Tag: gifts for military members

How to Celebrate July 4th While Deployed

Jenifer Calandra

Start Dropping Hints to Your Family to Send a Military Care Package from My Hero Crate

Independence Day is the penultimate American holiday and celebration of our freedoms. But when you’re deployed over July 4th, you and your buddies have to find unique ways to celebrate outside the United States.

If your station doesn’t have something planned for you, like a USO show, or special meal, make it your personal mission to turn what would be an average day into an exciting one, full of all-American treats and pastimes.

Consider these ideas to kick off your brainstorm.

Make a Playlist of Patriotic Songs

You have the technology, so put it to work. Create a playlist full of classic American favorites and let them play on shuffle on July 4. Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the USA,” the iconic “Stars and Stripes Forever” march, and “America the Beautiful” are three tunes that come to mind.

Not sure which songs to include? Gather a few buddies to build out the playlist. Their input could help you put together the soundtrack to a memorable Independence Day.

Play a Pick-up Game of Your Favorite American Sport

There’s nothing more American than football or baseball. Pay tribute to the United States with an exciting game of two-hand touch football or go six innings of baseball with your unit.

Pick team captains to select their teams, map out your playing field, and recruit someone to serve as the umpire or referee. Assemble a trophy out of odds and ends and present it to the winning team during an elaborate ceremony at the end of the game.

Host a Patriotic Open Mic Night

While you might not have a microphone on hand, gather your unit and ask people to share their favorite song or poem, or put together skits to celebrate July 4.

Recite the preamble to the Constitution. Play acoustic guitar and have everyone sing along to American music hits. When everyone is involved, no one ends up in the spotlight, and you can all share a beautiful holiday together.

Reminisce

If you are unable to help put together an activity to celebrate Independence Day while deployed, take a moment during down time to ask your buddies about their favorite July 4th memories. Maybe they used to attend a fireworks show with their family, or the aunt always brought a tasty potato salad to the cookout.

Sharing these memories can help you feel closer to your loved ones when they’re so far away.

Write a Letter

If you’re going to be away from your loved ones over July 4th, sit down to write a letter to them and mail it in advance of the holiday. In your letter, describe your plans for the day, or talk about times you’ll always remember from past Independence Day celebrations.

If you have kids, send them a drawing for once. Sketch out your family spending time together for the holiday, complete with fireworks, BBQ, and hugs. Your artwork will become something they treasure until they get to see you again.

Share Your Military Care Package

Did your family send you an armed forces monthly care package for July? Share your spoils with a few friends to make the day special. Sit down for a board game, munch on tasty snacks together, and generally spread joy. 

We Deliver Monthly Military Care Packages Around the World!

If you’re a lucky military member who gets hero care packages from My Hero Crate, or if you’re the thoughtful family member who sends them, then take the opportunity to spread the word about us to other families with soldiers and other military members who are deployed around the world.

Standard shipping is always free to APO, DPO, and FPO mailing addresses, and we make sure our monthly subscription boxes contain new and unique items to help pass the time and enrich the days. It’s like sending your love in our signature green box. 

Share this link with other loved ones in the military to help them spread joy with conveniently pre-packaged gift boxes for their heroes.

Five Reasons Our New Spicy Snack Box is the Perfect Father’s Day Gift

Jenifer Calandra

Salute Your Military Dad with One of Our Gift Ideas for Service Members

Our newest snack box is forged in fire and will make your dad sweat bullets this Father’s Day! Spice up gift-giving for your Army, Navy, or Air Force dad with our Spicy Snack Box, now available at My Hero Crate!

All of dad’s favorite snacks are in this fire-breathing military care package, including Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, Taki’s Fuego, Lay’s Flamin’ Hot, Spicy Doritos, Planter’s Heat Peanuts, two bottles of Pepper Nectar Hot Sauce, and more. A total of 17 items will set your dad’s mouth ablaze — while My Hero Crate makes Father’s Day gift ideas no sweat! 

Here are five really great reasons our new Spicy Snack Box is the perfect Father’s Day gift!

The price of our Spicy Snack Box includes shipping.

Have you ever put tons of items in your cart on a small-business website only to realize that you’re being asked to pay a prohibitively-expensive shipping fee? That’s not the case at My Hero Crate. The prices of each of our military gift boxes include standard shipping, even to FPO, DPO, and APO addresses worldwide.

