Do the soldiers need such things or would it be a lot of trouble to keep up with? I'd love to suggest it to her, but don't want to until I know if it would be okay. I'd assume that the fleece would need to be in dark colors, too.

Thanks in advance for letting me know. This will not affect my group (a bunch of language teachers) sending our usual monthly shipment!

I know "OperationQuietComfort" takes the fleece but it has to be double layer and not tied. 

 These might be a good thing to send to a hospital group though.  That would save the worry about them packing them around and give the injured a warm snuggly from home. Check with some of the combat support hospital folks.

 Just a thought.

Donna

The no-tie are not good for the hospitals because the fringe can get caught in equipment.  You probably know this, but you will need to make them larger than usual because the fringe does take up more of the fabric and makes the blanket smaller than what you start with.  The troops in Afghanistan can use anything that will make them warmer in the winter.  The colors don't have to be muted for use in their sleeping quarters.   If they are troops on the go, you would want to make them colors that blend into the landscape.  Snow, desert, depends!

 If you have sewing machines available you could sew the two layers together, which is much faster.  You can just put the wrong sides together and stitch around the edge.   If you have adults helping they could do the sewing and the fifth graders could do the folding or rolling and tie a Christmas Ribbon around them, then include a card.  They could decorate brown grocery bags and wrap the blankets in them. 

I don't know if this helps.   Maybe it will give you some ideas.