First Post,Been Lurking

This site seems to have the most new flashlight information not supported by a particular manufacturer. In the past two weeks, I've learned a lot. It's laid out just like bladeforums and it seems like guys interested in flashlights are also into knives and vice-versa. I will have plenty of stupid questions, so bear with me.
There seems to be a lot of emergency and military guys here and you know what works. My son is a Marine going to Iraq and I want him to have some good gear.
My thanks in advance for your help. I will now start asking stupid questions.

:welcome:

Welcome to CPF, nice to see you here. You will find many nice members who will answer your questions and I will be glad to help you in any way.:welcome:

Hi pcp,
Welcome to cpf! Your stupid questions won't be the first and you'll get plenty of great answers. I think you're right about lights and knives. When I'm not emptying my wallet on hosts and drivers and reflectors and such, I'm looking for interesting blades. Just picked up a beautiful benchmade 690 carbon fiber LE (the 690 is my favorite edc). God help me if I ever decide to take up knifemaking!

Welcome to CPF.

This thread may be informative. It can be hard to judge "what might be "the best" given the wide range of possibilities for his needs. An infantryman could be assigned in a headquarters and go his whole tour without kicking in a single door. A medic could be out on patrol almost every day. One Marine could be outside the wire for days at a time, another could be back "home" inside the wire at least once daily.

One thing I would say, no matter what their situation, go with a light that uses 123 primaries or AA. Both are in the system, although local situations will dictate which is easier to get your hands on officially. If you go AA look for at least adequate performance on alkaline.

Thanks for the warm welcome.If you need any help making knifes let me know. If I can't help you, I can steer you in the right direction. For about $25.00 you can make a beautiful knife. I try to make one a week. That's about how long the process takes.

Hi Popcornpicker and a warm :welcome:

If your son gets a stock Surefire 6P or some P60 accepting light, a good drop-in like the Malkoff M60 might be a good addition to the light.

An AA powered back up type light might be good too.

Welcome to CPF.:wave: