Posted on Oct 28, 2016
SFC Standardization Instructor
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Headed to an "Expeditionary" place with no hard structures and limited mail service (1-2 times/month). If you could take anything (within reason), what would it be, and why?

I have room for an extra footlocker, and I'm looking for ideas from some of the more experienced folks around here.

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Posted in these groups: Imgres Deployment
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SSG Michael LeGrand
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07b21aeb
Need I say anymore?
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SPC City Carrier
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The only comfort you need.
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SFC Motor Transport Operator
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lol that is true !!
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PO1 Cryptologic Technician (Technical)
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Baby Wipes, Baby Wipes, Baby Wipes!!!
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SFC Motor Transport Operator
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yes !!
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1stSgt Eugene Harless
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You mean the Army doesn't give you everything you need? :)
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What would you bring on deployment?
MSG Food Service Specialist
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A really good pillow and an extra 1-2 inch pad for cot or bed a good night or day of sleep is very important. Extra batteries and a plug surger with extension cord, because you don't alway have enough plugs and they usually not close or none at all a good flashlight for those batteries.
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SGT Intelligence/Electronic Warfare (Iew) Ncoic
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A tablet that is not an iPad. Load it with games that do not require internet. Micro SD cards that are filled up with movies and books. External battery charger. That takes care of entertainment with minimal weight. A couple of bottles of hot sauce. Maybe an extra pillow. Small fan. Protein if you lift and take it. Toilet paper that you prefer. I personally like the XL microfiber towels that you can get from clothing and sells. Easy to put up if you want to curtain your part of the room off and they are light and dry quickly. If you go out of the wire they are easy to pack and they have as many uses as your mind can come up with. 550 cord. I know a lot of use mio to mix in our water. Some Ibuprofen. a football. A reuseable cup/bottle. A second cleaning kit for your weapon. a Bluetooth stereo. coffee coffee coffee. extra cigs if you smoke. Extra juice if you vape.
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1px xxx
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SGT (Join to see) - Just curious - why do you suggest not an iPad? No disagreement - just curious about whether there is any practical issues with iPads that are not an issue for other tablets etc. Warmest Regards, Sandy :)
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MSG Military Police
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Tapatío because Texas Pete's and Tabasco sucks!
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SSG Shavonde Chase
SSG Shavonde Chase
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Texas Pete was my favorite until I tried Tapatio.
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MSgt James Mullis
MSgt James Mullis
>1 y
I agree with the Tapatio, but some things really need Tabasco.
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SFC Standardization Instructor
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I couldn't agree more!
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SCPO Jason McLaughlin
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Gotta have good coffee!
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SCPO Jason McLaughlin
SCPO Jason McLaughlin
>1 y
PO1 (Join to see) - That is a fact! My Aunt shipped me Starbucks on my last deployment. And I had my stainless steel Bodum (found out the hard way that glass + ship=disaster) and an endless supply of hot water. When you are working 16 hour days the ability to make a good pot of coffee makes like bearable.
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PO1 Cryptologic Technician (Technical)
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SCPO Jason McLaughlin - I hear you, Senior! Been there and those 16-18 hr days sucked! I had a serious relationship with my coffee on the ship. It didn't matter if it was "starbucks" coffee (aircraft carrier), mess deck coffee, kruig coffee, flag mess coffee; it was there. I also drank more than 1.5 gallons of water everyday.
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SCPO Jason McLaughlin
SCPO Jason McLaughlin
>1 y
PO1 (Join to see) - I was often tempted to ask one of the Docs to hook me up with a coffee IV drip. If I drank that much coffee and 1.5 Gallons of water, I would have spent the majority of my deployment in the head!
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PO1 Cryptologic Technician (Technical)
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SCPO Jason McLaughlin - I am friends with the Flag Corpsman of my last command and I asked him one morning to get and IV drip of Folgers STAT. He said, "you and me both, hun". Reason I had to drink so much water is because 1) Arabian Gulf + Flight Operations = a hot and humid interior of the ship. 2) I was working out 2 hours/day so a lot of water was soaked in to my PT shirts.
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SFC Motor Transport Operator
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Photos of people you love and are leaving behind, couple good books and a laptop for entertainment purposes (dvd)
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SFC Kenneth Hunnell
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A can of positive attitude, you will need it
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SPC City Carrier
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As little as possible. When I was living out of tents for a few months with only MRE's, these are some things I wish I had more of. Shaving Cream, Deodorant++. I also had my laptop with a large external hard drive. Also, try to bring an extra charger as well.

