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What to get my Sniper Brother before he deploys

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harvthesecond

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Minuteman
Feb 12, 2013
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St Louis, Missouri
So my sniper brother has gotten word that he will be for sure deploying next summer to either Afgan, Sierra or Africa. What can I get him in the 0-200$ range as a deployment gift? Thanks for any tips/ideas.

<img src="http://harv.f0e.net/tom/IMG_0955.JPG">
 
With so many good pieces of gear out there these days, this is a tough question. At that price range, I like the 'comfort' gear, i.e. stuff that makes life just a bit easier. In that spirit, I like:
(1) good boots (probably over $200 however).
(2) good pack (again over $200 done right)
(3) good cold weather head gear
(4) good hot weather head gear
(5) good belt (e.g. HSGI COBRA Riggers Belt)
(6) dozen pairs of his favorite socks

Or if you want to go in another direction and go for the cool factor, a set of these in multicam would be bad ass!

Oakley SI Ballistic M Frame 3.0

Tell him to stay safe over there and thank him for his service!
 
FDAC, Triad Ammo wallet, Red Tac Tactical Pillow, dirty magazines, plate carrier, TAB sling
 
fdac, mildot master, kestrel

and a sealed photo of friends+family at some bbq or similar
 
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I tub of baby wipes....because you can never have enough in the field. One can of Copenhagen so he can have something to trade about 3 months after he gets there and no one has any. I bottle of ketchup.....refer back to the chew. A roll of bug netting as they seem to walk away when no one is around to keep an eye on them. Last but not least, a small solar panel charging mat so he can charge up his IPhone and have some tunes in the most remote locals....JMHO
 
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Hairball said:
I tub of baby wipes....because you can never have enough in the filed. One can of Copenhagen so he can have something to trade about 3 months after he gets there and no one has any. I bottle of ketchup.....refer back to the chew. A roll of bug netting as they seem to walk away when no one is around to keep an eye on them. Last but not least, a small solar panel charging mat so he can charge up his IPhone and have some tunes in the most remote locals....JMHO
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These are some good ideas.
 
Snipers in the Military are pretty legit. I have a relaxed job compared to them. I did do a tour in Afghanistan for about 10 months last year so I know in my opinion what I loved most was getting care packages of food. You can only eat so much of the army stuff and MREs. My recommendation is just send him a box a month of goodies His Favorite Chips, Beef Jerky, Canned Food, Summer Sausage and smoked cheese with crackers. Loved all that stuff. Or just asked him what he's been craving That works too.
 
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Hairball said:
I tub of baby wipes....because you can never have enough in the filed. One can of Copenhagen so he can have something to trade about 3 months after he gets there and no one has any. I bottle of ketchup.....refer back to the chew. A roll of bug netting as they seem to walk away when no one is around to keep an eye on them. Last but not least, a small solar panel charging mat so he can charge up his IPhone and have some tunes in the most remote locals....JMHO
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Great ideas. We typically always stock up on baby wipes and powder. Also the solar panel excellent idea as well. Unfortunately we had to get more as other soldiers wanted to charge their stuff too. Some vehicles have charging ports unless you get stuck in a humvee, supposedly theres a model with one but ive yet to sit in it. Sooo definately some type of charging system.... Btw a truck stop inverter will work on the humvee 24v system... Just sayin... Kinda sucks because itll be wired under the tc seat but man is it a lige saver haha.
 
Don't forget silly string... we used that to check for trip wires.
 
K_4c said:
Don't forget silly string... we used that to check for trip wires.
Click to expand...

Make it yellow if you can find it, it blends better than bright green or florescent orange lol

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I547 using Tapatalk 2
 
Hairball said:
I tub of baby wipes....because you can never have enough in the filed. One can of Copenhagen so he can have something to trade about 3 months after he gets there and no one has any. I bottle of ketchup.....refer back to the chew. A roll of bug netting as they seem to walk away when no one is around to keep an eye on them. Last but not least, a small solar panel charging mat so he can charge up his IPhone and have some tunes in the most remote locals....JMHO
Click to expand...