When you add our Spicy Snack Box to your cart, you know exactly how much your dad’s gift will cost you — and really, he’s worth it! 

The flavors in our new snack box are WILD!

You could give a bland gift this Father’s Day, like yet another tie or a #1 Dad coffee mug. Or, you could give a gift with some flavor and pizzazz. Our Spicy Snack Box has both, and comes packaged in our signature camo gift box, which is perfect on its own, or you can add your own wrapping paper. 

It’s a Father’s Day gift like none other.

We’re betting your dad has never received a box of impossibly spicy snacks as a Father’s Day gift before. In fact, we’d wager that he doesn’t know any other dads in his military unit who have received such a gift, either!

My Hero Crate specializes in unique gift ideas and simple gift-giving for military members, and our new Spicy Snack Box is no exception. Dad not into spicy stuff? Choose from our selection of other great Father’s Day gift ideas instead, like our Men’s R&R Gift Box or our Movie Night Snack Box. 

Our military snack boxes are useful and usable.

Sure, you could send Dad a gift during deployment that he has to haul around or set aside for safekeeping among his personal effects. Here’s hoping he has room! Or, you could send your dad a consumable gift that he’ll love and can share with his colleagues at his duty station. Our snack boxes, especially our Spicy Snack Box, are like that!

Your military dad’s gift is fully edible, meaning there’s nothing left to carry home at the end of deployment, and he can use it to make friends and bolster his meals, too.

Our snack boxes also are perfect for the dad who has everything. You’re never sure what to get him because he definitely already owns anything you’ve ever thought of to get him as a gift. Well, he may have eaten spicy snacks before, but no one can say no to more taste-bud blazin’ treats!

For every Spicy Snack Box you buy for your dad, we’ll donate to a veteran-backed non-profit organization.

Part of our mission at My Hero Crate is to make people smile and feel loved and happy. One way we do that is by donating a portion of the proceeds for every military care package we sell to a veteran organization. It’s our way of giving back to important people who protect our freedoms.

Send a Father’s Day Gift from My Hero Crate

Show dad how much you love him, whether he’s at home or deployed, by sending him our Spicy Snack Box. It’s easy to place your order. Just tell us where to send it — anywhere in the world — and we’ll make sure he gets it by Father’s Day. 

Working In The Winter

Michael Kidd

A Life Outside

Most people only have a vague idea of what servicemembers actually do day in and day out. Images of the men and women of the US armed forces tend to be centered around battles, boot camp, and maybe even a half-remembered episode of JAG. And although all of those things do happen, aside from JAG officers who look like Catherine Bell and David Elliot, they only tell a small part of the story. In order for any of the exciting heroics people associate with the military to happen, a lot of preparation must come first. And most of that preparation happens outside.

Train as You Fight

To begin with, it’s important to remember that the military is basically always training. They train with firearms. They do physical fitness training. They run obstacle courses. They conduct drills, field ops, and all manner of training exercises to ensure their bodies are ready when they’re needed. On my scariest day in Afghanistan, I could tell you almost word for word my entire panicky inner monologue. I was in the kind of situation where people freak out, and I was freaking out. Without proper training, I would have been a liability. I would have gotten myself hurt or killed at best, somebody else hurt or killed at worst. But because of the constant training, my body was able to act independently of my panicking brain. I didn’t need to think about what I needed to do. I just did it automatically while I was losing it.

Command Maintenance

The only thing that might be more important than constantly training is constantly maintaining equipment. A panicking soldier can drive away from a firefight. A broken vehicle can not. Every day, the military is inspecting, maintaining, and repairing equipment. Everyone from the official mechanics to the desk sergeant of the S-1 has had to do their part in maintaining the equipment that has been assigned to them. 

Wintertime

Almost all of this work is done outdoors, regardless of the weather. A common NCO joke is that “if it ain’t raining, we ain’t training,” meaning that unless training is happening in a torrential downpour, then it doesn’t really count as true training. During the winter, that means soldiers are out all day in the cold. Military-issued fleece caps and jackets, as well as long underwear, help to keep service members warm as they work. There are two major challenges this causes though. 