Depending on what "expeditionary" location you are traveling too, usually depends on what type of stuff you need. You may have the room, but depending on your load can depend on if you even want to bring it. Spend your "off time" at the gym and on your laptop.

Cash also helps too instead of using your card. I used to hate swiping my card. Anything else, 1-2 times a month is great and you can get things sent to you. I wouldn't bring anything I did not need.
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SPC Steven Schoenhut
SPC Steven Schoenhut
>1 y
I agree with you, but to add my 2 cents... I would make sure I have a media player with headphones, 2 pairs of running shoes, weight belt that I liked and fit well, and a good pair of lifting gloves.
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SPC City Carrier
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>1 y
Never used the weight belt, mainly because I was not lifting heavy, nor off of a machine. I am more of a light weight, heavy rep kind of person.

I do agree with the gloves though, do not want to get calluses on your hands!!!!
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MAJ Fa Bn Staff O/C
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Get a 5 gallon bucket from Home Depot. It'll fit in your duffle bag. During OIF I I used my bucket to do laundry, used it as a chair, and even mixed concrete in it when I was doing position improvement.
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SFC Information Technology Specialist
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X2 undergarments, doing laundry is a pain. Anything that you like to do as a hobby, to keep you occupied when you are not at work. For me an iPod sufficed, skype email and internet, but that all depends on where you are going. Also twice the toiletries you like should go in the box. Let the care packages bring snacks and whatnot but do not. Rely on them for your preferred deodorant.
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CW2 Dave Copeland
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Drink mix (kool-aid, Gatorade, tea) because only having water to drink gets old quick. Cash, because you probably won't have access to an ATM but may want to buy something. Baby wipes, lots and lots of baby wipes. A bucket and laundry powder to wash your clothes. Air freshener, to spray on your IBA, other gear, or to spray on the nasty body who doesn't clean himself. A camping shower. Thick shower shoes because there's not many things worse than standing in nasty shower water. Toilet paper. Extra razors, shaving cream, toothpaste, toothbrushes, t-shirts, sox, and at least two laundry bags. Decks of cards (playing and Uno). Pens, envelopes, paper to write letters (you don't need stamps because you can mail them home for free). Snacks that don't melt or crush, think beef jerky
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SSG Warren Swan
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Since everyone is giving the "right" answer, I'll give you another "right" answer. Porn. Laugh till it hurts, but let a HD pop out and see how much you can trade for what's on it, get additional material, or if you're heading to the Stan somewhere, it's really amazing what the terps will get for you just for you to "free the nipple". I learned that from outgoing grunts when I was incoming. I got a 1TB HD and all hell broke loose for the next year. Never left home without it.
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SSG Warren Swan
SSG Warren Swan
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SGT (Join to see) - Didn't have that where I was going. Hard Drives were it.
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1px xxx
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SSG Warren Swan - Terp??? Proto-Germanic *þurpą, *þrepą (“village, farmstead, troop”), from Proto-Indo-European *treb- (“dwelling, room”). Cognate with North Frisian torp, terp (“village, fallow”), Dutch dorp (“village”), German Dorf (“hamlet, village, town”), Danish torp (“village”), Swedish torp (“farm, cottage, croft”), Icelandic þorp (“village, farm”), Latin trabs (“beam, rafter, roof”), Lithuanian trōbà (“farmhouse”), Welsh tref (“town”), Albanian trevë (“country, region, village”). Warmest Regards, Sandy :)
1px xxx
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SSG Warren Swan - Doesn’t DoD have rules about use of DoD related networks, facilities, and systems for electronic porn? The risk is many originators and distributors use electronic porn as a means of collecting information, intruding, and taking control of connected user computers. Beyond this - what are standards and practices to ensure that military women in the field are not objectified, humiliated, and/or abused as a consequence of the presence of electronic porn in the hands of downrange troops. Warmest Regards, Sandy :)

