Tag: gifts for veterans

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.

Why Gluten-Free Military-Approved Snack Boxes are a Great Gift Idea

Jenifer Calandra

Send a Hug From Home to Your Military Hero Inside a Delicious Care Package

We’re always bragging about how great our military care packages are – and our customers give us lots of compliments on them, too, like these two:

“My overall experience was lovely. Your customer service is top notch! Packages arrived overseas in about a week with zero shipping charges. Absolutely amazing! What a wonderful service!”

“Perfect for deployed loved ones! My nephew in the Navy loves this! I love how I can send him care packages with no hassle and a good deal!”

This month, we’re especially loving our Gluten Free Dairy Free Vegan Military Care Package, designed for enlisted military or veterans with dietary restrictions or preferences. Here are three reasons why you should send one to your hero today.

Snacks Help You Take Care of Your Loved One From Afar

When you can’t be near your military hero, it’s hard to express just how much you care. Phone calls are few, and it can be hard to prove just how much you love them through a simple letter.

A military care package from My Hero Crate can be sent to any Army, Navy, Air Force, or Marines base anywhere in the world, even overseas. And as our customer review says, there’s no hassle on your part. You don’t have to hustle to the grocery store to buy items, find a box, package the snacks, and wait in a lengthy line at the post office. We take care of everything for you, and your hero will receive our signature olive drab gift box.

Treats for Special Diets Can Be Difficult to Find

Especially in remote areas, snacks that meet special dietary needs or preferences can be hard to come by, or difficult to identify. Gluten can make someone with Celiac disease feel very ill, so avoiding gluten altogether is absolutely necessary. Similarly, dairy can affect your hero’s health if they are intolerant or allergic. And if your hero eats a vegan diet for religious or moral purposes, they don’t want to be stuck with snacks that don’t allow them to live their beliefs.

Every treat in this particular military snack box meets these dietary restrictions, so your hero never has to read every label or negotiate swaps with their friends.

Our Military Care Package is Full of Healthier Snack Choices

Most pre-made armed forces care packages are full of sugary or fattening snacks that might make your hero feel sluggish during PT and throughout the day. Our Gluten Free Dairy Free Vegan Military Care Package is full of healthier snack options, like Corn Nuts, popcorn, Veggie Straws, specialty fig bars, fruit leather, and more.

If your hero has any additional allergies or dietary restrictions we should know about, we promise to work hard to accommodate those, too! Just let us know when you place your order. 

Order a Snack Box For Your Hero Today

If you want to thank them for their service, celebrate a special day, or send them a care package just because, My Hero Crate is your number one source for the best military snack boxes. Find one that your hero will love by browsing our full selection of care packages at MyHeroCrate.com, including gift sets that promote relaxation during their down-time. 

National Guard Heroes You Should Know

Jenifer Calandra

Wish a Happy Birthday to the National Guard on December 13

While you might not think of the National Guard when you think of American military forces, you really should! The National Guard is unique in that it serves both community and country. Members of the National Guard face deployments overseas just like other branches of the military, and must still undergo rigorous training; boot camp is the very same as that provided for the U.S. Army.

Meet some National Guard Heroes you should know as we observe the National Guard’s birthday this month.

Tammy Duckworth

After serving in the United States Army Reserve, Tammy Duckworth transferred to the Army National Guard in Illinois in 1996. In 2004, she was deployed to Iraq. On November 12, 2004, she lost both her legs when the UH-60 Black Hawk helicopter she was co-piloting was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade launched by Iraqi insurgents. Duckworth received a Purple Heart, an Air Medal, and an Army Commendation Medal. She retired from the Illinois Army National Guard in 2014, as a lieutenant colonel. Currently, Tammy Duckworth is serving as a United States Senator for Illinois. 

Tulsi Gabbard

While serving in the Hawaii State Legislature, Tulsi Gabbard enlisted in the Hawaii Army National Guard in 2003. A year later, she was deployed to Iraq and was shortly thereafter commissioned as a second lieutenant before being deployed to Kuwait in 2008. For her service, Gabbard received the Combat Medical Badge and the Meritorious Service Medal. She was promoted to major in 2015. Gabbard currently serves as the U.S. Representative for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district.