Limits of Protective Gear

First of all, not all of the work is conducive to protective winter gear. Some nuts, bolts, and screws need to be screwed into hard to locate places soldiers have to find by feel. That means no gloves. And if it is wet at all where a soldier is, whether by snow, ice, or rain, the protective gear becomes useless quickly.

Cold Weather, Hot Work

The other challenge is that the gear that keeps a service member warm can cause them to overheat when doing physical labor. If it isn’t safe to remove a jacket due to it being below freezing, a soldier has to deal with all the problems of hot weather and cold weather all at once.

Helping Our Heroes

Winter is a tough time for our men and women in uniform. They will have to work in the cold, all season long. Sending them a nice gift of tea or coffee could go a long way towards helping them get warm after a long day’s work. And a nice soothing bath can warm them up and let them fix any of the skincare issues the cold causes. Our heroes are working hard this winter. Help them take care of themselves with My Hero Crate.

Returning to Duty

Michael Kidd

The Holidays Are Over

There are no more gifts left to buy. No more New Year’s Eve parties to plan. No more pretending you know the words to Auld Lang Syne (or pretending that you were aware the song they play on the New year is called Auld Lang Syne). Trees are being taken down. Traveling loved ones are returning home. Life is returning to normal.

 A Soldier’s Normal

Some experiences are universal. That subdued dread about returning to a normal work schedule, for example. But when you’re a service member, that return to work is a whole lot harder than usual. Soldier’s days are usually longer, for example. Morning formation is around 6:30 am and soldiers are expected to be shaved, in uniform, and there at least 15 minutes early. If you’re on time, you’re late.

Hairy Times

Virtually every veteran you know will have a beard, especially if they did not do a full career in the military. After twenty-plus years of daily shaving, soldiers are more likely to stay in the habit. Soldiers who only do one term, however, are less likely to be in that habit. If you joined at 18 years old, you might not even need to shave every day at first. This means that most soldiers will return from leave with a certain amount of scruff. This means the first step for every male soldier returning from leave will almost certainly have to be shaving.

Holiday Food

Be honest: How much weight do you gain over the holidays? Studies show that the assertion that people gain five pounds over the holidays is flat wrong. That’s good. They also show that about 2/3rds of annual weight gain that is not lost occurs over the holidays. That’s bad. Service members don’t have a choice about shedding the holiday pounds. The military comes with strict physical fitness requirements. That means that the first few weeks of physical training (PT) after the holidays is by far the most grueling for a soldier. That is when they absolutely must get back into shape.

That First Morning

Picture this: after two weeks of being allowed to sleep in, and not having to shave unless you wanted to, you have to wake up at 6:00 am. Depending on if you had the time or foresight to shave last night, you may have to wake up earlier to make sure you’re in regulation. You head to your first formation. It’s January, and it’s freezing, but military training and discipline means you have to stand there until your First Sergeant dismisses you to conduct PT. You have to start working out on cold muscles that have been used almost exclusively for eating and drinking all December. Because the military is the way it is, you’ll likely be working out outside, and having to deal with being uncomfortably hot and uncomfortably cold at once. And all of that is just the precursor to returning to your full-time job, where you will consider yourself lucky to be released from duty before 6:00 pm.

Taking Care Of Our Heroes

Probably the worst of all is the homesickness. During the holidays, it’s real easy to feel close to the people at home. After returning, not so much. Right now is the time when our heroes need support from home more than ever. A Men’s R&R Gift Box will help them make the transition and speed up their shaving as they fight to stay in regulation. For women in uniform, the Women’s Relaxation Box will help them combat the dry skin and itchiness that comes with the winter season. Right now, our men and women in the service need our attention more than ever. The transition back to work after the holidays is a rough and lonely time.

Volunteer Opportunities to Help Military Members

Jenifer Calandra

Plus, Say Thanks with an Armed Forces Care Package from My Hero Crate

You’ve seen military members make big sacrifices to our country, and you want to return the favor.

As a civilian with loved ones in the military, you probably already know of lots of opportunities locally to help out.

But if you don’t know anyone who could guide you to volunteer opportunities, then you might want to consider My Hero Crate’s five favorite ways to volunteer. Each requires a varying amount of resources and time, so you’re sure to find one that works for you.

 

Volunteer at VA Hospitals

Just like you’d see “candy stripers” at civilian hospitals, VA hospitals utilize volunteers. Hospital volunteers perform many tasks to help support medical staff and patients.

