Commissioning Gift
- Thread starter migs
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I gave my son a plaque which holds a Marine Corps fighting knife in sheath. The brass plate has his name, rank, and date of commissioning. He is a PLC accession but did not participate in the mass commissioning. He spent an extra two months in college to finish a minor in criminal justice. His commissioning was at the Marine Corps museum with a reception after which included a cake. I considered that part of the gift because it cost a bundle.
Pima
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There are old threads that come up every yr regarding this subject.
The top recommendations that you will usually see are:
1. Uniform
~ The allowance they get to purchase new will not cover all of their essentials
~ Mess dress (military tux) if they already have the essentials. Very expensive (@400)
~ Mix of the little things, like rank, new boots, etc.
2. Frame their Commissioning certificate.
~ You would have to do this after commissioning, but just tell him that it will be coming. This can be costly, but it will be the 1st thing for his "I Love Me Room" ---- In the AF they all have an I love me room. It is filled with something from every tour that unit gives as a departing gift, plus big award/accomplishments. I think it will run @200 if you do it with a double matte and high end frame. For the AF I believe the size is probably 9X 12 in.
3. Silver Dollar...a special yr.
~ I don't know if AROTC does this, but AFROTC does. The NCOIC from their det that usually gives the 1st salute to them as an officer. After the salute they give the NCOIC a silver dollar. We had to pay more than a dollar because we decided to get him one that was minted the yr he was born.
4. A good watch
~ Not talking a dress watch, but a durable one like a G Shock or whatever the typical Army personnel prefer.
For our DS. We purchased him a little bit of everything. We are military. DH gave him his butter bars from when he commissioned 25 yrs earlier (yes we kept them all those yrs)for the actual commissioning. However, we also purchased another set as a gift. We purchased a set of ABUs. DS was going rated so wearing the ABUs was going to be rare, but he needed them. This also allowed him to get the $$$ from AF and not spend a dime, in essence, he pocketed the allowance. We gave him the silver dollar. We also framed his commissioning certificate, mainly as a Mom I knew our DS and he would never have done it, instead it would have probably lived in the back of one of his closets.
The top recommendations that you will usually see are:
1. Uniform
~ The allowance they get to purchase new will not cover all of their essentials
~ Mess dress (military tux) if they already have the essentials. Very expensive (@400)
~ Mix of the little things, like rank, new boots, etc.
2. Frame their Commissioning certificate.
~ You would have to do this after commissioning, but just tell him that it will be coming. This can be costly, but it will be the 1st thing for his "I Love Me Room" ---- In the AF they all have an I love me room. It is filled with something from every tour that unit gives as a departing gift, plus big award/accomplishments. I think it will run @200 if you do it with a double matte and high end frame. For the AF I believe the size is probably 9X 12 in.
3. Silver Dollar...a special yr.
~ I don't know if AROTC does this, but AFROTC does. The NCOIC from their det that usually gives the 1st salute to them as an officer. After the salute they give the NCOIC a silver dollar. We had to pay more than a dollar because we decided to get him one that was minted the yr he was born.
4. A good watch
~ Not talking a dress watch, but a durable one like a G Shock or whatever the typical Army personnel prefer.
For our DS. We purchased him a little bit of everything. We are military. DH gave him his butter bars from when he commissioned 25 yrs earlier (yes we kept them all those yrs)for the actual commissioning. However, we also purchased another set as a gift. We purchased a set of ABUs. DS was going rated so wearing the ABUs was going to be rare, but he needed them. This also allowed him to get the $$$ from AF and not spend a dime, in essence, he pocketed the allowance. We gave him the silver dollar. We also framed his commissioning certificate, mainly as a Mom I knew our DS and he would never have done it, instead it would have probably lived in the back of one of his closets.
Pima
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The Quantico museum is amazing. I am sure it did cost a bundle, but what a memory you gave him.
We also did a commissioning party for our DS. We invited his close friends from the det that commissioned with him, plus family and other friends. We did it at our house, outdoor, but themed it out.
