A shopping blog of cool gift ideas

This weekend, communities come together to honor the dedication and service of our men and women in uniform during Armed Forces Day.  As the proud sister of an officer in the Marine Corps, I went straight to the source to find out what gifts the troops actually appreciate receiving the most during their deployment (beyond your standard toiletries and supplies).  Here are my brother’s orders top 5 picks for troops stationed abroad:

1.  DVDs – especially newly released movies since the service member was deployed.  Also TV series are a very hot commodity because they fill down-time.  Seasons of The Shield, The Wire, Lost, etc. were the most popular. 

2.  Music – actual CDs or CDs comprised of music burned onto CDs into mp3 format.  Again, the music newly released since a service member deployed is the best because it's hard to buy or download once overseas.  Just about every Marine these days has an mp3 player or a laptop. 

3.  Books – GOOD BOOKS.  There are huge libraries in most posts, but 95% of them are filled with crappy westerns or romance novels donated by nice housewives and not intended for alpha-male consumption.  What defines "good" is completely dependent on each service member, but you can't go wrong with a best seller. 

4.  Games – Hard to believe, but even the youngest/poorest service members these days go to war with a Nintendo DS or PSP, and often groups of Marines have a TV with an XBox, PS2, PS3 or a personal laptop.  If you find out what kind of gaming system the service member is using overseas, you will know what games to purchase them.  Again, the latest and greatest is always the best because you can guarantee he doesn't have it already. 

5.  Work-out Gear – You're stuck inside bases that are too small for jogging so service members use compact strength and aerobic equipment to keep in shape.  I personally liked my grip strengthener, but another neat work-out thing I saw was called "The Perfect Push-up".  It's basically a couple of grips that are light and you can take with you anywhere, and it comes with a complete work-out plan for upper body strength.