Charles Lindbergh

American aviator Charles Lindbergh was an officer in the U.S. Army Air Corps Reserves, during which time he received the Medal of Honor, the highest military decoration, for completing the first non-stop transatlantic flight between New York City and Paris. Before making history, he was a U.S. Air Mail pilot. When the Army no longer needed more active-duty pilots, Lindbergh joined the 110th Observation Squadron, 35th Division of the Missouri National Guard, out of St. Louis. He was promoted to captain in 1926.

John William Vessey Jr.

Jack Vessey Jr. was a career officer in the United States Army and served as the tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1982 to 1985, during the Reagan administration. Vessey began his 46-year military career by lying about his age to join the Minnesota Army National Guard. He succeeded, and his unit was deployed during World War II in North Africa and Italy. He served during the Cold War, Vietnam War, and in Korea, until 1979, when he was assigned as Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army. Vessey is the recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross, two Defense Distinguished Service Medals, three Army Distinguished Service Medals, a Navy Distinguished Service Medal, Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, two Legion of Merit awards, two Bronze Star Medals, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Leonard F. Wing

Red Wing Sr., as he was called, first enlisted in the U.S. Army for World War I and earned the rank of first lieutenant after completing officer training. After World War I, he was discharged in 1918 and established a law practice in Rutland, Vermont. In 1919, Wing joined the Vermont National Guard’s 172nd Infantry Regiment as a second lieutenant and rose through the ranks until he was named colonel in 1933 and brigadier general in 1937 as commander of the 86th Infantry Brigade. Wing’s military awards and honors include the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, and Bronze Star. 

Scott Perry

Currently serving as the U.S. Representative for Pennsylvania’s 10th congressional district, Scott Perry began his military career in 1980, upon enlisting in the Pennsylvania Army National Guard. He was commissioned a second lieutenant after graduating from Pennsylvania’s Officer Candidate School before qualifying as a helicopter pilot. He served a variety of assignments, including during a deployment to Bosnia and Herzegovina between 2002 and 2003. He served in Iraq between 2009 and 2010, during which time he was credited with flying 44 missions and occurring nearly 200 combat flight hours. After serving in Iraq, Perry was promoted to colonel and commanded the garrison at Fort Indiantown Gap National Training Center and was promoted to brigadier general in November 2015. He retired from the Pennsylvania National Guard in 2019. 

Send Love to Your National Guard Hero!

At My Hero Crate, we know that our service members enlisted in the National Guard carry out important missions at home and abroad. They deserve our thanks every day! If you have a loved one in the National Guard, present them with one of our military care packages so they’ll be stocked up on snacks during their guard weekends and all the days in between. If they’re deployed, you can still send them one of our army snack boxes, too – and shipping is always free to FPO, DPO, and APO addresses.

A Date Which Will Live in Infamy: A Pearl Harbor History Lesson

Jenifer Calandra

16 Million Americans Were Involved with the U.S. Military During World War II

Anyone alive during the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, remembers the emotions they felt upon the realization that a surprise military strike befell a United States naval base in Honolulu, Territory of Hawaii. At the time, Hawaii was not yet a U.S. state. Join My Hero Crate, purveyors of military care packages, as we retell the history of Pearl Harbor.

A Brief History

The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service struck the base with 353 aircraft in two waves to prevent the United States Pacific Fleet from interfering with its military operations in Southeast Asia. Over seven hours on the same day, the Japanese military also attacked Guam, Philippines, and Wake Island, all under U.S. control; and Malaya, Singapore, and Hong Kong, under British control. On the naval base, eight U.S. Navy battleships were damaged, and four were sunk, along with three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, and a minelayer. A total of 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed; 2,403 Americans lost their lives; and 1,178 others were wounded. 