~ He commissioned from UMD, so we got steamed in Old Bay MD Blue Crabs
~ He was going to pilot training, and in the AF every flying squadron has what is called Combat Corn (popcorn cooked the old fashion way, but in the oil you put jalapenos too) It is spicy and addictive.
~ I went on pinterest and found a signature alcoholic drink called something like Red,White and Blue.
~ UMD's mascot is a terrapin turtle, so I had purchased turtle (figurines, not real) and placed them around as decorations.
~ We have a fire pit in our backyard, and set it up with reserve seating just for him and his friends. The chairs were labeled with each of his friends names (think table seating at a wedding) In the end, that was where everyone congregated around, by pulling their chairs from the tables to the fire pit. DS does not like cake. We had 1, he cut the cake, but didn't eat it. However, he loves Smores, so we brought that to the fire pit and everyone made smores. I was left with a ton of cake, but ran out of smore supplies.
~ We also had a DJ. I contacted his friends privately and asked for songs that they had a memory connected to with our DS while at college. He laughed everytime one of the songs played, and for the 1st time I actually heard stories of his college days because they would talk and say do you remember? My favorite memory of this was our DH commissioned 25 yrs earlier to the date from the same det. as our DS. DH requested the DJ to play the UMD game song. Watching them all get up and sing the song was just amazing.
My point being is sometimes the memories they take with them will mean more than any material gift. I was exhausted bc although the DJ left at 10, and the older folks left at that time too. His friends stayed until 1 or 2 in the am. I stayed up bc the rule in our home is hand over your keys when you enter. If you are drunk, you stay at the house, sober you get them back. Thus, I had to wait and see how many were staying that night. Nobody did.
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I'm sure my "spoiled" DS got several "gifts" from us. One was a commissioning luncheon for about a dozen friends and family. We provided the silver dollar for passing after the first salute. I think that cost about 19 bucks. It wasn't anything special but it seems you can't get a silver dollar for a dollar anymore. We also bought his sword. He paid for his uniform from his starter loan.
Dad's "big" commissioning related gift was a flag honoring his commission that flew over the Capital with an appropriate congratulatory letter from our Senator. We also had it in a flag display case with his name and date of commissioning.
Pictures. Take plenty of pictures. We were fortunate to have my wife's cousin attend. Her daughters are married to officers - one Army and one Navy. SO she's been to commissioning ceremonies and didn't really need to see another so she took a couple hundred outstanding photos over the course of the ceremony. Priceless.
Dad's "big" commissioning related gift was a flag honoring his commission that flew over the Capital with an appropriate congratulatory letter from our Senator. We also had it in a flag display case with his name and date of commissioning.
Pictures. Take plenty of pictures. We were fortunate to have my wife's cousin attend. Her daughters are married to officers - one Army and one Navy. SO she's been to commissioning ceremonies and didn't really need to see another so she took a couple hundred outstanding photos over the course of the ceremony. Priceless.
Pima
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I forgot we did that too. I can't remember if we had it flown for his commissioning or winging out of UPT.
migs, if you decide to do this, you need to contact them early. It is a nominal fee you pay to have it flown. Basically it will go up and down for a minute. Contact your MoC.
~ We have done this 3 x. DS has his. We also did it for my DH's ADAF retirement. The final one we did was for his parents 50th wedding anniversary.
~ Beware it takes weeks for it to get back to you.
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It certainly does. We actually requested it be flown on the date of DS's commissioning so we didn't get it to him until weeks later, but we did let him know it was coming.
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A sword is also appropriate for ROTC grads, but can be inconvenient and cumbersome to travel with. It probably won’t be used officially for some time, unless they are participating in wedding sword arches.
I am fond of giving a personalized leather stud box or similar, which is gender-neutral, good for stowing collar insignia, extra frogs for the back of insignia, other bits and bobs of uniform wear. Plenty of options out there.
For women, a leather travel jewelry roll or zippered case, monogrammed.
Good-quality suit bag.
Serious luggage, carefully selected pieces depending on what they have now and what they need. Military life is not kind to luggage.
A nice item from their university store.
A coin rack for the coins they have collected to date and will amass in future, personalized with commissioning date.