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/pornhub-hack-porn-youporn-video-virus-browser-safe-watch-free-pornographic-a7994686.html
SSG Warren Swan
SSG Warren Swan
7 y
1LT Sandy Annala Terp slang for interpreter. Someone that you have to have there or it’s going to be a long year. Many I had were just as crooked as can be, and my last two, I wish I could’ve brought them home with me. They truly were about making a positive influence and change in their country. As far as porn, we didn’t have access like many others did. You came from the states with it, traded it, just a common swap of hard drives in tents on mission would suffice. Hooking up to a DOD system wasn’t happening. We had passive acces to SIPRNET due to others having it themselves. UNCLASS? Not even a chance messing with that. The system owners gave us strict guidelines and a level of trust we NEVER wanted to break. We needed them, not the other way around.
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SN Greg Wright
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This is easy -- my loaded-up Kindle.
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1SG(P) First Sergeant
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Baby wipes; a coffee maker, preferably not glass; extra canteen cup; books; decent snacks to dunk in the coffee; extra poncho liner; a pillow
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CPO Steelworker
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Have done many of these, as we are the first ones in to start building up the areas.At first I use to take every thing I could and never used half of it. In mountains of Pakistan, we had a small camp the had nothing, at all, we were lucky to have a SOF COMS element with us out of Germany, so communication,as in internet, never went down. I would bring a serge protector, Extra Batteries, depending on location and environment and your mission, extra socks, cold weather under gear, other than issue, you can never have enough of. I would take some bed sheets, as they may have bunks, not cots, and the mattresses, sheets will not take up space. The biggest thing I would take extra of would be Baby wipes, and more Baby Wipes, and more Baby wipes. When we deploy on our own or isolated area, we take a Laundry IS 90, with laundry Machines and Dryers, and everyone eles loved us. My point to that story is check on laundry, and you may want extra powder detergent, to do it yourself sometime, If you put in your box Make sure to bag it well, customs, and Force Protection Might no like it if it leaked. The other is extra Gym shoes, and shower shoes, with a positive attitude, and if you have Engineers with you, get to know them well, Engineers can always make roughing it better. I mean Combat Engineer Types, Seabees and or Red Horse.
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1px xxx
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CPO (Join to see) - Red Horse? Warmest Regards, Sandy :)
CPO Steelworker
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Funny, they aren't even close. They can not and are not trained as a whole unit to move in clear and SAFE the eara, and SAFE is a infantry term and techniec they can't do.
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SSG Shavonde Chase
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I never leave without a heating blanket. Some places get really cold or I am always the only cold person in the room.
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MSG Military Police
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No friggin' way!?!? HILARIOUS!
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SFC Motor Transport Operator
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that is pretty cool looking !!
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SSG Shavonde Chase
SSG Shavonde Chase
>1 y
Love it. LOL
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1px xxx
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I wonder if something like this might help? Warmest Regards, Sandy :)
https://www.digitaltrends.com/cool-tech/embr-wave-review/
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Cpl Justin Goolsby
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Baby wipes for cleanliness. A deck of cards. A good book or two or three. Something that you won't mind reading again if you blow through it really quickly. My favorite is the Ultimate Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy because it's funny, it contains 5 books and is like 1000 pages. Nice way to kill time or get a laugh.
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SN Greg Wright
SN Greg Wright
>1 y
Cpl Justin Goolsby - Power is a good point in the field, but my Kindle Voyage lasts a month or so on one charge with 2 hours or so reading / day. Taking into account that you can have up to 4000 books with you at a time, I think you can't get much more bang for your buck in the field.

SSG Shavonde Chase
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SSG Shavonde Chase
SSG Shavonde Chase
>1 y
SN Greg Wright - I am familiar with those products; however, I wasn't aware of their features. I will definitely check them out as they will be good for traveling.
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SN Greg Wright
SN Greg Wright
>1 y
SSG Shavonde Chase - Your local Best Buy will have them, if you want an easy way to check them out before buying.
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1px xxx
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7 y
There are also solar chargers for these devices - possibly helpful in some field environs.
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SSG Steve Knox
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Adaptability. Combat environments are constantly changing and so will you. "Your environment will never adapt to you so you must learn to adapt to it." I heard someone say this once.
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