Commissioning Gift Ideas

Thompson

Thompson

PSU 2017
5-Year Member
Joined
Dec 11, 2012
Messages
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Over the course of this school year, I've gotten to know some (Army) seniors well enough to call my friend. And, as they are graduating/commissioning in a few weeks, I've been thinking about getting something for them as a commissioning gift ... but I haven't the foggiest of ideas of what to get them. I'd like to get something that is engraveable - to make it more of a personal gift/keepsake.

I figured I'd post this for folks to hopefully add some input, so other inquiring minds (ie: parents) with the same question may benefit from as well.
 
My family looked into Civil War era pistols. Makes for a pretty wall decoration, if you've got the change laying around.

Edit: Oh, for a friend? Yeah, you probably don't want to spend that much. I was thinking for your kid.
 
Books:

1. Once an Eagle by Anton Meyer
2. Brotherhood of War series by WEB Griffin
3. 7 Habits Highly effective People - Stephen Covey
4. anything by Barabra Tuchman
5. Grass Crown Series by Collen McCullough

I could go on …

but look up Army Reading list for Jr Officers and you'll see more there

Feed their mind. Buy Books and put thoughtful inscription inside.
 
A gift that Bullet got when he retired from a poster here. An iron to score anything that he grilled with his call sign. Think branding cattle.

You could get one with your Det. Number or PSU or a lion, or the Army branch insignia.

They will be starting a life,and I am sure they will buy a grill. It will be something fun and unique that they will use in the future. Might not appreciate it the day given, but will later on after they use it the 1st time and everyone there oohs and ahhs.

Try WWW.texasirons.com

It is 40 bucks. I bet you can find something sim. cheaper.

My other suggestion would be a silver dollar minted either the year they were born, the year they entered or this year, the year they commission.
 
If you want to spend a little, get the young Army officer an Army officer's sabre. Unfortunately, not many soldiers have them anymore. Call me a traditionalist... call me a romantic... call me what you want. I just appreciate the history of my Army. An Army officer should own a sabre.
 
Challenge Coins

I was wondering the same thing as OP. I have seen 2LT challenge coins that can be engraved, but I don't know if it is appropriate for someone who was a fellow cadet to give it to a new 2LT. Can someone tell me the proper protocol for this?
 
Other Gift Ideas

You can obtain a US Flag that has been flown over the US Capital from your Congressman or Senator for about $30. You can even request a specific date for it to be flown if you are trying to coordinate it with a commissioning day.

Another idea is the Benchmade Griptilian Custom Order knife. You can add two lines of info and have a jpeg image etched into the knife. Could go with name on line 1, School and ROTC with grad year 2014 on line 2 and a Army / Navy or school logo, crest as the image.

The Challenge Coin idea is still worth considering from NW Territorial Mint. They do have the 2nd Lt. coins that I understand may or may not appropriate to give - see previous poster. They do have some other Challenge Coins that I think are fun simple gifts. For instance - thinking Army, they have the Army Values coin, the Hooah coin, Armor of God coins, and also coins for the various postings (locations/bases) or different branches. I think any of these are generic enough that they can be easily considered a reasonable gift as they are each under $10.
 
VMI82 - I thought about that idea - but I wanted it to be a bit more of a personal gift, if that makes sense.

Pima - I loved the idea! I got really excited trying to find a PSU one with a Lion ... however no dice. ... jealous that Michigan has their own branding iron and we dont. :thumbdown: And I also didn't really want to spend too much more than $20-30. And I couldn't find any branding irons less than $40.

ABF - As much as I would love too, getting a sword is about 10 times out of my price range unfortunately.

aexc & BlackKnight - I think I may go this route. I like the idea of the 2LT coin - does anyone know if that's appropriate to give? If not, I was thinking giving him a branch (transportation corps) coin. Would that be acceptable?

[EDIT: Doing some digging on the website, I think I just may get a custom engraveable coin instead (Has the Transportation Corps insignia/home base on it).]

Thanks to all that/will posted. Hopefully this helps others wanting to do the same too!
 
