Deca without any form of test is risky especially if you care about your soldier lol since you mention he had to choose between deca and sust I would go for sustanon but 500 mg a week for 8 weeks.
This is kind of like comparing oranges and apples. They're completely different drugs. What are your "friend's" goals, and what sides is he most concerned about eleminating.
I did the same cycle that MaxBiceps is talking about and gained over 25lbs... stick with that but throwing in some Dbol would be awsome!. try getting some paperbol (paper dbol) works great.