Later that day, Japan declared war on the United States; the U.S. responded the next day by declaring war on Japan. A few days later on December 11, Germany and Italy each declared war on the United States, who responded in kind. European nations had already been warring after Germany invaded Poland and Russia.


Because the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred without a prior declaration of war and without warning, the events that unfolded that day were later judged as a war crime during the Tokyo Trials. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt proclaimed December 7, 1941, “a date which will live in infamy.” It also happened to be the day that fully thrust the United States into World War II, called “the war in Europe” or “the emergency” at the time.

American Response

After FDR declared war, Americans went to work. They rationed food and gas; grew victory gardens in their backyards; and collected scrap metal, rubber, and paper to recycle for military use. Americans bought war bonds, donated money toward the war effort, and donated blood to the Red Cross.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor, military recruitment offices were filled, after low enlistment plagued American armed forces the previous year. In Birmingham, Alabama, 600 men volunteered for the military within a few hours after the attack. In Boston, recruitment office lines were hours-long. Women, too, responded by wishing to enlist or donate whatever they could for war use. In December 1941, America’s military comprised 2.2 million soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines. By the end of the war, nearly 16 million Americans had served, either after voluntarily enlisting or being drafted.

The Aftermath for Japanese Americans

Throughout World War II, the U.S. government frequently referred to Pearl Harbor through imagery on posters and in publications to stir Americans’ support for the war effort. These messages also roused acceptance for sending Japanese-Americans to high-security internment camps. 

Between 1,200 and 1,800 Japanese-Americans were interned in Hawaii, but more than 110,000 living on the West Coast were forced into the camps. Canada, too, responded similarly, by enacting laws to forcefully remove Canadians of Japanese descent from British Columbia and to send others to internment camps or to work on sugar beet farms as free labor.

The War Ends

Over the course of the following several years, the United States and its allies defeated two empires, and the U.S. became a global superpower. World War II ended on the deck of an American warship, the USS Missouri, on September 2, 1945. The war claimed 60 to 80 million lives, or 3 percent of the world’s population. The majority who died were civilians, including 6 million Jews killed in Nazi concentration camps during the Holocaust.

Pearl Harbor Today

Today, the USS Arizona Memorial on Oahu, Hawaii, honors those who died in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The USS Missouri is now moored in Pearl Harbor and serves as a museum. Its bow is barely 1,000 feet southwest of the Arizona memorial. We still acknowledge December 7 as National Pearl Harbor Remembrance Day, although it isn’t a federal holiday, by flying the American flag at half-staff until sunset. 

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, 325,574 of the 16 million Americans who served in World War II are alive in 2020. Of those 16 million, 1 million were African-Americans; 44,500 were Native Americans; 11,000 were Japanese-Americans; and 250,000 were women. Most of the rest were white males.

Thank a Hero with a Military Care Package

If you know one of these brave Americans who served in the war, thank them for their service. Write them a thoughtful letter, spend quality time with them, or send them a military care package fit for a hero from My Hero Crate.

How Pets Can Help Veterans

Jenifer Calandra

Honor Your Military Loved Ones Year-Round with R&R Gift Sets, Too

Coming home after serving in the American armed forces is difficult. Just as your hero adjusted to life in the military, they have to re-adjust to living in the civilian world; this adjustment is sometimes much harder than the transition to military life because now, they have scars – physical and otherwise – from the battles they fought. 

At My Hero Crate, we know you want what is best for your hero when they return home. That’s why we do what we do: build and ship care packages for military members stationed all over the world, and donate some of our proceeds to a veteran non-profit organization. One thing that you can do, that perhaps you haven’t thought of, to aid in your hero’s transition, is to help them choose a pet that may provide them comfort and support.

An emotional support animal provides comfort to help relieve a symptom of a person’s disability, such as anxiety, depression, or post-traumatic stress disorder. An emotional support animal is technically not a pet – but it isn’t a service animal either. 

How Can an Animal Help?

Caring for and living with a pet, such as a cat or dog, can help improve your hero’s life. Benefits include:

-Increasing well-being and improving mental health

-Encouraging physical fitness (especially if the pet is a dog that requires lots of exercise!)