A flag flown over their home state capital or home town city hall on their commissioning date, coordinated in advance, and later presented in a personalized triangular flag box.
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Your son's commissioning sounds amazing as well. I transferred to DC from Camp Lejeune in 1998 and my son had met and become friends with numerous people from the gyms at bases in the area. He invited a few and many others knew about the ceremony by word of mouth. I set up about 30 folding chairs in front of the helicopter for guests. The chairs filled up quickly so my son-in-law helped increase the number to about 50ish. My son and I stood there (photo) waiting for the OSO to show up and the number of guests increased to close to one hundred. I know he was nervous and I was getting a little queasy anticipating my rendering of his first salute. The OSO showed up and we got going and when I stood and got in position to walk over to him, I noticed that museum goers on the upper deck, ladderwell, and the main floor had stopped to watch. Rendering his first salute was one of my most high honors but the way the ceremony went with all those people watching was icing on the cake. The real cake had to be bought from the museum's caterer and cost 200 bucks.
Pima
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Our DS's det did it at the AF memorial in DC (you can see the memorial from the Pentagon). The unit did a great job. Reserve seating, overlooking the Pentagon, bc the AF memorial is open to the public. The unit allowed private oaths besides the one they did for the entire class.
Bullet (my DH) gave the oath prior to his class taking the oath. At the AF memorial they have black granite walls with words inscribed in the granite. That is where they did it. I was emotionally a chocolate mess. Remember this was my husband giving the oath to our son 25 yrs after I pinned on his butter bars from the same school. I recalled people walking around, and being silent. (DS was the only 1 that had a parent that could do the oath. His class commissioned 28). It was only after the ceremony was I aware that the visitors were watching because I heard a lot of clapping, and looked around to see strangers stopped for a minute to see this occur.
I think it was probably the proudest moment in Bullet's life to not only give the oath, but also to get the 1st salute from our DS.
As far as the cake I figured that. When Bullet was at the Pentagon, you could only use their caterers for any function. They have a captured market. We got ours from Harris Teeters and I think it ran 50 bucks. Hence, why we could buy MD crabs for 75 people.
~ I am known to be cost savvy. If you look at what we served, you will see I cut corners in some areas and splurge in other areas. Cake is cake to me. Not worth the $$$.
Bullet (my DH) gave the oath prior to his class taking the oath. At the AF memorial they have black granite walls with words inscribed in the granite. That is where they did it. I was emotionally a chocolate mess. Remember this was my husband giving the oath to our son 25 yrs after I pinned on his butter bars from the same school. I recalled people walking around, and being silent. (DS was the only 1 that had a parent that could do the oath. His class commissioned 28). It was only after the ceremony was I aware that the visitors were watching because I heard a lot of clapping, and looked around to see strangers stopped for a minute to see this occur.
I think it was probably the proudest moment in Bullet's life to not only give the oath, but also to get the 1st salute from our DS.
As far as the cake I figured that. When Bullet was at the Pentagon, you could only use their caterers for any function. They have a captured market. We got ours from Harris Teeters and I think it ran 50 bucks. Hence, why we could buy MD crabs for 75 people.
~ I am known to be cost savvy. If you look at what we served, you will see I cut corners in some areas and splurge in other areas. Cake is cake to me. Not worth the $$$.
emwvmi01
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For an AROTC graduate looking back from the other side of 17 years I would say that getting him the uniform package from Marlow White for his ASUs would be a great gift. I went to clothing sales at the time and found the most low grade set of Class As I could find. Fast forward 8 years and I am realizing this Army thing may last awhile and my uniform is wearing out and not holding a press and I went back to get a nicer version. Recommend with the bullion shoulder boards and a full set of brass. He will be grateful for it through his career and it may save him some change in the long run.
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Agree with this. DS also was recommended by his cadre to hire a tailor who is familiar with military standards. Almost all of his battalion are using a tailor who is located next to the local NG base.
Pima
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+1000% This is really important.
IE a traditional men's suit has what is called no break, slight break, medium break or a full break. Whereas, at least for the AF it will be a mix. A slight break in the front, but a medium in the back. You have to ask the tailor if they know what a military hem is.