This is my first MMORPG and I am loving it. My first character is a commando trooper.

I'm doing very well but I would like my companions to start crafting. They seem to need Desh and Silica and I can't seem to find any.

I have gone back and killed & looted everything I could shoot and couldn't find any. I have sent my companions on every mission I could and they come back with materials that I don't need and gifts for themselves (greedy little creeps). Even the GTN doesn't have an Desh or Silica.

Anybody know where I can get some?

I think crafting will be a much better use of Aric Jogan's time rather than hanging around on my ship all day in his underwear playing Skyrim with that gay little steward droid (can't even remember his name).

Yep. If you don't have Scavenging, then life is going to be a bit annoying making the gear you want.

Once you DO have it, you'll find it not only lets you gather from various bits of debris, but also many (not all) dead droids. You can also send companions out to gather materials, but you'll generally find plenty to scavenge as you go along- generally, I'd only use missions for picking up the flux you need for a lot of tech work, as it's not really scavenged.

This may seem incredibly basic but.... nodes will show up on your minimap as a star icon as well (for those who haven't played other MMOs and have never seen tracking).

If you hover your cursor over the star on the minimap, it'll tell you what the node is, as well.

Third rule of scavenging- I DONT CARE if you don't need all the items in the node, don't leave anything behind!!! (It bugs the node, it won't respawn until the next maintenance). Rumor has it that is the reason 50% of the desh/silica (junk) nodes don't work in starter areas. I have my own opinion, but meh...