As a VA hospital volunteer, you might be asked to answer phone calls, direct visitors to the right hospital area, restock supplies, or deliver gifts to military patient rooms. You may even be asked to visit with hospitalized patients to keep them company. The ultimate goal is to free up time for medical staff to focus on providing patient care. 

 

Build Houses for Returning Disabled Troops

Homes for Our Troops is a nonprofit organization that builds houses for disabled servicepeople who served in Afghanistan and Iraq. They also adapt existing homes to accommodate those who served.

You can donate money or land, or help to build these homes if you have experience as a contractor, builder, or in other relevant trades.


Participate in a Letter-Writing Campaign

Operation Gratitude runs a letter-writing campaign in which anyone can write letters or short notes or send greeting cards to veterans and active military members to thank them for their service and connect with them.

It’s an especially wonderful opportunity if you have limited time or transportation resources, since you can participate from the comfort of your own home. And who doesn’t love receiving mail? At My Hero Crate, we know it better than most!

 

Employ Veterans in Your Business

Although not technically a volunteer opportunity, if you run your own business, you can become an employment partner with Hire Heroes USA to do your part.

Employment partners help veterans get jobs in their businesses after they receive job training. And if you, too, are a veteran, you can help provide that job training, assist with mock interviews, or provide career counseling to other veterans, using your experience working in your business.

 

Volunteer with the USO

Short for United Service Organization, the USO is vital in providing active service members through entertainment, military care packages, and transitional services.

When you volunteer with USO, you could do things like help organize special events, greet returning military members at homecomings, work the front desk at USO offices, and more. If you have special skills, the USO will find a place for you to help out locally.

 

Send a Military Care Package Today

Opportunities to volunteer to benefit our military members are numerous. 

But If you want to do something nice for your own loved one in the military, or you want to be sure your favorite veteran directly benefits from your actions, consider sending them a military care package from My Hero Crate.


Shop our full selection of snack boxes, holiday gifts, and themed care packages today, or subscribe to send a monthly gift to your loved one in the armed forces.

 

Reasons Why US Military Veterans Join the National Guard

Jenifer Calandra

Their Continued Contribution is Another Reason to Send Them a Military Care Package

When listing the branches of the US military, so many people overlook the National Guard. But with more than 440,000 members in the Army National Guard and Air National Guard, they’re worth remembering and honoring.

The National Guard provides opportunities for veterans to reenlist and continue serving their country with slightly less of a time commitment. For veterans considering joining the National Guard, there are many reasons they might do so.

At My Hero Crate, we offer Army care packages – and gifts for every branch of the military – and celebrate the service that National Guard members give to our country. As part of that, we acknowledge these reasons and more that veterans may want to join the Army National Guard or Air National Guard.

 

They’re Dedicated to Their Country

Veterans whose full-time military service has come to an end may want to continue their career in the military because they are dedicated to the mission and to their country.

The National Guard gives opportunities to veterans to continue serving the United States on a part-time basis, so they have plenty of time to pursue education, work in the civilian sector, and live with their families without being transferred from base to base.

 

They Thrive in the Structure

After spending years in the military, it can be hard to adjust to civilian life. Joining the National Guard feels very familiar and comfortable for them – while still giving them plenty of time to become acclimated to being civilians.

The National Guard also helps veterans ensure they stay healthy and in good shape even after they are discharged from the Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard, Navy, or Army, plus gives them the structure they enjoy one weekend per month. 

 

They Receive Additional Benefits

National Guard members receive the same health insurance coverage as enlisted military members, plus education benefits, a salary, sign-on bonuses, and more. Guard members are paid for their training, weekend drills, and during any deployments.

Joining the National Guard offers a wonderful opportunity to not only serve the US again, but also to supplement full-time work and to build new skills in your MOS (job).

 

Their Skills and Experience Could Transfer Over

While enlisted full-time in the military, veterans learned skills and gained experiences that are invaluable. And the National Guard gives them the chance to put those to good use.

In fact, the National Guard takes into account previous rank, job, and experience. That means veterans already have a leg-up when joining, and some may not even need to complete basic training again. 

 

Celebrate Your Guardsman with a Military Care Package

The National Guard may not seem as demanding as other branches of the US military, but that doesn’t mean National Guard members aren’t as deserving of our care and thanks.