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... also? Does anyone here by chance know Latin? For one of the engravings, I'd like to put "Leadership Excellence" in Latin for one of the lines. But I've been having difficulty with finding someone who knows Latin (I don't trust online translators enough to want to mess up an engraving).
 
^ Smart. We don't want any of that Russian Reset stuff.

Sounds like you've made a decision but I wanted to make a comment about challenge coins. DS's unit has made blown up "challenge coins" out of corrugated board. They paste/glue a printed unit emblem on it on one side and something to stiffen it and support a "hanger" on the back for wall mounting. Inexpensive, and yet a lifelong reminder of the unit. Of course it's hard to beat a gamecock (my avatar) as a challenge coin.
 
Thompson said:
... also? Does anyone here by chance know Latin? For one of the engravings, I'd like to put "Leadership Excellence" in Latin for one of the lines. But I've been having difficulty with finding someone who knows Latin (I don't trust online translators enough to want to mess up an engraving).
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Translated VERY roughly... "Excellentiae Principatus" (Then again, my Latin has gotten rusty since I don't speak it too often.) If you are going for something from the heart... how about "Amor Patriae"... "Love of Country"?

Oh, and Army officers don't carry "swords", they carry sabres. Swords are for "face to face" combat. Sabres are for use on horseback. And yes, they are quite expensive. As a result, (and sadly), very few of us own them anymore. (I'm on a campaign to change that.)
 
ABF said:
Translated VERY roughly... "Excellentiae Principatus" (Then again, my Latin has gotten rusty since I don't speak it too often.) If you are going for something from the heart... how about "Amor Patriae"... "Love of Country"?
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I wasn't quite going from that. I was thinking of the idea of somehow tying the gift back to the roots/beginning of Army endeavors -- ROTC. So I figured, why not use the motto. Or maybe it's best to keep it in English? (And thanks for the translation!)

And my apologies - kind of got a little lazy with terminology.
 
Thompson said:
VMI82 - I thought about that idea - but I wanted it to be a bit more of a personal gift, if that makes sense.

Pima - I loved the idea! I got really excited trying to find a PSU one with a Lion ... however no dice. ... jealous that Michigan has their own branding iron and we dont. :thumbdown: And I also didn't really want to spend too much more than $20-30. And I couldn't find any branding irons less than $40.

ABF - As much as I would love too, getting a sword is about 10 times out of my price range unfortunately.

aexc & BlackKnight - I think I may go this route. I like the idea of the 2LT coin - does anyone know if that's appropriate to give? If not, I was thinking giving him a branch (transportation corps) coin. Would that be acceptable?

[EDIT: Doing some digging on the website, I think I just may get a custom engraveable coin instead (Has the Transportation Corps insignia/home base on it).]

Thanks to all that/will posted. Hopefully this helps others wanting to do the same too!
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It sounds like you already decided but I wanted to post this for future reference. I found another site that carries the banding irons. They have Penn State (with the Lion) and Michigan (not MSU like the other one). They aren't as fancy but are more economically priced.

http://alumnioutlet.com/penn-state-nittany-lions-food-branding-iron-2-pack-p-16097.html#.U1k_XtxYVg0
 
Hmmm wonder how I wasn't able to find that. Thanks for sharing! ... might even turn this into a future Christmas gift :thumb:
 
Challenge Coin

I would do challenge coins;relatively cheap, yet meaningful. Perhaps a 2nd Lt Army one? They go for around $12 or so...
 
I'll probably be going with a more practical item. Just got three Super Magic Towels for the price of two at the Sunday Market. I have no idea what the hawker was saying but he sure did wipe up some nasty stuff real good.

Figured a new second lieutenant could use something light and handy to clean up messes.
 
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EDelahanty said:
I'll probably be going with a more practical item. Just got three Super Magic Towels for the price of two at the Sunday Market. I have no idea what the hawker was saying but he sure did wipe up some nasty stuff real good.

Figured a new second lieutenant could use something light and handy to clean up messes.
Click to expand...

If he did that good of a sales job, I suspect you've been touched by Vince of Sham-Wow!
 
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