Tiki Hut in Afghanistan...

I recently joined the "Club Stogie" cigar forum and the first sticky in the main forum is for the "Tiki Hut Update". It seems the troops at Camp Phoenix in Afghanistan have set up a Tiki Hut for purposes of cigar smoking, R&R etc. The Club Stogie folks and others send them supplies of cigars to distribute to the troops. While the hut is somewhat lacking in Tikiness, the spirit is certainly there :) The thread makes for an inspirational read...

http://www.clubstogie.com/vb/showthread.php?t=81289

Take care!
Paul Q

Nice!
I looked at the linked thread, and saw that the tiki hut has a myspace page, so I looked at that, and saw a couple pics of the hut.

It could use some more tikifying! Lots of people are sending them cigars, maybe we could send them a tiki care package...

Great idea...I'm in. Can someone post the address and process here for getting a package over to these great folks.

I think I may have found something on the site.

I may just send them a Tikiyaki CD, tho' I'm not sure if the youngn's in the service would like it.

Michael James
HHC 41 BCT
Camp Phoenix
APO AE 09320

Don't worry. They will love it!

preface: just doing my part to help people that are somewhere I know I would NOT like to be... please don't get on my case about supporting the war, because 1. I'm not saying if I support or not, and 2. politics isn't what helping people is about

I'm up for sending stuff.
Is the address confirmed?

I do know from working with some friends who do alot of
care packages, there's a few things not to send...
(not theat they are tiki, but just in case ya thought about it...)

1. chocolate or any other melty kind of candy
2. Porn (Java's Bachelor Pad kinda stuff is okay though)
3. aersols

Also, here's a list she gave me a while back that has requested stuff on it. I bet adding HAWAIIAN SHIRTS for them to wear in their tiki bar would be cool. And I'm sure some of the stuff on the list could be find with tiki or hawaiian type of packaging.

CARE PACKAGES FOR THE TROOPS ITEMS LIST:

Snacks- Granola bars, beef jerky, trail mix, popcorn, cookies, gum, sunflower seeds.
Kool Aid- the ones you don't have to add sugar to- the small envelope packs.
Single serve drink mixes-Crystal Light, Propel

Gatorade Powder Mix

Coffee creamer, sugar, sweetener, coffee filters
Coffee-ground

Hot Chocolate Packets

Hot Teas and Instant Cold Teas
Tuna packs
Fruit packs in cans with flip lid
Breakfast type food and drinks
Condiment packets such as ketchup/mustard, salt/pepper
Hand held can openers

Ziploc type bags (all sizes)

Stationary/Envelopes- mail shipped to USA is free so they don't need stamps.
Board Games and Puzzles
Small handheld games
Playing cards, Silly putty, Slinkies, Balls - Small soft ones
Pens, pencils
Books- paperback
Disposable Cameras
Magazines-used ok-Hot Rod, Men's fitness, 4x4,Comics, etc NO PORN

CD/DVD cases/Players and ear plugs
DVD Movies- preferably comedy and westerns-Burned OK
CD's-Burned OK

Batteries- AA, AAA

Items- for them to decorate there (holidays)

Toothbrushes/toothpaste
Chapstick or Carmex
Dental Floss
Hand lotion (Small bottles or tubes)
Shampoo's and soaps (Small bottles or tubes)
Shaving Razors

Foot powder

Eye Drops
Band Aids and first aid/Neosporin
Throat lozenges
Deodorant- for men/women
Hand Sanitizer
Hand soap (small bottles)
Kleenex
Face Soap
Shaving cream lotion for men/women
Q-tips

Nail clippers

Baby Wipes/Clorox or Lysol wipes

Antacid tablets/Vitamins

Socks-black cotton sport style

T-shirts - for them to wear off duty
Boot inserts for men/women

Fab post Pea. I registered on that site and should be able to post by now. Your info is very helpful and I will definitely be sending goodies. :)

On 2008-09-02 09:56, sweetpea wrote:
politics isn't what helping people is about****

Well said sweetpea!!

I didn't see Rum on that list!

But I suppose it would never make it, not really sposed' to ship al-coma-hol.