Sounds like you have been there. Comfort items are forgotten then often very missed in the field. My bug out bag has things like candy, snuff 151% rum, wipes and etc. I know from experience that those comfort items are real moral boosters when things get rough. When we got food care packages anything that was able to be immediately consumed had to be shared. Better to send stuff doesn't have to be shared. Not that I mind sharing but well come on that stuff is from home.
 
Things I used that are needed. Good head lamp that goes straight to red when turned on and doesn't have to be flipped to it from white. A Kifaru woobie, light small and was warmer than the issued poncho liner. A garmin foretrex 401 if he doesn't have one already. Not sure what his team will be able to get away with, but if he can, a good pair of asolos with goretex. If I think of anything else I'll post it.
 
Forget gear. He has so much gear his knees and back will hurt just thinking about it. Items like starbucks instant coffee packs or other light weight.non-spoiling food items that help him get through the day.

And a hooker.

And orders home, but these are harder to get than a hooker.
 
Yes, I have been there and done that...several times (FMF Corpsman). A battery operated trimmer is also useful as I kept burning mine out from plugging them into the generators.
 
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Been a while, but I would always take along a car charger set up I would wire straight off one of the batteries on the vehicle. Enough to charge the basics and run a night light if I had to.

Lots of good ideas. I also liked having a kindle around for all the off times. Preloaded with a bunch of books. It can get pretty damn boring and the battery life on them can be decent if not on wifi.

shooterfpga said:
Great ideas. We typically always stock up on baby wipes and powder. Also the solar panel excellent idea as well. Unfortunately we had to get more as other soldiers wanted to charge their stuff too. Some vehicles have charging ports unless you get stuck in a humvee, supposedly theres a model with one but ive yet to sit in it. Sooo definately some type of charging system.... Btw a truck stop inverter will work on the humvee 24v system... Just sayin... Kinda sucks because itll be wired under the tc seat but man is it a lige saver haha.
Click to expand...
 
Don't get him food, baby wipes, or anything like that until he says he needs them. I had a footlocker full of baby wipes due to care packages that came in, just about every guy did. Care packages from awesome random Americans all filled with baby wipes, playing cards, toiletries, and random snack foods would sit in piles in the TOC.
 
Goal Zero makes a great solar panel. I loaned my nephew my Goal Zero while he hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. It kept his iPhone and digital camera charged. I ended giving it to him and got myself another one. Make sure you have all the cables he needs to charge everything he has. I remember when I was in the Army carrying those extra batteries would would weigh. I wonder if they have come up rechargeable batteries? Imagine not having to carry all those extra batteries for your radio and secure system. All you need is sunshine to charge your batteries.

Google Zero has couple different solar panels and some accessories to you should check out.

Check out the Nomad 7 or the Nomad 13 from Goal Zero.
 
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hmhoshino said:
Goal Zero makes a great solar panel. I loaned my nephew my Goal Zero while he hiked the Pacific Crest Trail. It kept his iPhone and digital camera charged. I ended giving it to him and got myself another one. Make sure you have all the cables he needs to charge everything he has. I remember when I was in the Army carrying those extra batteries would would weigh. I wonder if they have come up rechargeable batteries? Imagine not having to carry all those extra batteries for your radio and secure system. All you need is sunshine to charge your batteries.

Google Zero has couple different solar panels and some accessories to you should check out.

Check out the Nomad 7 or the Nomad 13 from Goal Zero.
Click to expand...

I myself will be checking out this goal zero panel for me and other soldiers. We do in fact have rechargeable batteries now and a display on top of the battery that tells how much battery life it has in bars. However, im not exactly sure how wed charge em with a third party system as it has irregular port but maybe someone in comms or someone smarter can figure it out haha.
 
Logs upon logs of Copenhagen. It sucks reddiping a dip that has been dipped by your three team mates a few times already.
 
