During my most recent deployment, an organization of volunteers from anysoldier.com helped me and my Soldiers tremendously through sending us hundreds of care packages. On their forum site, some of them would ask questions about what to send. I am turning some of these into blog posts so others can benefit from some of the information I posted. The group at anysoldier.com is a wonderful group to work with if you are looking to support our Soldiers downrange.
We received a lot of packages that are big and we made these available to Soldiers to take what they want. Many companies and other groups do this as a project–they will put a box out of somebody’s door and people then put different items in it. When it gets full, they will send it on. Much of our Soldiers support comes in this way–and we appreciate it a lot–it makes “mail day” fun for everybody.Â
There are other packages that we get for individuals—I always wanted to make sure these boxes get to individuals as intended, but to do this we must be fair and try to get one in the hands of every Soldier, so no one is left out. Therefore, it takes requesting more to get everyone covered.Â
The biggest way to direct where you want the gift to go an individual soldier is to simply write that on the customs form–this is what the addressee sees and s to direct the boxes where you want them to go. In the case of several little boxes in one big box, that is pretty clear to the recipient how that is to be distributed–just make sure you mark male or female or the Soldiers will understand it to mean anybody.
Another  problem with larger boxes is that we may have two boxes arrive in one day–one gets a shoe box, the other gets a foot locker. So, we have found, small across the board is always the better approach. So the larger boxes tend to go to a platoon or group rather than an individual–so more people are touched by the generosity. To be honest, one of my biggest heartbreaks is to see a package that someone is sending for an individual, get split by a group–we always want to make sure that the sender’s wishes are being followed. That’s another reason to note your desires on the customs card for whatever group you send to. We read those things.