Here's the myspace page for the tiki hut: http://www.myspace.com/campphoenixtikihut

On 2008-09-02 09:56, sweetpea wrote:

They are at a FOB/LSA from the photo, most of the above items are not needed now. I appreciate the sentiment but I was at a tiny base and we still had all of the toiletries and such we needed. DVD movies are available on the economy for $2. Porn is a non-issue as it is incredibly freely available, no need to send it and they may have a platoon leader who wants to burn them for some reason. T-shirts off duty are a no-go, you stay in uniform all the time. I would recommend magazines, paperbacks, and candy/sweets that are a notch above/different from the ones you get in the PX. I really applaud the sentiment, but I have seen tons of care packages like the above wasted/literally burned as trash.

I was thinking they could just use some tiki decoration. A lamp, pictures for the wall, tikis, etc. Stuff they won't get anywhere else, and that would put more tiki into the tiki hut.

Hey Dan, thanks for the info.

The gal I work with is a marine, and the items above are the
things that were resquested from the certain groups she sends to, so maybe needs are different at different posts.
bummer that some of the stuff might have gotten wasted, I hate people wasting things. argh. especially when you are just trying to help.

Several Departments here at work send packages all of the time and have learned a few things that may help:

Some things are verbotten - pork, alcohol, porn.

Some things are already being sent to a point of overabundance - common toiletries, basic health products (shampoo, sunscreen, etc...). Some places need more, some places have too much. If someone asks specifically for it then they need it and you should send, otherwise don't bother.

Smaller packages will get there sooner. Larger packages will take longer for lots of reasons.

Do not try and 'hide' forbidden items inside of larger packages, you only risk the entire package being redirected to oblivion.

Several Units have asked for items that can be used for 'PR Efforts' with the natives, things like T-Shirts and logo or branded items. Only send these kinds of items to Soldiers/Units that have asked for them because they don't help everybody everywhere.

Now, having shared that bit of information...... lets start a list of things we can send to that Cigar/Tiki Bar:

paper umbrellas!

Aloha Gang,

It has been a long time since I posted anything but this thread caught my eye having been deployed twice myself.

It was while I was in Kuwait waiting for the Iraq War to begin that I hatched the idea to open Hale Tiki when I got home.

While I was there and just getting the Tiki bug a very close friend of mine at the time, Dave Wolfe (AKA Basement Kahuna), turned me on to this website. WOW! Its hard to beleive it has been over five years ago since all that started.

Dave sent me several amazing care packages. One included mini bottles hidden inside of several VERY funny disguises. My favorite was the KY Jelly tube he cut open, slipped in a minibottle of rum and resealed in the cardboard box! Plus he shipped me some country ham (big no-no) and porn. Dave was ever the raiser of morale around my platoon.

We set up a mini Tiki Bar in one of the living quarters that was handed over to me by a civillian contractor who moved on up to Baghdad and didn't want to turn over his semi-private room to some jackassed officer to live in when we were living like cattle and had no place to stash our contraband.

We turned it into a secret party place, complete with ice buckets and a full bar.

I had my sweetheart at the time ship one gallon of light rum and one gallon of dark (Ronrico to be exact) and I told her to not try to hide it, just throw it in some packing peanuts and let her rip.

Dave also put the word out on here, in a thread like this one, and I received all the things I needed to have a 'Doha' Mai Tai in style. TC members sent us mugs, umbrellas, swizzle sticks, an expert mixing set with shaker and strainer, and assorted tiki items.

By the way, the 'Doha' Mai Tai consisted of lime juice, aumond extract, light and dark rum, a stick of Wrigleys mint chewing gum, and chunked pineapple over cracked ice in a Wal-Mart plastic double old fashioned glass. The food stuffs was all from the mess hall or PX (except the rum). It wasn't Trader Vic's but we had to make a few concessions for the war effort when it came to libations.

Anyway, I suggest that folks send some masks, a nautical flag or two, misc carvings, a net floats, plastic tiki mugs (if Target still sells them), REAL mugs (Holden, Bro of Bros, at Tiki Farm sent us a set of Trader Vic Suffering Bastard Mugs), swizzle sticks, paper umbrellas, and quality reading material. Any ramdom tiki decor would help I'm sure.

The Post Masters deal with so much mail that they cannot 'X-Ray' or open ever package (that is a myth spread by the commanders to discourage contraband) so if you develope pen pal relationships with some of these guys, don't be afraid to ship out the 'good stuff'.

Good thread,

Brad 'The Beachcomber' Owens
Freetown Sierra Leone