Troop package?

[Boston Matt]

Have we done a troop package in a while? Apologies in advance if we have and I simply can't find it.

If not, how do we go about sending a little something to the boys who stand on that wall so that we don't have to? I know a couple of you guys have been super about taking the lead on these things in the past (njstone comes to mind) and I know its a ton of work, so I'm not inclined to ask you to do it again, but since my brother got back stateside, I don't have any real contacts in the military.

If someone was willing to get me up to speed on how to organize/run this, I'd be more than happy to start something.

Anyone else up for sending one of the good kinds of bombs to Iraq/Afghanistan?

-Matt

 

[n.olson]

thanks matt! i was kinda hesistant about bringing this sort of thing up, but i happend to have met a new friend at the nublive event that is a flight medic here at ft. lewis, he just deployed to afghanistan for the next 4-5 months.

i'd love to set him up and would be happy to assist or jump on this personally. let me know if you guys want to do this as a joint bomb or individual bombs, the only tough thing is making sure your paperword is perfect. they are sticklers at the post office sometimes!

i'm 90% sure i have his address, but these would be some great guys to be able to sponsor for the length of thieir tour.

 

[Boston Matt]

thanks matt! i was kinda hesistant about bringing this sort of thing up, but i happend to have met a new friend at the nublive event that is a flight medic here at ft. lewis, he just deployed to afghanistan for the next 4-5 months.

i'd love to set him up and would be happy to assist or jump on this personally. let me know if you guys want to do this as a joint bomb or individual bombs, the only tough thing is making sure your paperword is perfect. they are sticklers at the post office sometimes!

i'm 90% sure i have his address, but these would be some great guys to be able to sponsor for the length of thieir tour.

Sounds like your boy and his troopmates are a good candidate! If you search for "troop package", you should get a good idea of what has been done in the past. Typically, it seems like one guy runs point (bad pun...sorry) and coordinates everything. Its good to get a sense of what our boys need/want. They'll get their smokes (by goodness, they will... ), but I think that some of the fellas have also requested some other things like gum, candy, toileteries, etc.

I know that Nate (njohnstone) has been all over this in the past...we need to ping him and seek his counsel on the best way to run this railroad.

But, if you are volunteering to run this thing, its yours!

 

[n.olson]

i'll happily do it. oh the fun we are going to have....

 

[njstone]

Great idea, guys! There are essentially two ways to do it.

1) Have everyone who wants to contribute PM you and you give them the Troop's address

2) Have everyone who wants to contribute PM you for YOUR address, you collect everything and then send it all in once large package.

Last fall/winter I used the 2nd option, which is great for multiple hits because you can send people more variety (for example, some people sent me whole bundles of sticks, and I broke those up among several packages). Of course, the final sender ends up with a large shipping bill for those big boxes. But if it's just one recipient, either option would work just fine (the cost for someone to send their package to you is would be the same price as sending it to the Troop directly). And also with option #1 you don't have to worry about storing everything yourself for a couple weeks before you ship it out.

And as you already mentioned, toiletries, snacks, entertainment items (dvds, etc.), matches/cutters, magazines, etc are all great things to send. If people ship individually, I'd encourage them to put a water pillow or boveda in with the bagged cigars, though, as transit is usually about 3 weeks and it's very dry over there.

If people ship individually, I'd make sure that someone (like yourself) sends some of those Ziplock tupperware containers (the big ones) so that the soldiers have somewhere to store their cigars over there!

 

[n.olson]

Great idea, guys! There are essentially two ways to do it.

1) Have everyone who wants to contribute PM you and you give them the Troop's address

2) Have everyone who wants to contribute PM you for YOUR address, you collect everything and then send it all in once large package.

Last fall/winter I used the 2nd option, which is great for multiple hits because you can send people more variety. Of course, the final sender ends up with a large shipping bill for those big boxes. But if it's just one recipient, either option would work just fine (the cost for someone to send their package to you is would be the same price as sending it to the Troop directly).

