Deployment Gifts

[JShirley]

One of my training buddies and friends is about to deploy with a small unit. I believe him to be very well equipped, but I brought some things over last night to fill in potential gaps in his gear.

Knives
Every deploying service member should have a reasonably sized knife. My buddy will be taking the Spyderco Ronin 2 I had previously given him. I know a lot of folks think a huge combat knife is a must, but considering this officer is a hard-training 7th degree black belt in a special unit ( i.e., really knows what he's doing), perhaps you should rethink "more is more" for fighting knives. (I previously had given my friend a Kershaw/Emerson as a "beater", so he didn't need the Ganzo framelock I brought.)
I also gave my friend an ARK, so he could have an "always" lightweight defensive knife. He especially liked the retention mechanism.


Lights
All service members need lights. Hand-held lights are a given, but there are other light needs. One neglected type is the area light. I like a low-intensity light with a red option to leave on. That way, if there's an emergency during darkness, you can see to grab your gear and respond or evac. The light I gave my friend is the rechargeable Olight bulb with high/low white, red, and red strobe options.
It's common for "a certain type" of people to carry good 2 cell tactical lights like SureFires, but a small tasklight is generally even more useful. I gave my friend the very useful Pelican 1910 AAA.

Deploying service members need a lot of gear. These are just a few things I have found useful or necessary

John

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

Socks. Can NEVER have too many good socks.

 

[Buzznrose]

I was not a high speed operator, but every deployment I went on, knives and lights were a must, as was a good multi-tool.

 

[bikerdoc]

You nailed his needs.

 

[herrwalther]

I have a hard time recommending care packages for deployments. Namely what a place needs depends on what they have. Where I was on one tour, we barely had electricity. Let alone comfort item appliances. One thing we got a lot of generic care packages was microwave popcorn. And we didn't have a microwave. When we really wanted it, we scraped the kernels into folded tinfoil and cooked it over a fire if we were allowed to light one. Light is important, so one of the best gifts I ever got myself was a rechargeable headlamp and a solar battery. A headlamp with a red light is an absolute must when deployed overseas.

https://www.amazon.com/Rechargeable...s=rechargeable+headlamp&qid=1630725354&sr=8-7
https://www.amazon.com/Portable-200...0725280&sprefix=solar+battery+,aps,197&sr=8-9

I probably had half a dozen knives with me when I went overseas. A full sized Kabar, a small fixed stiletto knife, and the rest were folders of varying quality. A small, fixed blade high quality knife is hard to beat if you are just bringing one. Becker Necker is a good option, and just under 7" long so it isn't as imposing as a full size knife. Depending on the MOS, a multi tool would get just as much, if not more use. I preferred to use my Leatherman Wave over the Gerber MP600s I was issued, and broke 4 of.
https://www.kabar.com/products/becker-necker

 

[Tirod]

Surprisingly large numbers of soldiers do not deploy with a knife and do ok. Not ME, them. It took not loaning my knife to get the point across that they were depending on others where their own resources weren't being shared.

A 4" with blade lock will do. Almost any. What you need for it as a pocket sharpener to keep it touched up. That is something that is rare and scarce in the field.

Lights are nice where they are permitted in the field, otherwise, you are stuck with a lot of unused weight and recharging is a major issue. Smaller and more powerful is always better. A red output is great for serious light control - because blue is hard to find and preferred in some circles. We went thru a complete changeover in 1983 at Ft Benning and all red filters were replaced by any expedient blue one we could find. It stayed that way until I retired.

Why, yes, we DID have some issues trying to read "red light readable" maps with a blue light. Those took some time to publish and we only saw them after mobilization. It was another one of those "be careful what you ask for" moments in Army field life. As my last tour was winding down the old issue angleheads were becoming retro and actually used, until then a 2 AA maglight was the unofficial standard. Now that has become an outdated brand of little repute.

Unless the deploying person hasn't before, those who think they might know what gear to bestow on them should get a lot more information about what's going to be the end point, THEN send what they ask for. after arrival. Not what brag gifts they intend to bless them. In my experience we cycled thru what we thought we needed and shipped a good 40% of our personal gear home. It wasn't needed despite the sage and august advice of all the experienced world travelers who remained in the unit. And we all got over it. Every deployment is new, different, and there are no rules.

 

[bikerdoc]

If he is a high speed , low drag guy like you say he probably has what he needs.Your choices are a fine and useful choice for a show friendship and brotherhood.

 

[NIGHTLORD40K]

https://web.archive.org/web/2021012...-combat-and-says-you-should-too-in-daily-life

Some great gift ideas for soldiers at the sharp end (and the rest of us schmucks).

 

[JShirley]

Personal firearms have been illegal to deploy with for over 70 years.