What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... **UPDATE in POST #119**

[flasherByNight]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

Robert,

I'm not sure if you noticed but after reviewing your notes and the thread we decided to 'match' your donation and added 40 more Titanium Innovations keylight keychain lightss to your order.

They're scheduled for delivery tomorrow. 🙂

:twothumbs

 

[ElectronGuru]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

Gene's contribution shipped this morning!

 

[Owen]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

Robert, if you covered this, I missed it.
When are you shipping this stuff out?
Is there a deadline we need to meet for sending more stuff, or money?

 

[RobertM]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

Robert, if you covered this, I missed it.
When are you shipping this stuff out?
Is there a deadline we need to meet for sending more stuff, or money?

Actually, the soldier that I am sending it to is back in the United States right now! He is here for two weeks and then goes back to Iraq.

I wasn't even aware that he was coming home for a few weeks until around Wed. of last week (Nov. 4). Last Friday he came in to the office with his Mom (my co-worker) and some other soldiers and I got to meet him for the first time. I'm pretty sure he goes back sometime next week. It will be nice giving it to him in person and it's probably safer than shipping it and hoping it all gets to him.

As for a deadline, I'd say everything needs to be here and ready by this coming Monday, Nov. 16, 2009.

-Robert

 

[Kevin1322]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

Actually, the soldier that I am sending it to is back in the United States right now! He is here for two weeks and then goes back to Iraq.

I wasn't even aware that he was coming home for a few weeks until around Wed. of last week (Nov. 4). Last Friday he came in to the office with his Mom (my co-worker) and some other soldiers and I got to meet him for the first time. I'm pretty sure he goes back sometime next week. It will be nice giving it to him in person and it's probably safer than shipping it and hoping it all gets to him.

As for a deadline, I'd say everything needs to be here and ready by this coming Monday, Nov. 16, 2009.

-Robert

Just a thought, you might NOT want to wait to give it to him last minute because he is traveling a long ways back and has a lot of connections to make, not to mention having to carry all of his bags many different times (he only gets his bags transfered to onother place maybe once, he will need to get and carry his bags around probably three different times and the trip back itself, depending on where he is stationed, could easily take a week, literally). So, as cool as it will be for you to surprise him (and he will love the gift), he may have mixed feelings about it if it is last minute. Then again, he may have a half empty bag and can just throw it in there, haha.

 

[Owen]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

As for a deadline, I'd say everything needs to be here and ready by this coming Monday, Nov. 16, 2009.

-Robert

Ok.
I've been looking around, and have a black Maxpedition Volta for 8x123 or 8xAA, and 1 ea. OD green and blaze orange 4x123 carriers from Tools Aviation that I will send you today or tomorrow.

 

[scout24]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

Robert-
Zebralight shipped, PM sent. I love what this turned into, CPF is a very special place with some wonderful folks.:grouphug:

 

[RobertM]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

Robert-
Zebralight shipped, PM sent. I love what this turned into, CPF is a very special place with some wonderful folks.:grouphug:

Received it today...thanks again scout24! :twothumbs

All that remains to arrive as of now is the Malkoff and the Maxpedition Volta. 🙂

 

[LG&M]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

To all that helped him... YOU ROCK ! I read this thread because I am getting a care package ready for my cousin's son. The Marines have given him a "vacation" in Afghanistan.
Again thank you for helping our Freedom fighters.

 

[RobertM]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

I received the Malkoff yesterday! I also picked up a SF lanyard for his G2 the other day from a local store. Only one item to go and then I'll be setting up a time to give him all the stuff to take back to Iraq!

-Robert

 

[flasherByNight]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

Point him over to cpf...
:thumbsup:

I'm sure he/they will appreciate the lights, but even more so when they learn of the thought that went into it

 

[RobertM]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

I was already planning on giving him/them the URL to the thread so it can be seen as to how all of this came to be. Who knows, maybe some will joint CPF and post in the thread. 🙂


As of right now, I really hope to have all donated items by this Tuesday (Nov. 17) so that I can give everything to him on Wednesday (Nov. 18). 🙂

-Robert

 

[RobertM]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

UPDATE

This evening I will be going to the soldier's family's house and presenting him with all of the CPF donations. I am quite excited! 🙂

I've updated post #1 with a picture of everything that is being donated. I hope to post a finalized list of everything by this evening along with credit as to who donated what.