Goal Zero has a site dedicated to the government and military, so they might be able to provide a cable that can be used by the military.
 
harvthesecond said:
So far I'm leaning t'wards the Leatherman MUT and maybe a solar charger. Does anyone have any field experience with a solar charger like this? Brunton Restore Twin Solar Panel Portable Power Device

Thanks for all the great ideas guys.


Harv
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If you've narrowed it down to a solar charger or the MUT I'd go with the MUT. There's a good chance he'll never need the solar charger bc of readily available power. Plug straight into a wall if he's on a bigger base or run a cord from a generator on a smaller COP or patrol base. As long as he doesn't lose it, he'll have the MUT forever and still use it stateside. It'll carry more meaning 10 years down the road than the solar charger will.
 
I like the MUT idea too. Or a really nice knife like a Hide Fighter. Something like that really does have meaning down the road. He'll love it.
 
Ask him if there is anything specific he would want. When we sent care pacakges to my cousin we would always ask what he needed or want in the next one. The MUT would be well used as would maybe a Borka kit. If you want to send silly string contact your local Target or Walmart. Let them know what you are going to do with it. Our local Walmart donated an extra case when we bought a case to send over then covered the shipping. All we had to do was ask the manager. The local paper came and took pictures when we got them which gave the store some good publicity and ended up getting us more donations to send over. Only thing we could not so was give out my cousins name or unit. He was MARSOC. The paper just said we were sending the items to a local Marine.
 
ZzzQuil, Good map pens, Chapstick, sunscreen. Ask if he has a good Manfrotto tripod to run a HOG or PIG saddle, hook up with Josh from Shadow Tech LLC tell him what you're doing, He will point you in the right direction.
 
Dont buy him anything. ASK him what he needs. Wait untill he goes through RFI/MOB as hes going to get more fucking useless gear than u can imagine. His Section leaders will know what he needs and doesn't.

Start putting together Bi weekly Care packages of shit like baby wipes, non perishable food, toiletrees and DIP. Even if he doesnt DIP, he can trade for just about anything while there. Grizzly is like 2 bucks a can.. Clove Cigs are good to.

Oh and a big ass thumbdrive with a bunch of freaky ass porn. Nothing worse than being stuck, watching the same pair of tits for 15 months.
 
Never was in combat but NTC and korea field time , I would vote for the MUT because I have one, thumbdrive of porn, Copenhagen because its gold, ask what he needs, and a new one a few cans of cheese whiz lol, they last forever=no fridge and make any mre etc better and a can is easy to thow in your ruck. Then baby wipes, hooker etc lol. And thanks for serving.
 
Cobracutter said:
Dont buy him anything. ASK him what he needs. Wait untill he goes through RFI/MOB as hes going to get more fucking useless gear than u can imagine. His Section leaders will know what he needs and doesn't.

Start putting together Bi weekly Care packages of shit like baby wipes, non perishable food, toiletrees and DIP. Even if he doesnt DIP, he can trade for just about anything while there. Grizzly is like 2 bucks a can.. Clove Cigs are good to.

Oh and a big ass thumbdrive with a bunch of freaky ass porn. Nothing worse than being stuck, watching the same pair of tits for 15 months.
Click to expand...

This. The only surprise that he should have is just how freaky the porn is that you sent to him.
 
Those that have deployed know what they need, gotta agree with Cobracutter. He is your brother, ask and give him what he needs throughout his deployment, this should not be a one time purchase. Take care of him and support him, his needs will change thoughout the tour.
 
ms6852 said:
Those that have deployed know what they need, gotta agree with Cobracutter. He is your brother, ask and give him what he needs throughout his deployment, this should not be a one time purchase. Take care of him and support him, his needs will change thoughout the tour.
Click to expand...

He doesn't really know what he'll need as he's never been deployed. He does not currently have a multi tool which is why I'm leaning towards the MTU. He does a lot of extra civilian shooting so I know that tool will always get used. I plan on sending him stuff through out his deployment, just looking for a first time 'everybody needs or wants this' kinda thing.

Thanks for the ideas so far, alot of the stuff like baby wipes, silly string, canned cheese and logs of dip will happen later into his deployment.

Thanks
 
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