Posted on 05/14/2016 8:16:15 PM PDT by Silly
I just learned today that my roommate's son, approx. age 20, is starting combat training in July to become a Marine. I am very proud of this young man, and want to show him my respect and honor him when he completes training and graduates.
Can you give me some gift suggestions, please, that are not too expensive, but would be meaningful, and possibly a keepsake, that he might be glad to receive?
Feel free to ping military lists to this thread; I'm sure they have lots of great ideas.
Thanks, everyone.
Silly
Boot polish.. Lots of boot polish! I spent the summer of ‘72 in boot camp.. Best wishes to your son and you.
Money. And for the rest of the time hes in service, money.
How about a personal sidearm? Of course you’ll have to check for his preference.
Find out if he streams films, games and music and to what device. Buy gift card accordingly. A check or cash in a card is always appreciated.
A weekend away in a cabin somewhere with great fishing!!!
For instance:
wet ones?
Sounds silly but...those things really work..! Those are wet tissues that clean stuff fast and effectively
Timex G-shock also wouldn’t be bad —for timed runs, etc.
And THIS:
I believe the new boots require ZERO polishing.
A good quality watch such as the Casio G-Shock.
Maybe just a standard Swiss Army Knife, not too large but containing the most useful blades. The super tinker is my favorite.
Some advice that NO ONE else is gong to give but in fact isn’t crazy:
I’d suggest every day before shipping out he scream AS HARD AS HE CAN for 10 seconds or more into a towel.
Maybe 50-100 times daily.
Because he will be screaming harder and more than he EVER HAS IN HIS LIFE very many times every single day, and being able to do that super loud will save him LOTS of trouble and exercise.
A USMC K-Bar.
Some neat stuff here. Military t-shirts, ball caps even sock that says “USMC”.
Timex makes the Iron man which is also a useful watch for and active outdoors person. I gave one to my Son-In-Law last Christmas. Also one to my Grandson. Also to my Granddaughter but it had a pink band.
Even in the mid-60’s, I never polished my boots once in the next 3+ years. The saltier your jungle boots were, the more class they had.
Here’s another important one:
DO NOT under any circumstances get a Marine tattoo before successfully completing the training.
I’m even pretty iffy about showing up to boot with any Marine swag, short of the haircut, which would show just a little bit that he’s thinking the right way.
Yes the new boots are like a patent leather with some camo!!! Zero polishing required!!!
This IS a GREAT suggestion!!!!
Olympus makes some nice water proof digital cameras. They have different ones at different price points.
I bought one of the roughly hundred dollar ones and used it at the beach. I have a bunch of Digital SLRs but did not want to expose them to the salt water and sand.
Anyway I loved the images the Olympus made and just washed it off before putting it away.
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