Thanks,
Robert

 

[ElectronGuru]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

:grouphug:

 

[Mjolnir]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

Wow, that is a LOT of keychain lights. Are the soldiers going to use them as basically disposable lights? I can't see many coin cell batteries being available to them over there.

 

[baterija]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

Wow, that is a LOT of keychain lights. Are the soldiers going to use them as basically disposable lights? I can't see many coin cell batteries being available to them over there.

Coin cells aren't going to be easy to come by. That said in my personal use of coin cells lights in the field only one survived long enough to need battery replacement and it pretty much needed light replacement too. :devil:

 

[Owen]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

I hope the other battery carrier that didn't make it into the pic made it into the package!
Thanks for doing this, Robert:thumbsup:

 

[RobertM]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

I hope the other battery carrier that didn't make it into the pic made it into the package!
Thanks for doing this, Robert:thumbsup:

Hi Owen,

In the picture, the AA holder is inside of the pouch and the other green CR123 holder is right behind the orange one, but it difficult to see in the picture. Is this what you were referring to?

Thanks,
Robert

 

[RobertM]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

First, a big THANK YOU to everyone on CPF who donated and to our supporting vendors who donated as well! The generosity of the CPF community is absolutely amazing. lovecpf

Yesterday evening, my fiancée and I had the pleasure of spending time with the soldier and his family and presented him with all of the excellent donations from CPF. They were very grateful for all that we have done for them. He seemed quite intrigued with his G2 and FM35 red filter and after playing with it for a bit, immediately put it in his backpack. 🙂


Here is the final list of all the donors and what he or she donated:
scout24: Zebralight H30, $25
tekguy: $20
Vesper: $20
Owen: Gerber Infinity Ultra, Maxpedition Volta
Monocrom: Inova X1 (v.4)
bullfrog: SureFire G2, 8x Titanium Innovations CR123 batteries
96bravo: $25
ElectronGuru and Moddoo: 100x SureFire SF123 batteries
anonymous French cop: $20

OpticsHQ.com: TLS Cree Q5 LED Drop-in
Gene Malkoff / MalkoffDevices.com: Malkoff M60WL LED Drop-in
MattK / Batteryjunction.com: 40x Titanium Innovations LED keychain lights


Here is the final list of all the equipment that was given to the soldier to take back to Iraq:
(2) SureFire G2 flashlights
(1) Zebralight H30 headlamp
(1) Inova X1 flashlight
(1) Gerber Infinity Ultra flashlight
(1) SureFire FM35 red filter
(1) SureFire Z33 lanyard
(1) Malkoff M60WL LED drop-in
(1) TLS Cree Q5 LED drop-in
(88) SureFire SF123 batteries 8x6 10x4
(8) Titanium Innovations CR123 batteries
(12) Energizer e2 AA lithium batteries
(12) Rayovac AA alkaline batteries
(1) Maxpedition Volta battery carrier
(14) Titanium Innovations LED keychain lights (Black body/White LED)
(5) Titanium Innovations LED keychain lights (Clear body/White LED)
(40) Titanium Innovations LED keychain lights (Green body/White LED)
(14) Titanium Innovations LED keychain lights (Red body/Red LED)
(5) Titanium Innovations LED keychain lights (Green body/Green LED)



By my rough estimates, the new retail value of everything donated is over $600!

The two lists differ slightly due to three things:
First, per ElectronGuru's suggestion, I sold 24 of the SF123 cells that he and Moddoo donated in order to fund some addition purchases.
Second, a few of the LED keychain lights shipped with dead batteries (I did check each and every one, LOL). I swapped some fresh coin cells out of some freebie lights I've accumulated, but was not able to get some for absolutely all of them in time. I think they still have more than enough LED keychain lights! 😀
Finally, other items were purchased with the help of CPF's monetary donations.

In addition to checking all of the keychain light for function, I individually checked every CR123 that was given to him through my battery testing setup using my Fluke DMM. Every single CR123 was good! 🙂

I emailed the solider and his mother (my coworker) with the URL to this thread so they can see how everything came to be.


Again, thank you to everyone who donated! I really appreciate it and so does the soldier and his family. Hopefully our work and donations will help the soliders get the job done and return safely.

Thank you,
Robert

 

[Owen]

Re: What light to send to a US soldier in Iraq? ... THANK YOU CPF FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

Hi Owen,

In the picture, the AA holder is inside of the pouch and the other green CR123 holder is right behind the orange one, but it difficult to see in the picture. Is this what you were referring to?

Thanks,
Robert

Yes. 123s will fit in that AA holder, too.
Thanks again, Robert.