Need ideas for a going away gift

[scratchy]

Cross posted to SigForum:

My 20 year old son is graduating from AIT on Oct 23. Helicopter Structural Repair. He has been stationed to Katterbach, Germany for 2 years. I'm looking for a gift that is both very cool and useful. Advice from soldiers posted to Germany would be particularly useful.

Thanks for the ideas

[Marlin]

Always a beer stein...Oh wait,, Those are a dime a dozen over there...



Katterbach Down south? Must be,, everything else was... (Inside joke For those of us at Garlstadt.)

[Elhuero]

off the top of my head....

a surefire flashlight
a good sturdy watch
a knife (if he can have one.. I like benchmade)
a laptop
money

[theGinsue]

A friend of mine was stationed in Germany and visited the Schloss Neuschwanstein Castle (I never made it to Europe). She really enjoyed it and has an original oil painting (not a print) of the castle that she cherishes. If your son has ever visited that castle he might enjoy a painting of it - this keeps the Germany link in play.

[GhostRider]

I would say the lap top. My daughter is in the Army and that is how we stayed in touch. The knife is really cool but if he is on Post then there will be problem with it in the barracks. The lap top he can share pic and stay in touch with his family and friends. My daughter even took hers to Iraq. Hope it helps. BTW please pass on our thanks for his service.

[theGinsue]

BTW please pass on our thanks for his service.

+1

[Great-Kazoo]

tools. there is always something the military doesn't have on hand

+1 on his serving our country.

[BadShot]

I'll back the laptop idea.. there are some great deals at places like TigerDirect.com and plenty of us here who are geeks that can help you out with a selection (we'd need a price range) .. you can never have enough of the following:

1. Multi-Tools
2. Folding knives .. if you want to do him a Solid, get him a Strider!
3. SureFire G-2 and G-3 LED lights are also a must have.

Don't worry about buying him gear other than maybe some PMags (which are likely to get stolen anyway) .. Big green will give him 90% of what he needs and he needs to find out what the unit has and doesn't as well as what the more experienced troops use.

I wouldn't worry about anything "Europe" centric.. he'll nab a ton of that stuff on his own.

Another huge thanks to him for stepping up and serving.. tell him he stands in good company.. keep his head straight and he'll be good to go for life.

[scratchy]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I'm thinking a netbook and a good multitool. I'm a geek and I like my netbook He'll never get pmags from me, I'm keepin em. I'll get his with XP instead of Ubuntu. I'll send all of your thanks as well. He will be up here one weekend before he goes, If it's a shoot weekend, we'll show.

[hobowh]

Thanks for all the great ideas. I'm thinking a netbook and a good multitool. I'm a geek and I like my netbook He'll never get pmags from me, I'm keepin em. I'll get his with XP instead of Ubuntu. I'll send all of your thanks as well. He will be up here one weekend before he goes, If it's a shoot weekend, we'll show.

Good plan they usually have web cams to so you can stay in touch that way as well.