shipping knives to deployed personnel

[Justin King]

I have a knife that I am planning to send to a young man who is currently deployed in Afghanistan. I have sent care packages to folks over there before but am not sure if there are any restrictions on sending items that could be considered weapons, or what the best way to package it would be. I could just tuck it into a care package but am not sure if that is a good idea. Anyone have any experience or thoughts on this?

 

[Brian1095]

You shouldn't have any problem sending it in a care package the only things restricted are firearms, alcohol, perishable food items and hazardous materials. Just make sure you send it priority mail or he may not get it for a couple months.

 

[Hmathews]

We have sent knives to personnel in both Iraq and Afghanistan. The only problem so far was a knife that was returned marked "too dangerous". It was "dangerous". They put the whole thing, knife still in the box, in another package and returned it to us.

We emailed the guy that had ordered the knife and asked him what he wanted us to do and he said that he still wanted the knife and would just get one later. We refunded his money. In his e-mail he said if he told us what was sitting on his desk as he was typing we wouldn't believe him and he thought it was hilarious that someone thought the knife was too "dangerous."

We have successfully sent combat knives, hunting knives, and filet knives to military and contract LEO's overseas all with no problems. Most requests we get limit the blade length to 5 inches. Anything more was not allowed to be carried, but that didn’t mean that they couldn’t still have it over there. We still wonder about the filet knife in Iraq.

 

[sharpeknives]

I mailed 2 to 3 packages a week to Iraq in 02 while my son was deployed. Just send it as a care package. Priority mail has no effect on arrival time. Once it gets to the APO the military has it. By the way I sent 22 knives, 22 canned hams, and 3 bottles of tequilla to his platoon for Christmas in 2002. My Bad.

 

[Brian1095]

I had two Benchmade ballisongs and a BK9 shipped to me when I was in Iraq back in 2003 with no problem but that was then. The Oconus website stated to ship packages priority to avoid it going on a ship across the ocean as opposed to flying. Could be a big difference on how quick that person gets their package.

 

[scout1sg]

Hello Justin,
First want to express my appreciation for the service you are doing here at home. I am a Army retired First Sergeant, served two tours in Iraq and during the second tour I began some stateside outreach and for whatever reason an outfit through Knife World picked up a message from me in one of the typical blogs and began to send me packages purely of knives. Never had any problems receiving them but as an individual mentioned already I would send them priority to avoid any undue time hassles. I don't even believe they were insured or sent with a signature request but you do have that option and it does work as well with APO addresses, I know this because as a seperate Troop/Company size unit within my Brigade I was able to establish my own mailroom as I had my commander designate me as the postal officer and I put three of my orderly room clerks as my postal clerks. I did notice that he began to annotate on the customs form that they were hand/work tool, for which all practical purposes they are. From my knowledge there hasn't been any hand to hand with a knife that I know of. Hope some of this info helps and in the event you have any specific questions please let me know.
V/r,
Jim M.

 

[tattooedfreak]

Not sure how it works in the states, but if you are sending things to a Canadian unit overseas, you can just go to the local base and send it through their postal service. As long as its going through the military postal service, there is no requirement for customs annotations.

 

[Justin King]

Hello Justin,
First want to express my appreciation for the service you are doing here at home.

V/r,
Jim M.

Thank you, Jim. I would like to express my own gratitude to you and everyone else who has served. My family and I are grateful to you and are proud to be able to make what little gestures we can. Thank you for your service and sacrifice, and God bless.

I appreciate the input, guys.