 

Your loved one in the National Guard would love to receive one of our military care packages every month through our military gift subscription service, or a one-time holiday surprise for Halloween or any other upcoming holiday. Shop now to give thanks.

How Does Mindfulness Meditation Work?

Jenifer Calandra

Try It Out the Next Time You Receive an Armed Forces Gift Box

Mindfulness is rooted in a Buddhist concept from about 2,600 years ago and has only recently found popularity in today’s psychotherapy world. While very few studies strongly support the benefits of mindfulness, those who practice it say it has helped their tolerance, concentration, mental clarity, and kindness toward oneself.

Proponents of mindfulness say that its related meditation technique can help former military members cope with the emotional and mental health ramifications of enlistment, deployment, and war. It’s easy to practice, with no requirements for equipment. You truly need only your mind.

What is Mindfulness?

The American Psychological Association defines mindfulness as “a psychological state of awareness,” but more specifically, “a moment-to-moment awareness of one’s experience without judgment.”

In simplest terms, when you practice mindfulness, you simply focus your awareness on what you’re sensing and feeling in the moment, without interpreting or judging. During mindfulness, you can practice relaxing breathing techniques or use guided imagery. Researchers believe that mindfulness meditation can help practitioners decrease rumination — dwelling on negative thoughts or ideas — help regulate emotions, and reduce stress. 

How Can I Practice Mindfulness?

Mindfulness practitioners use a variety of methods, the easiest of which you can do during normal daily activities!

Start by simply paying attention. Slow down and notice things with all five of your senses. Focusing on your breathing also can help you process negative thoughts and relax.

Try practicing mindfulness while eating a snack from your military care package from My Hero Crate. Open your favorite treat, and take your first bite. Hold the bite in your mouth and pay attention first to how it tastes. Focus all your attention on it.

Then, start to notice the texture. Move your tongue over it.

Bite into it. How does the crunch or other sensation feel against your teeth? Notice whether the texture changes. Feel the temperature of the food.

Return to focusing on the flavor. Don’t try to identify what the flavor is; simply notice it.

Repeat the process with each bite, for as long as you’d like.

How Often Should I Practice Mindfulness?

You can practice mindfulness any time, anywhere you wish, especially simple types of meditation like mindfully eating.

The more often you practice mindfulness, the more naturally it will come to you. Set aside time every day. It’s a valid form of self care that takes little resources, so it’s a great addition to your mental health care program. 

Try Mindfulness Techniques As You Open Your Monthly Military Gift Box Subscription

Now that you know how to practice mindful eating, you can apply mindfulness techniques to other activities. As you open your monthly military care package subscription, find ways to practice mindfulness with each item.

Over time, you just might notice a change in how you feel — hopefully for the better.

Learn more about our monthly care package subscription, and be sure to thank your loved one who sends you these military gifts!

What is the Difference Between Memorial Day and Veterans Day?

Jenifer Calandra

They Both Honor Military Members, But for Different Reasons

There are so many American holidays centered around patriotism and ways to thank military members for their service. Two of these days, Memorial Day and Veterans Day, are often easily confused or misunderstood altogether.

Both are Federal holidays. Both honor the military. But they’re actually quite different. You’ll want to understand the nuances of both before wishing your military hero a “Happy Memorial Day” or “Happy Veterans Day,” interchangeably. 

Memorial Day – the Last Monday in May – Honors Those Who Died During Their Military Service

Memorial Day got its start just after the Civil War, when people would leave floral arrangements on the graves of fallen soldiers. In 1866, Waterloo, New York, made this a formal ritual called “Decoration Day,”  because of its focus on decorating graves of soldiers.

In 1868, the first ever National Decoration Day took place at Arlington National Cemetery. By the late 1800s, people across the country were acknowledging the day. The holiday was renamed Memorial Day, because it is a day in memory of fallen military service members.

You can, of course, celebrate Memorial Day any way that you’d like, but it’s best to use the day to pay respects to our country’s heroes who lost their lives during their service. It may not be the best idea to give gifts for veterans or living military members on this day, however, as it is meant to honor past heroes.

Veterans Day – on November 11 – Honors All Military Members

Veterans Day is another Federal holiday focused on military members. Unlike Memorial Day, though, Veterans Day is a day to celebrate and be thankful for anyone who has served in the U.S. military. 

