Sometimes I wonder if America is doomed because it is full of Americans who have no clue about God and Country...
Ping! :)
I do book reviews for my local paper. Get tons of books each month SF, myteries, thrillers, historical fiction — guy stuff.
I put the excess books in a bagm especially Baen SF paperbacks. (Most are reprints of hardbacks I already have.) Whenever I go to Hobby Airport, I take the bag and leave it at the USO there.
Could I add....Visene (or similar eye drops)....all that sand.
Combat veterans WANT silly stuff from home. Family photos, Sour Patch Kids candy, Spaghettios, muscle building and wresting magazines, DVDs (to watch on their laptops), books of ANY kind, stone-ground mustard and pretzel sticks, whatever.. What they like most (aside from real food) is a full, local newspaper, ads and all.
My jarhead nephew really liked the expensive wool socks in the winter. However, his all time favorite was the habanero sauce which they used to barbeque a goat.