He received several unit commendations from the field during the Gulf War, and he traveled with the USO to visit troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. From 2005 to 2014, his website hosted "The Sandbox", a milblog posting over 800 essays by deployed soldiers, returned vets, caregivers, and spouses. For most of the strip's run, Trudeau has eschewed merchandising, but starting in 1998 he teamed up with Starbucks to create "Doonesbury" products to raise funds for local literacy programs. The items were offered for sale in Starbucks stores for nearly two years and raised over $1 million. Also for charity, Trudeau licensed the strip to Ben & Jerry's, which created a best-selling sorbet flavor called "Doonesberry".