A Christmas gift guide for the serving soldier: the scoop on shipments to Grunts in "The Sandbox"

John Connor

The good news is, the military has really relaxed its former policy of: "If we don't issue it, you can't have it," so personally-owned items of all kinds can be used and enjoyed by deployed troops. The bad news is, it's gotta be acquired "on your own hook," and our lads and ladies in The Sandbox don't get much chance to sashay through the sidewalk marketplaces for comfort-and-convenience items--which mostly ain't in the inventory anyway. That's where you friends-and-family folks come in. More good news: almost all of our troops in Iraq operate out of base camps where they can semi-safely stash goodies that can't or shouldn't be carried in their combat load-out, so don't worry too much about that.

Check the appropriate shipping regulations carefully before packin' presents, and if anything you're sending could be confused with contraband, don't seal parcels until you ship 'em. Inspection may be required. Think "fortress" rather than "flimsy" on containers. Once your packages bounce into Baghdad, they're trucked--not very tenderly--to the boondocks. Mom's cookies often arrive separated into their original components of sugar, flour, and oatmeal--more suitable for snorting than nibbling. Send jerky instead, and lots of it. Oh, by the way, the Post Office has a full-blown cat over shipping aerosol cans. Try not to.

Line stout boxes with copies of GUNS, American Handgunner, and sports magazines. They're enjoyed by all, then traded and bartered with. Prime package padding includes 5.11 socks, UnderArmour "Heat Gear" (or their "Cold Gear," depending) undershorts, and sealed, pre-moistened antibacterial towelettes, like the 15-packs of 7"x6" wipes available from Rite Aid drug stores. Send plenty. They're refreshing in the heat, and a "field bath" in the cold. Fill out empty space with hand sanitizer gels and body lotions--unscented, please! Fruity aromas can draw both bugs, and bullets-in-the-dark. Slide pre-paid phone cards into crevices, and you'll be blessed many times over.

Electro-gizmos are best shipped with batteries out, but packed with lots of spares. Lithium CR123 batteries are scarce, and lithium coin-cells and button-batts even more so. D-cells are less difficult to find, but less demanded, and AA's are generally available. Send lots, but make sure they're packed without anything resembling wires around them.

Major Howard Hall, USMC, is our top GUNS-guy in Fallujah, where he's training Iraqi security forces. Howard's input on parcels may not apply everywhere--Iraq's a big country--but serve as a general guide. He reports the US Postal Service Priority Mail seems fast and certain, averaging 10 days from CONUS to his bunker. First Class takes about 21 days, and UPS parcels take about a month. Size and weight are always considerations, and make sure valuable contents are insured Howard says the only thing worse than a package not arriving is learning that your friends and loved ones suffered a financial loss for their generosity.

Take Charge

As I write this, it's a crisp, cool 105 degrees! at 2000 (8:00 PM) in Baghdad, and the forecast for next week averages 115-plus at noon. But, up in the mountains of Kurd country and the Iranian border, other friends of ours are freezing. Know where your troops are, and make allowances for changing seasons, too.

Now, here's a personal plea from a guy who's Been There & Done That: If you don't have a buddy, brother, or sister in The Sandbox, think about playing Santa to somebody else's son. My pal Howard Hall and his crew will rotate back stateside before Christmas, but other Marines will take their place. The unit's address is:

Military Transition Team

Second Brigade, 1st Div., Iraqi

Intervention Forces

Camp Fallujah, Iraq

APO-AE 09387

All should give some. Some will give all.--Connor.

Widgets For Warriors, Gizmos For Grunts

Yeah, yeah, I know. You glanced at the title, blew through the first paragraph, zoomed over the photos, and you're sayin'. "This clown wants me to give my brother in Basra some used sandals, weird hippie beads, some kinda rubber rope-thingie and an orange plastic door-stop? What's goin' on?" Listen up to the clown. OK?

The value of some of these items should be obvious, while others, admittedly, may seem a trifle strange. But combat is a strange, strange world, with a weird mix of medieval and modern conditions, stone age and silicon-chip needs. There were times I woulda traded my favorite knife for the use of some fine-point tweezers; given up ammo to know what the heck the barometer was doing, and kissed the bloomin' boots of 'im who could tell me--within 10 square miles--exactly where I was. Read on, and believe me--these goodies can be solid gold to the Grunt who needs 'em.

The Eyes Have It

Blackhawk has your Grunt's Mark-I eyeballs covered. Their wrap-around shooting glasses are light and comfy, and when the shamal storms blow, HellStorm Tactical Assault Goggles are a big improvement over mil-issue dust goggles, and fit the PASGT helmet perfectly. Both feature interchangeable polycarbonate lenses and 99.9 Percent UV protection. Great gear!

