get 2 liters of water a day.

[tabasco]

3. Homemade stuff

When I was deployed, I liked homemade food like brownies. More than factory granola bars and stuff like that.

[rucky]

4. Cacahuates!

HOT PEANUTS (Cacahuates con Chile)

1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup pequín chiles
8 cloves garlic, peeled
2 cups raw Spanish peanuts, shelled

Place the oil, chiles and garlic in a small saucepan and warm over low heat for 3 minutes. Do not allow the mixture to come to the simmering point. Blend the mixture for 2 minutes and let it stand for 1 hour.

Blend again for 1 minute, then strain the mixture into a small container. Toss the peanuts with 2 teaspoons of the flavored oil until they are well coated; place them in a large cast iron skillet. Place the skillet with the peanuts into an oven preheated to 300 degrees F and roast them, stirring every 5 minutes, for a total of about 30 minutes.

Remove the skillet from the oven and allow to cool for 30 minutes. Salt peanuts to taste, then serve.

http://www.recipegoldmine.com/nuts/nuts38.html

[Timefortruth]

6. Where does one find peqin chilies and raw Spanish peanuts?

Seriously.

[rucky]

11. Peanuts should be easy...

Any raw peanuts would do. Actually, I was a bit surprised the recipe specified Spanish ones.

you can sub the pequin with any pepper (cayenne would work best).

[Timefortruth]

13. OK I'll shop for raw peanuts.

Would Walmart have them?

[Don_G]

8. Probably Anything You Take For Granted

Water, news, socks and maybe steak or two with an accompaying BAR-B-QUE from you're nearest store.

Sometimes, the smallest things you take for granted in the US means a lot to the guys serving overseas.

I'm not suggesting .45 ammo by any means, but would it hurt to tosss them a steak and charcol by Christmas?

[Timefortruth]

12. How do you send a steak to Iraq?

And who would want to eat it once it got there?

[Don_G]

20. Check With The Post Office

The last I've heard, Dry Ice and Meat weren't excluded as cargo.

Then again, you might embarrass Asskrap and have "him" decide on Thanksgiving and Christmas MRE's to the GI's.

Before I run my mouth any further, check in with HawkerHurricane to see who needs what and what "we" can get away with.

Don't forget him at Christmas either....

[HawkerHurricane]

27. Since nobody want to check in with me...

I'm a sailor, not a soldier, but...

Hand lotion/moisturizer...very dehydrating over there
Magazines/paperbacks...humor is good; National Lampoon and Mad and Readers Digest
Small, silly toys...we had a blast with some balloons and bubbles
Candy that doesn't melt...assume anything sent will sit in the desert for a couple of days at 120 degrees
Jerky is good, espcially 'flavored' kind...also Pringles patato chips (pack carefully so they don't crush, no one likes patato dust)
Cashews are a personal favorite, but peanuts and mixed nuts are also popular
Home baked cookies are good, but watch it: Chocolate Chips melt!
'Nerf' footballs are fun, and don't require inflating or take up too much space in a box.

ok, I'm going to sound sexist here, but...IF the recipient is a single male, and you are a female between 15 and 60, a picture of you dressed up and looking pretty...sexy will be appreciated but not required...if you are married/otherwise unavailable, don't forget to make it clear or you will get annoyingly sappy letters in answer

Stay unpolitical in your letters unless he starts it...don't say bad things about Bushco unless he does first

I could come up with more, but it's bedtime, I've got to get up early in the morning...if you want more, just respond to this or PM me.

[Skittles]

22. jerky

send jerky

[TheReligiousLeft]

9. Books, Magazines,

Kleenex BABY WIPES, Trail Mix, SOCKS, Hacks, Frisbees.
This is related: <http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=104&topic_id=472820>

[Timefortruth]

15. Lefty, check your PM

I'm leaving for tonight but I'll check for an answer tomorrow.

[clemencia2us]

16. items for troops

Don't forget the women. When I was in Kuwait I had my sisters send me panty-liners and hair color. It was great when someone sent a shipment of Clinque moisturizer samples. My other favorite was t-shirts and socks. I did not expect to stay there that long and my stuff was falling apart. They also sent me boxes of instant coffee/latte. When possible we would stock up on the tuna lunches just to have something different to eat. Magazines and books are great too. How about burning some music CDs?

[newyawker99]

28. Hi clemencia2us!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[Solly Mack]

18. The soldiers in our company

request:

(just to give you some ideas for your soldier)

hard candy
chewing gum
cigarettes
batteries (AA, C, D)
flash lights
chef boy-ardee lunch size w/ pop tap
cup-o-noodles
instant coffee
creamer
cough drops
beef jerky
lip balm
lotion
razors
powdered gatorade
funnels (to get the gatorade into the canteen)
aspirin
vitamins
black tube socks
bandanas (light brown/tan)
...just to name a few things

[Skittles]

19. in my last package

I included an instant camera and some ziplock baggies, beef jeerky, a big giant thing of honey roasted peanuts; some of those Listerine pocket packs, deodorant, wet wipes, pop tarts.

I hear READING MATERIAL is primo.

[kayleybeth]

21. Chapstick

I heard they go through A LOT of chapstick out there.

Does anyone have the name of a soldier that needs to be "adopted"? My family and I would love to send a care package to a soldier in need.

Kayeleigh

[morningglory]

25. The best moisturizer for lips etc is lanolin for nursing mothers in the

baby department. They will get a laugh out of it, but it is not greasy, cakey, crumbly, and does not make you want to lick your lips till you die, the way chapstick does.

[dofus]

23. I hadn't even thought about doing this,

but now I want to. Where do we go to get a name/address of soldier?

I do believe that Dear Abby or Ann Landers (maybe both) for many years encouraged people to write to soldiers at Christmas time. Any chance this can be set up through DU? Moderators?

[Changenow]

24. SoCalDem had some names

You may wish to pm her/him to find out whether she knows of others.

[morningglory]

26. They are afraid us anti war people will send anthrax to our soldiers,

even though it was obviously right wingers who sent anthrax to dems a while back. Sign of a sick mind, I believe, so you have to know someone. They are requesting no packages addressed to "any soldier", the Ann Landers or Dear Abby campaign of years past. Yesterday a local Sgt, who is in Baghdad sent a letter to editor of the mulletwrapper requesting pen pals. I sent a letter requesting a name.