First observed in 1919 as Armistice Day – the first anniversary of the end of World War I – Congress made it a Federal holiday in 1938. President Eisenhower changed the name of the holiday to Veterans Day in 1954.

Veterans Day is the best holiday to send a gift for military members and veterans to thank them for their service. 

Gifts for Veterans and Military Members

To help your loved one celebrate Veterans Day, send them a military care package from My Hero Crate! Our one-time snack boxes or monthly subscription boxes are ideal gifts to bring good cheer and motivation to your loved one serving away from home. 

They’re also great gifts for veterans, who will remember the happiness and contentment they felt when they received care packages from home while they were deployed.

Order your military member gifts from My Hero Crate, and get free shipping anywhere in the U.S., and to any APO, FPO, or DPO mail box in the world. Best of all, we’ll make a donation to a non-profit, veteran-backed organization for each care package purchased!

Shop today to find the perfect military gift box for your hero, or sign them up for a monthly subscription box for armed forces members. 

Put Your Best Foot Forward with These Foot Care Tips

Jenifer Calandra

Our Military Care Packages Help Your Loved One Keep Going

At My Hero Crate, we’re big believers in efforts that promote overall health and wellness. And because our feet are the foundation of our bodies — quite literally — we think it’s important to help your loved ones in the military take care of theirs.

Make sure they have the tools to take care of their feet by sending them one of our care packages with foot care necessities inside and encourage them to seek help with foot care while they’re deployed, on base, and away from home.

Here’s our not-so-comprehensive but important, basic advice on taking care of your feet. It’s easy, and doesn’t really require any special tools.

Basic Foot Care

For general foot care, follow these tips to help prevent injury, infection, pain, or skin issues. Of course, ask your doctor about your feet if you need medical advice.

-Rucks and other physical activity can leave your feet with cuts, sores, swelling, or even infected toenails. Check your feet every day for signs of injury or infection, especially after performing activities that stress them.

-Clean and moisturize your feet. You don’t need to soak your feet or apply moisturizer between your toes, however, which will dry them out or cause an infection, respectively. Lotion, cream, or even petroleum jelly are all acceptable moisturizers for your feet.

-Keep your toenails trimmed. As your toenails grow, your shoes can apply pressure on them, which makes your feet sore. Trim your nails straight across using a nail clipper. Then, file the corners to prevent ingrowns or pressure on your skin.

-Make sure your boots fit properly. Tight-fitting or even too-loose boots can cause problems, like blisters or chafing.

-Avoid wearing unsupportive shoes, like flip-flops, during your down time. They don’t provide the arch support or stability, and you could risk a strain or other injury. 

Dealing with Corns or Calluses

Corns and calluses are common problems, but they can make walking, marching, and running painful. These hard, thick patches of skin can be caused by your shoes rubbing, pressure from ill-fitting shoes, or from being on your feet for a long period of time. Military members, of course, are prone to these thanks to the nature of their work.

Corns usually form on the top of the foot or on a toe, while calluses are usually on the bottom of your foot. Mild ones don’t require treatment and may heal on their own, especially if you file them gently with a pumice stone while you bathe, apply salicylic acid or corn pads to help dissolve them, and wear thick socks to protect your feet.

If corns or calluses become painful and affect your gait and performance, you should see a physician for treatment. 

Preventing Athlete’s Foot

This condition’s name is a bit of a misnomer, because you don't have to be an athlete to develop it. Athlete’s foot is actually a fungus that loves warm, dark, humid environments, like shared locker room areas. Your feet come in contact with the fungus, and it causes dry skin, itching and burning, inflammation, cracking, scaling, and even blisters. It’s easily spread, and can move to other areas of your body after you scratch your feet, or even via your bedding.

To treat athlete’s foot, you can soak your feet in Epsom salts, or use an over-the-counter anti-fungal cream or powder. Your physician can even prescribe antifungal pills to nip a more stubborn case in the bud.

Because athlete’s foot is so easily spread, you should do your due diligence to prevent yourself from getting it in the first place. Not only should you be washing your feet with soap and water every day, but you should also be certain the areas between your toes are dry before you put on socks and shoes. Never walk barefoot in public places, and choose socks that wick moisture away from the skin. 