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Odd But Good

Grunts in Iraq have learned that the "shemagh"--traditional Arab headgear--also makes a fine scarf, field towel, sweat mop, sunshade, sling and more, but have trouble getting them in Iraq! Send one in khaki/black, one in green/black. They're available from Brigade Quartermasters and others. The Zeiss Scopz shooting glasses in neutral gray are superb quality, and they stay put through falls, fire-fights and fumbles.

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Sharp Stuff

Clockwise from 12, Gerber's LMF II "Infantry" was designed and built for the field soldier, with a hammer butt, sheath-integrated sharpening system and more. You'll want to keep it just for the grip and balance. Send it! Spyderco's "Military" is lean, light, and lives up to its name. The titanium-framed 3G from "Combat Elite" is nearly bombproof, and a fitting gift for your brother in Baquba. The "Shrapnel" by Extrema Ratio is single-billet tough and sleek, with a cobalt-stainless blade.

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Strange? Nah!

In the "Essential Oddities" category, that rubber-rope thingie is McNett's GruntLine. An indispensable braid of live rubber with clips at both ends. it's a bungee, tourniquet, lanyard, clothesline, gear strap, and 52 other things. Send at least two. The funky orange polymer blocks are Sniper Training Cube reactive targets from Just Shoot Me Products'. Troops in-country train constantly, and this is one tough, durable, jumping, spinning, challenging target. My well-used one on the right has now sucked up over 14,000 rounds of 5.56mm, 8,200 7.62mm, and 578 rounds of .50 BMG. She still dances delightfully every time the music plays. By the time you read this, the Pistol Cube will be available, too.

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Better Than A Bowie

Mere possession of SOG's PowerLock equals platoon-wide popularity. This rugged tool, featuring compound leverage pliers, should be issued to every soldier and Marine. DoD won't do it, so you should. Toss in some heavy upholstery needles and OD waxed linen thread for repairing harness gear. Keep its little angle-headed cousin. the ParaTool, for yourself.

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Magazine Care

Magazines are unloaded, cleaned and reloaded as often as weapons, and you don't want your mags empty any longer than necessary. Michaels of Oregon's Butler Creek division now distributes the LULA magazine loader/unloader, and it's the best I've ever seen, period. Simply snap it on a loaded M16/AR-15 mag and flip the lever back and forth to unload in a flash, then reload as fast as you can drop rounds in and repeat.

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Columbus Didn't Have It This Good

But when microchips fail and batteries fade, you'd better have low-tech backups. The Brunton Eclipse compass replaced my Marine-issue lensatic, and is the best unit available. Those funny-lookin' beads are "pace counter" beads, available from Brigade Quartermaster and others. Figure out your own stride, but for me, every 65 times my left foot lands I've done 100 meters, and I pull one of the nine beads down from the lower group. When they're all down, pull one (kilometer) bead down from the upper group. Re-set every 5,000 meters. I've "boxed the compass" over 14 miles of broken mountains with 'em and come out within 100 meters from start-point. The plastic rectangle is a GR2 UTM Grid Reader, for military and USGS maps, and every map-readin' Grunt needs one.

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Clean Scene

Iraq and Afghanistan are the world's greatest sources of grit and dust. Weapons cleaning is a marathon mantra, and the issue PM gear, frankly, sucks. Send Otis "Tactical" cleaning systems, Bore Snake pull-through cleaners, and lots of cheap, hard-bristle toothbrushes. Lone Wolf's Ultimate Armorer's Tool looks like a pen and packs a stiff brush, screwdriver, hex nut driver, and pin punch into a brass barrel--not just for Glocks. Major Hall named Militec-1 Strike Hold and KG-1 Carbon Remover as top choices, and McNett Op-Drops keeps glasses and optics clear and fog-free.

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Upside Of Downtime

So, what's there to read by that light? I mean, besides GUNS and Handgunner? My pal Robert Boatman is a classically educated brutish Neanderthal--and a dang fine shooter and writer. His latest is Living with the 1911--A Fresh Look at the Fighting Gun. Team it up with his excellent Living with Glocks, and Living with the Big .50, and you've got a winter's worth of info-tainment.

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Be Where When?

The Suunto X-Lander is a weatherproof multi-feature watch plus digital compass, altimeter and barometer, with memory and deviation/difference recordings--invaluable in the field. The new Suunto X9M has all that plus a GPS system expressly designed for military users like reconnaissance and forward observation team leaders. It has too many features to list here, so I'll just say, "Fifty routes, 500 waypoints, accurate to one meter." It's worth your life.

