Odd as it sounds, Silly String helps soldiers detect booby traps safely. You can help - several groups are collecting the stuff and sending it over there. I'll post more information as I get it.

As a former Marine Combat Engineer, I can definitely say that this stuff works great for dectecting trip wires. It was always a part of our urban breaching kit.

Probably wouldn't be bad for marking suspected IEDs either... the stuff shoots out like 10 feet..

ridgeback77, thanks for your comment -- good to know I'm not just buying into an urban legend.

Uh, should this be provided by the military, not by soldiers' parents?

What, along with Body/Vehicle Armor?