Posted on 12/28/2003 9:23:47 AM PST by Cannoneer No. 4
NEAR DULUIYAH, Iraq - Christmas has come and gone, but any Stryker brigade soldier will tell you that any day is a good day for a care package.
But what's in the perfect care package?
Soldiers typically tick off a list of personal hygiene stuff - baby wipes, shampoo, toothpaste, foot powder, nice soap, and razors, electric and otherwise. But such items are often easy to find over here.
Then there are the snacks - everybody's got their favorite.
"What about those Oreos you can only get at Christmas?" said Spc. Jashia Davis. "And a big box full of Twix candy. That's my morale candy. Please!"
Nobody said it had to be health food.
"Starbursts. Twizzlers. Flaming Hot Cheetohs," said Sgt. Shane Dowtin. "That's about it. That's all I need."
And then there's the magic wand items.
Kenneth Ochs, a civilian contractor from Tacoma who maintains the communications relay trucks for the brigade's command post, knew right away what he'd prefer if expense, shelf life and logistics were no issue.
"A big old steak. Frozen. Just get it here. I'll eat it raw," he said.
"And make sure you throw in a pizza."
Sgt. Theresa Spicer's first thought would likewise be tough to send via the mail.
"Popeyes" chicken, she said. "And Coca-Cola." Pajamas would also be good, she said.
Lt. Sean Finnerty said that to be just right, a package from home has to have a surprise. Like the super comfy $20 socks his wife sent.
"The perfect care package is some unexpected, unseen, unheard-of item that you yourself didn't ask for and wouldn't think of," he said. "Because if you give someone a list and you get all that, then you may as well have gone on nippernet (that's Army slang for nonsecure Internet) and ordered it yourself."
And what fun is that?
His buddy Master Sgt. Travis Cherry agreed:
"I like to be surprised. Actually, I was looking for a one-way ticket out of here."
Drum roll, please.
But seriously.
"A taste of home would be good," Cherry said. "Good coffee."
Finnerty had another idea.
"I would very much like a conjugal visit. ... Even prisoners get a conjugal visit."
He thought some more.
"OK, here's one," he said. "That ... flavor syrup you put in your ... coffee."
What kind?
"White mocha."
Capt. Tom Denis likewise would appreciate a touch of home.
"And send it in one of those sealing bags, because it gets here fresh," he said. "Me, personally, I love pound cake in the morning.
"My wife bakes pound cake, puts it in those sealed bags and sends it over. I open it here, and I still smell the pound cake. It's fresh.
"Awesome."
Capt. Kenneth Mitchell goes for "those sour gummi candies with the white powder on 'em."
It doesn't all have to be edible. He got a metal engraver to mark his name on belongings. Books are good. So are magazines.
"Toilet paper is always good, the nice soft kind," he added. "The Cottonelle with aloe, in the little green package. We get toilet paper - it's not like we're out or anything - but the Army kind is scratchy."
Sgt. Joshua McKeown got one last year from a Rotary Club from his hometown in Florida. It was his second straight Christmas in Korea, away from his wife. Thursday made it three in a row.
But this box had it all - the toiletries, protein bars, powdered drinks, pens and letter-writing stuff. Another one of those would be great, he said, but with one additional item: "a day off."
The Evergreen State is decidedly under represented in the decor of the Stryker brigade's dining facilities in Kuwait and Iraq.
Back at Camp Udairi, the brigade's staging point in northern Kuwait before it moved north the first week of December, the mess hall was decorated with state flags. Washington's was not among them.
The big brigade chow hall at Camp Pacesetter, near Duluiyah, doesn't have the flag motif.
But the small eating area at the Strykers' 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment's Eagle Base near Balad does. And it, too, is missing the home state flag.
It's confusing enough that they're both the 3rd Brigade, but they're also both Strykers - or Strikers.
The Fort Lewis-based 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division works closely with the 3rd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division out of Fort Carson, Colo., in the big sweep under way in Samarra.
The Fort Carson unit is sometimes known as the Strikers, thanks to a previous brigade commander who brought his old radio call sign - Striker 6 - with him to his new job.
The Fort Lewis brigade, of course, is known as the Army's first Stryker brigade, named for their new eight-wheeled vehicles.
They solve the problem by putting their brigade's more traditional nickname - Arrowhead - front and center.
Michael Gilbert: mjgilbert41@yahoo.com
•For regular reports on Fort Lewis' Stryker brigade, including the latest stories by News Tribune embedded reporter Michael Gilbert, sign up for your Stryker Brigade e-mail newsletter by registering at www.tribnet.com/registration.
(Published 12:01AM, December 28th, 2003)
Those Hickory Farms cheese and sausage gift packs are like manna from heaven in the field. My Christmas care package for 1982 reached me in the Chorwan Valley two weeks late, and the day I got it was the last time we saw the 1SG or hot chow for the next 5 days, so that Hickory Farms stuff and Adjimah's ramen and kimche was our salvation. They usually don't come with enough crackers, though, so Ritz or Premium Saltines are greatly appreciated.
If you want to make a contribution for the January boxes I will FReepmail you my address.
Also, if you have the name and APO of a soldier/Marine/airman who would like a box, give it to me by FReepmail.
I have a brother in law going over sometime in March, (at least that is what the skinny is now).
In God We Trust.....Semper Fi
Merry Christmas to everyone!!!!
You can still buy that stuff!? Holy Cow! I can remember the smell from when I helped my Grandma with the laundry. I LOVE the smell of Fels Naptha.
Thanks for the great post with some good tips and thanks for the Fels memory!
LOL. My neighbor, a former commander in the 82nd, calls this "John Wayne" toilet paper. He says that because it is "tough as hell and don't take $hit off anyone".
I would love to do a package for a soldier or soldiers who don't get any. How would I go about doing that?
Your best bet to adopt a troop is to find a family member who knows you and will share an address with the agreement that you will not share that address with anyone else. I checked the Adopt-a-soldier site and they have more adoptees than they do soldiers requesting packages.
Troops in Afghanistan are getting as much as the troops in Iraq. I need to ask the one in Afghanistan if he can pass along a pkg. That can get you a letter with a return address. I haven't heard from my son in Iraq for a while.
PACK THE BOX TIGHTLY so the contents don't shift. Tape the bejabbers out of it AFTER you put the address on the front.
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