Send Your Hero a Pre-Made Military Care Package to Help Them Take Care of Themselves

When your loved one enlisted in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, or National Guard, you probably thought about the types of mail and gifts you would send to them while they were away from home after boot camp. 

Most families soon realize that putting together a really high-quality care package for military members can be tiring, as you tend to have to go from store-to-store to find the items they request or would like. 

My Hero Crate makes it easy with our military-approved care packages that you can order straight from us, with free shipping to your loved one anywhere in the world, including overseas at FPO, DPO, and APO addresses. And you won’t want to miss our monthly care package subscription service, which sends your military hero an all-new care package every month. 

Your gifts help them prioritize self care and remind them of all the people who love them back home. Learn more about our care package subscription service for the military, and place your order today. 

Handling Military-Related Homesickness

Jenifer Calandra

Send an Armed Forces Care Package to Help Cure Your Hero

Military members, their spouses, and their children all end up dealing with feelings of homesickness at some point. Moving from duty station to duty station, traveling for deployment, or simply being assigned to a base far from home or loved ones sparks this sense of loss and distance.

After you’ve been tied to the Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marine Corps after a while, you learn how to keep homesickness and its related emotions at bay, until they go away. How you cope with homesickness is dependent upon who you are and your situation — and everyone is different. The feeling is totally normal, and your strategy for dealing with it should be creative and a perfect fit for you. Here are a few methods you can use to help quell the homesick blues.

Meet New People Near You

Building friendships and a support system — even a small one — where you live can help you feel less homesick. This includes if you’re a military spouse, in basic training, or are a deployed military member. Bonding with your unit or other military spouses means you will eventually have plenty of activities to take your mind off the distance between you and where you’re from.

You can meet new friends by attending social events for military members and their families, for starters. Base facilities like the gym can also be a great place to meet people. If you have children and you take them to play on the playground, you may even find like-minded parents looking for friends, too. 

Just remember: you aren’t the only one far from home. Others will be looking to make friends with you, so half the work is already done for you! 

Take Leave If You Can

Enlisted military personnel can take leave, if permissible, to visit family members and enjoy a break from work. You can take a short vacation with your family, or spend time at home doing absolutely nothing.

If you take leave to see your family back home, be sure to let everyone know when you’re coming, so you can plan your visits accordingly. You don’t want to use up your leave time only to find out that beloved family members were out of town when you came to see them.

Call, Write, and Send Military Care Packages

While meeting new people can distract you from your feelings of homesickness, it’s OK to think about who’s back home waiting for you. That’s why it’s important to stay connected with those folks who are far away.

Writing letters and making phone calls when possible are two easy ways you can stay in touch with friends and family members you left in your hometown, or back in the States while you’re deployed. You don’t have to have anything specific to talk about; just have a conversation and enjoy hearing each other’s voices.

Writing letters also gives you and your loved ones something to hold onto to get through bouts of homesickness. You can always reread letters when you’re missing your spouse, children, parents, or friends. It’s much harder to replay a phone call.

If your enlisted loved one is sent far from home, sending a care package is a wonderful way not only to show that you care, but also to make sure your hero has everything they need or want. Simple care packages full of snacks or a monthly military subscription box can mean the difference between having a crummy day and having the best day while enlisted so far. My Hero Crate makes it easy to send armed forces care packages; shipping is always free to DPO, FPO, and APO mailing addresses, too. 

Find a New Hobby

Filling your time with something that interests you is a prime way to deal with homesickness. If you’re having fun doing a new activity, you won’t be distracted by how homesick you feel. Eventually, that gnawing feeling will ease up or go away.

If you aren’t sure what hobbies interest you, do a quick internet search for ideas, or talk to people you know about what they like to do in their spare time. Painting, knitting, running, woodworking, or board games all help you pass the time and keep you feeling happy.

We’re More than Military Care Package Experts

At My Hero Crate, we know a thing or two about curating, assembling, and shipping really awesome care packages that you can send to your loved ones. But we also think we give really great advice! For more ideas for issues you face while living on base, while your loved one is deployed, and more, be sure to check out the rest of our blog.

And when you need to send the perfect gift for someone in the military, we’ve got your back!  Browse our full selection of Marine Corps, Army, Navy, or Air Force care packages on our website.

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