Families, General OCS Advice

TBS Gift List

Set your new Second Lieutenant up for success at The Basic School!

We polled our TBS students and their families, who shared the following top choices for gift ideas which would be most handy at The Basic School:

See the following suggestions and share your own with us if you think we’re missing any!

#1 Most suggested item: printers and laminators

See all-in-one wireless printers on Amazon here

#2 Most suggested item: multitool

A sturdy Leatherman or Gerber multitool with a MOLLE pouch (to affix to your flak jacket) will be used daily at TBS and beyond

#3 Most suggested item: Danner boots

Danner RAT boots
Danners are the BEST Boots on the market, but very expensive. The Danner RATs are a great choice, as are the newer Reckonings.

Read our review on Danners here.

#4 Most suggested item: Jetboil stove

Jetboil Stove
Get the Jetboil Stove to let your Lieutenant be the most popular Marine in the squad, capable of flash-boiling coffee or breakfast in the field. Crucial for winter classes!

Frequent suggestions:

The Kindle e-readers would be the top of the line e-reader
The Kindle e-readers would be the top of the line e-reader; highly useful for keeping books and publications handy at all times.
Map Pens for TBS
Map pens: more fun in color…you’ll go through boxes of these!
MOLLE Pouch
Something I used DAILY at TBS was my MOLLE Pouch, which holds gear and of course, snacks

The going-above-and-beyond gifts

  • Buy or contribute to the $600+ Marine Officer sword
  • A nice GPS watch–will definitely be used at The Basic School and throughout a career
  • Any other suggestions? Comment or message us at @marineocsblog

2 thoughts on “TBS Gift List”

  1. Pingback: Candidate Question: OCS to TBS Transition « Officer Candidates School Blog

Leave a Reply