And as you already mentioned, toiletries, snacks, entertainment items (dvds, etc.), matches/cutters, magazines, etc are all great things to send. If people ship individually, I'd encourage them to put a water pillow or boveda in with the bagged cigars, though, as transit is usually about 3 weeks and it's very dry over there.

i kinda like the the one sender idea, just for the reduction in duplicates, we ended up with ALOT of peanuts for some reason over there, and there is only so much use of toothpaste....

so i propose we do what we have done in our make a wish thread, i'll post needed items, and those who whish to sponsor that particular item get with me and i'll highlight it in red, so we can control things just gathering sand over there. should also limit some costs for everyone, and we ensure these guys are getting just what they need.

sound good?

 

[njstone]

i kinda like the the one sender idea, just for the reduction in duplicates, we ended up with ALOT of peanuts for some reason over there, and there is only so much use of toothpaste....

so i propose we do what we have done in our make a wish thread, i'll post needed items, and those who whish to sponsor that particular item get with me and i'll highlight it in red, so we can control things just gathering sand over there. should also limit some costs for everyone, and we ensure these guys are getting just what they need.

sound good?

Not a bad idea to ensure they get everything without too many redundant items. And with things posted/updated regularly, you could still either have people ship individually or collect everything for one shipment. Again, the collection method means double shipping costs, so you'd have to be sure that extra cost will be worth it to you.

 

[Boston Matt]

so i propose we do what we have done in our make a wish thread, i'll post needed items, and those who whish to sponsor that particular item get with me and i'll highlight it in red, so we can control things just gathering sand over there. should also limit some costs for everyone, and we ensure these guys are getting just what they need.

sound good?

Excellent idea. Really excellent.

 

[n.olson]

yeah, also being new around here, i'd hate to think fear of theft might keep people from sending to them, so let's just do ship your own, and i'll just do the admin part of it. that way this isn't at all possible to be looked at sideways.

good advice njstone, thanks!

 

[Boston Matt]

yeah, also being new around here, i'd hate to think fear of theft might keep people from sending to them, so let's just do ship your own, and i'll just do the admin part of it. that way this isn't at all possible to be looked at sideways.

good advice njstone, thanks!

If you would prefer not to coordinate one package, that's more than cool, but I seriously doubt that anyone around here thinks you are going to rip someone off...not that kinda crowd and stealing from the troops pretty much earns you a special place in hell. :grin:

I'm content to do things either way, but I wouldn't worry about the "being new around here" bit...

 

[n.olson]

especially a SOLDIER stealing from a deployed soldier...

i think njstone talked me out of the do-it yourself angle, just for the fact i can't promise to be capable of devoting the next 4 months to shipping receiving and tracking over the next 2 months. 2 weeks warrior leader course, house shopping (and hopefully house buying) might take up all but the time to maintain a database of requests and claims

 

[njstone]

I was pretty new here when I organized the Christmas Troop Send. It's impossible to say if that had an impact on what people sent, no one mentioned anything. But I'd expect that if I do it again this fall that we'll get more.

But again, for only 1 recipient, there is very little to gain by doing the collection method as far as I can see (and it will cost you $30 or more to ship that final package).

I'd suggest getting someone who's sending early go include those Ziplock tupperwares and water pillows so that the guys have somewhere to put their new sticks. Perhaps one of you two could ship first with that kind of stuff, and the other can wait to ship at the end including anything that people didn't "sign up" for. Just a thought.

 

[Boston Matt]

i think njstone talked me out of the do-it yourself angle, just for the fact i can't promise to be capable of devoting the next 4 months to shipping receiving and tracking over the next 2 months. 2 weeks warrior leader course, house shopping (and hopefully house buying) might take up all but the time to maintain a database of requests and claims

But again, for only 1 recipient, there is very little to gain by doing the collection method as far as I can see (and it will cost you $30 or more to ship that final package).

I'd suggest getting someone who's sending early go include those Ziplock tupperwares and water pillows so that the guys have somewhere to put their new sticks.

Agree with all of this. n.olson, maybe we can talk offline to discuss next steps...

 

[n.olson]

I'd suggest getting someone who's sending early go include those Ziplock tupperwares and water pillows so that the guys have somewhere to put their new sticks. Perhaps one of you two could ship first with that kind of stuff, and the other can wait to ship at the end including anything that people didn't "sign up" for. Just a thought.

fantastic idea. before we go sending that stuff, let me find out if he has some decent storage already in use. i'm realitively certain he went with some plan for storage.

and PM send matt