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Advise on what to take to war

December 27th, 2007 by Double Tap

One of my soldiers has volunteered to be deployed to Afghanistan with another unit. He leaves soon, which will leave a bigger dent in my already meager manning, but since three other soldiers are returning from a different deployment in May, I decided to suck it up and let him go.

As soon as people who have previously been deployed hear that you are getting deployed, they all want to give you advise on what to do and bring. I learned during the early stages of my own deployment that some advise was good, and some of it just plain sucked. In the end, the determining factors on how good the advise was depended on whether they had been in the same country, if they were in the same region you’re going to, when they got deployed (newer info is better), and what their job was over there.

Obviously, if you’re going to Afghanistan, a guy who deployed to Iraq is not going to give as good advise as a person who had been to Afghanistan. Likewise, if they had been deployed to Iraq during the initial invasion in 2003, they probably don’t know how built up the Army bases have gotten since then. What they might have been desperate for early in the war may be quite plentiful four years later. Also, soldier patrolling the streets of Baghdad probably has different needs than a guy sitting behind a desk at MNF-I headquarters.

In addition, each base you go to is different. I heard from the guys who went to Afghanistan that their living conditions were more austere than some of the places in Iraq. On the other hand, with the recent movement to push soldiers out into the Iraqi small towns, the living conditions there may pretty much suck. Also, if you’re a contractor headed overseas, this list may or may not apply. Let’s face it, KBR lived differently than we did.

It’s been a little over a year since I returned from Iraq, so my advise may be a bit dated. Nevertheless, here’s what I’d take if I was going back, in roughly the order of precedence:

  • Laptop computer with wireless and capable of watching DVDs. Preferably, to avoid power issues, it should have been made in Japan.
  • Digital still camera. Same comment about made in Japan.
  • Ipod with external speaker system
  • Digital video camera. Ditto on the Japan make.
  • Web cam
  • One set foreign wall plug adapters
  • A couple of your favorite books. Don’t take a whole library, as there’s plenty of places to get books for free or cheap over there.

Things you’d think you’d want to take, but you should wait to get it over there:

  • Small refrigerator - I bought mine from a guy who was at the end of his tour
  • Small television - PX will have this
  • Small microwave - Ditto on the PX
  • Water heater (to boil water for instant soups) - Widely available in Iraq
  • More foreign wall plug adapters - you’ll be able to buy the specific ones you need when you get there
  • Power converter to power all of the above. Wait on this until you figure out how much converted power you’ll need. For example, all of the Japanese stuff will only need adapters. Likewise, the refrigerator and the microwave may also not need it, if they’re models also being sold in the Middle East.
  • The aforementioned library of books. I had so many, I left many behind.

Some nice-to-have’s:

  • Musical instrument, if you are so inclined
  • DVD movies. You can get tons of pirated ones over there, but the real ones look much better.
  • A bathing suit. Yes, you read that right. You’ll get a trip to Qatar during your tour, and you can go swimming at the beach and at a pool. Women must wear a one-piece, and I pray to God I don’t see any bikinis or Speedos on the guys.
  • Small desk or book shelf. Most people built their own.

Nearly everything you can get via the internet in the United States, you can get shipped to you over there. However, it’s best to have electronics - especially expensive electronics - double wrapped by someone you trust. I had a TV shipped to me from the dealer, and it came damaged. It still worked, but there was a big crack in the side. Military postal handling isn’t know for its gentleness.

You’ll note that this list doesn’t include anything really “military”. I have a list of those too, but it really depends on what your job is, where you are at, and how tactical you have to get. The guy or gal who is riding a desk really doesn’t need the same tactical gear as the poor bastard holed up in a shack in the mountains of Afghanistan. Plus, different units issue different gear to their soldiers. You may luck out and get some of the better stuff handed to you for free.

Once you get there and see what you really need and what you like, you can buy it in the PX or online. I went through three different versions of pistol holsters until I finally got the one I liked. I kept one and sold the others to new guys.

For those of you dying to know what military gear I wouldn’t want to live without, here goes:

  • Eotech Holosight - I prefer it to the red dot sights
  • Blackhawk Serpa CQC holster for the M9 pistol - you can wear it on your hip or mount it to your MOLLE vest. Plus, it’s got a great retention device.
  • Wiley X Romer II prescription ballistic sunglasses - I have to wear glasses, and the Wiley X’s I recently bought are both prescription and are light adjusting. So, I can wear them all the time without having to switch back and forth between standard glasses and sun glasses.

Don’t sweat all the personal hygiene stuff. Take enough to get you by the first couple of weeks, and you should be good. I had so much care package material handed to me, I ended up transferring most of it to the guy who replaced me. The American people are very generous and I always had more than I needed of the basic necessities.

I’m sure someone reading this can think of some other items I might have forgotten. Please feel free to add them into the comments. I’m sure as soon as I hit the “publish” button, I’ll think of something else.

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