-Strengthen social connections and improve relationships with others

-Help overcome trauma

-Prevent loneliness

-Raise self-esteem and confidence

-Give life purpose

If you’re unsure of whether an emotional support animal is right for your hero – or if perhaps a service dog would be better – it’s a good idea to talk to your loved one’s mental health team, who can provide their professional recommendations, give you documentation you need to house an emotional support or service animal in a rental home, and refer you to organizations that specialize in matching pets to veterans.

Consider a Shelter Animal

According to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, 6.5 million dogs and cats enter animal shelters every year. An article in USA Today estimates that at least 20 percent of American soldiers return from abroad suffering with post-traumatic stress disorder. If a pet is right for each of these veterans, they can experience the feeling of saving an animal’s life and giving it a second chance.

Shelter animals are an especially good idea because it prevents 1.5 million of them annually from being euthanized. And, many shelter animals are well-suited to being obedient and loving pets. If you’re unsure of which pet to adopt, shelter workers can help you find one to best suit your lifestyle and needs. It may take patience to find the perfect pet, but it will be well worth it in the end.

Encourage Relaxation

If now isn’t the right time for a pet or support animal, help your veteran find time to relax and destress with our relaxation-inspiring gift sets, like our Men’s R&R Gift Box or our Women’s Relaxation Gift Box. Each military care package is full of items that encourage taking time for oneself.

Or, you can shop our full selection of military snack boxes with sweet and savory snacks from American suppliers, even if your soldier is still stationed overseas, nearing their discharge or retirement date. Shipping to APO, DPO, and FPO mailboxes is always free.

A Veterans Day Salute!

Jenifer Calandra

Thank Someone Who’s Served with a Care Package from My Hero Crate

On Veterans Day, you probably celebrate by enjoying a day off and casually thanking veterans you know for their service in whichever branch of the military they were in.

Once you live the American military life, though, you come to learn more about Veteran’s Day and appreciate it for how important it is. Here’s a quick history of the holiday, and how you can observe it.

The Date Is a Throwback to World War I

World War I ended when the Treaty of Versailles was signed on June 18, 1919. However, the fighting had already ended seven months prior with an Armistice between the Allies and Germany was called on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. For that reason, November 11, 1918, is known as the end of “the war to end all wars.” 

In November 1919, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed November 11 as the first commemoration of Armistice Day. He said, “To us in America, the reflections of Armistice Day will be filled with solemn pride in the heroism of those who died in this country’s service with gratitude for the victory, both because of the thing from which it has freed us and because of the opportunity it has given America to show her sympathy with peace and justice in the councils of the nations.” The original concept was a day to observe the Armistice and celebrate with parades, public meetings, and suspension of business. 

Over the years, lawmakers passed resolutions to honor November 11, but it wasn’t until President Dwight D. Eisenhower issued the first Veterans Day Proclamation on October 8, 1954, that the day was officially cemented and special committees were formed and named to oversee the holiday. The very first Veterans Day was officially observed on October 25, 1971. 

How to Celebrate Veterans Day

There are some easy ways to participate in acknowledging Veterans Day. Unfortunately, some of these ideas are not necessarily appropriate in our current pandemic. You can, however, hold onto these ideas so you are prepared to observe Veterans Day in the years to come.

-Attend a Veterans Day event in your area, such as a parade or special service.

-Donate to a non-profit organization that benefits your local veterans.

-Fly an American flag correctly, following U.S. Flag Code.

-Write a letter to troops stationed overseas, or a letter thanking veterans you personally know.

-Visit a VA hospital, where you can volunteer.

-Spend time with a veteran on this day, or any day of the year.

-Send a military care package to someone currently serving, or to someone who has retired from service, to thank them for their dedication to their country.

More Ideas?

Do you have great ideas for celebrating Veterans Day? Share them with your social networks to inspire other people to acknowledge the day. Reach out to your friends on various platforms, including NextDoor, Facebook, or Instagram, to remind them of the day’s importance.

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