VMI Bound Graduation Gifts

army2021

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Joined
Jan 4, 2015
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Hi all. Seen a lot of people post high school graduation gifts for people heading to the SAs. Any suggestions for grads heading to VMI (to commission into the Army)? Thanks!
 
Your life as a rat will be a simple one, and you will not be able to enjoy the usual things most kids going off to regular college enjoy. You are allowed a fan and a basic alarm clock (no radio) after Hell week - nothing that plugs in is allowed during Hell week.

A big-ticket gift would be a laptop, of course.

Smaller gift ideas would be a box of food items such as protein bars or shakes, single servings of applesauce, beef jerky, trail mix, etc.

You will need more compression shorts than seems logical, but you will use them. And the socks....more socks than even what the list requires - and the good ones like Thorlo add up fast! Shorts and socks might seem like a lame gift but you'll be very grateful to have them. You might ask for gift cards to sporting goods store for those items.

Gift cards to Walmart (the go-to place in Lexington!) would be nice, and of course cash comes in handy for every grad. You will eventually be given the privilege of going into town and will want some pocket money.

After Breakout life becomes better and you're able to have more "things". A big "want" from my rat is a Kuerig after Breakout.

Congrats on your appointment to VMI and your scholarship. You've chosen the uncommon path, and it's a great one!
 
Your life as a rat will be a simple one, and you will not be able to enjoy the usual things most kids going off to regular college enjoy. You are allowed a fan and a basic alarm clock (no radio) after Hell week - nothing that plugs in is allowed during Hell week.

A big-ticket gift would be a laptop, of course.

Smaller gift ideas would be a box of food items such as protein bars or shakes, single servings of applesauce, beef jerky, trail mix, etc.

You will need more compression shorts than seems logical, but you will use them. And the socks....more socks than even what the list requires - and the good ones like Thorlo add up fast! Shorts and socks might seem like a lame gift but you'll be very grateful to have them. You might ask for gift cards to sporting goods store for those items.

Gift cards to Walmart (the go-to place in Lexington!) would be nice, and of course cash comes in handy for every grad. You will eventually be given the privilege of going into town and will want some pocket money.

After Breakout life becomes better and you're able to have more "things". A big "want" from my rat is a Kuerig after Breakout.

Congrats on your appointment to VMI and your scholarship. You've chosen the uncommon path, and it's a great one!
Thanks so much! I know knives are banned, but do you know about multi-tools?
 
I'm not sure about that. It might be allowed but it's probably best to wait until you're there and ask your Dyke. You could have your parents mail it to you if it's allowed.
 
We got our son a laptop and also the VMI black bookbag from the bookstore. The Camelback would be a good gift as well. Be sure to check the website for the list of items to bring as it is extremely specific. You don't want to show up with something that isn't the specific item you are directed to bring.
 
I'd say ask for the white towels and the sheets - those can be pricey! Also put on your wish list the socks (Thorlo's are excellent and pricey), compression shorts and even combat boots. Although you can't have the boots til after breakout, they would be a nice graduation gift. The book bag and computer are also good choices! And don't forget the big black trunk! Congratulations! My Prestrain is awaiting his Appointment letter - just got the AROTC scholarship notification last week!
 
For the laptop, consider purchasing through VMI for the on site support. It's probably a bit more expensive but it will be a lot easier for your Rat to get support if he/she has any issues. We followed this advice and, sure enough, our Rat's computer crashed. While it was being worked on they gave him a loaner. A word of caution, though - I did read somewhere in another thread that someone else who followed this advice (I believe an Engineering major?) ended up needing more computer later on, so make sure the specs work for your major.
 
We got our son a Dell for graduation last year but upgraded it so he would have no issues running CAD etc in the next few years. He is an Engineeri major. The only disadvantage to not buying the recommended laptop is of yours needs repairs if someone who has the recommended also needs repairs they will get taken care of first, but the support team will still work on it.
 
x2 on the VMI laptop not being powerful enough for engineering. DS is a first in ECE, they do their own cpu repairs as non of them have the style supported by the VMI help desk but the various classes help each other out fixing issues so there hasn't been a problem. We got him a digital projector that is about the size of a cell phone, it fits in his lock box and they have had movie nights and streaming the Superbowl parties in their room through the years.
 
Hi, i'm currently a second at the mother I, and I agree with a lot of the other comments. However, I went through most of the ratline without compression shorts and I wasn't bothered any. A nice laptop is a great idea. It doesn't have to be dell nor do you have to get the one VMI recommends (i'm a CS major and dislike Dell, but thats just preference). a Projector would be cool, but a rat wouldn't be able to use it in their room until breakout, so it'd have to head to their dyke's room. Combat boots would be great for breakout as well. As for Towels and sheets, most of them are for display so having 2-3 good ones and the rest less quality would help with expenses if that's the case. When I went through the ratline, my parents sent me more socks incrementally, which helped me more because the laundry dept. tends to lose a lot of clothing items that aren't official VMI uniforms. Also, I don't recommend getting the AC bag here in the bookstore. A lot of rats lose them and it's fairly overpriced. If you have anymore questions feel free to PM me :)
 
Honestly, a good knife would've helped a TON for rat ftx with Army. They teach them how to build hooches which require a bit of parachord and something to cut it with.
 
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