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The Sawyer Extractor Kit

This goodie saves lives and significantly reduces suffering from bites and stings of all kinds. Topical treatment isn't enough--you've gotta get the neuro-, necro-, and hemotoxins out! Add fine-point sliver-gripper tweezers for stingers and splinters. They're treasured in the field.

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More Light For The Night

Major Hall specifically named SureFire's A2 "Aviator" (Model A2-HA-RD) tactical light as a Fallujah favorite, praising its unique microprocessor-controlled switching system for momentary or constant-on choice of three red LED's or a dazzling white Xenon spotlight. SureFire also has the best deal around on US-made lithium CR123 batteries, at $15 per dozen. The runt on the left is a short, fat 4-AA-cell flashlight from Coleman. Pull the barrel open, and it morphs into a stable little reading lantern. It's sold super-cheap in a blister pack with a clunky matching D-cell flashlight. Hang the "D" one by the basement stairs, and send the "flash-lantern" to your cousin in Kirkuk.

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Survival Kit For Survivors

Most "survival kits" are "survival toys," but Survival Inc.'s DeLuxe Tool Kit delivers. It packs a "BlastMatch" magnesium fire-starter, "WetFire" smokeless, odorless non-toxic tinder that lights better wet than dry, a "StarFlash signal mirror, "JetScream" whistle, and the "SaberCut" Saw, a bi-directional flexible chain saw--that works!--in a waterproof case.

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A Light For All Occasion

Rotate the bezel of Gerber's stubby RECON LED light, and you get red light for preserving night vision, blue for detecting blood and body fluids, soft white for general use, and green for topo map reading. In the dark, match flats on the head and bezel by finger-touch, and you're sure to have the red light on. The three-watt Gerber TX3.0 LED makes a great impact weapon as well as a tough, anti-roll tactical light. Both run on plentiful AA batteries.

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Happy Pups

Good footgear is dead-serious Grunt-stuff. When a Grunt strips off his combat boots in base camp after 96 straight in 'em, he's gotta have comfortable footgear he can run and fight in if necessary. Chaco Z/1 Terreno sandals have tough Vibram soles, secure heel-straps, strong molded arches for big ground-pounders, they shed sand well, and they're amphibious. Don't even look at the Z/2's, or cheaper substitutes.

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SAWYER EXTRACTOR KITS,

UTM READERS, ETC.

ANY SPORTING GOODS/OUTDOOR SUPPLY

CHACO Z/1'S

OUTDOOR SUPPLIERS LIKE EASTERN

MOUNTAIN SPORTS,

DICK'S, GALYAN'S ETC.

COMPASS, GPS

BRUNTON

(307) 856-6559, WWW.BRUNTON.COM

SUUNTO

(800) 543-9124, WWW.SUUNTOUSA.COM

KNIVES

SPYDERCO

(800) 525-7770, WWW.SPYDERCO.COM

GERBER

(800) 950-6161, WWW.GERBERGEAR.COM

EXTREMA RATIO KNIVES

(435) 865-0050, WWW.EXXCESS.INFO

FLASHLIGHTS

SUREFIRE

(800) 828-8809, WWW.SUREFIRE.COM

BOATMAN'S BOOKS

PALADIN PRESS

(303) 443-7250,

WWW.PALADIN-PRESS.COM

SURVIVAL KIT

(800) 292-4707, WWW.SURVIVALINC.COM

TACTICAL ACCESSORIES

BLACKHAWK INDUSTRIES

(800) 694-5263,

WWW.BLACKHAWKINDUSTRIES.COM

SHEMAGHS, PACE-COUNTER BEADS, ETC.

BRIGADE QUARTERMASTERS

(800) 338-4327, WWW.ACTIONGEAR.COM

LONE WOLF (GLOCK GOODIES)

208-437-0612, WWW.LONEWOLFDIST.COM

LULA LOADER

BUTLER CREEK

(800) 948-1356, WWW.BUTLERCREEK.COM

CUBES FROM JUST SHOOT ME PRODUCTS

(317) 994-5597, WWW.BALLISTICTEC.COM

ZEISS SHOOTING GLASSES

(800) 441-3005, WWW.ZEISS.COM

MCNETT PRODUCTS (ANTI-FOG SOLUTION)

(360) 671-2227, WWW.MCNETT.COM

COLEMAN PRODUCTS

GO TO ARMY NAVY SURPLUS, WAL-MART

OTIS CLEANING KITS, BORE SNAKE, OTHER

CLEANING NECESSITIES

GUN SHOPS

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