According to wikipedia, challenge coins became popular in the US military during the 1980s and afterwards. President Trump had a rack of them behind him, during his recent oval office address on immigration.
There are various stories about their origin which sound a lot like urban legends. Allegedly servicemen can place their coins on the bar “Challenging” others to produce their own. Those without a challenge coin have to buy everyone a drink. I somehow doubt whether this ritual happens often, though I trust it has occurred.
Q: What was the role of Challenge Coins during the 1980s? During the Iraq Wars? Today? Before that? Wiki says, Traditionally, they might be given to prove membership when challenged and to enhance morale. In addition, they are also collected by service members. In practice, challenge coins are normally presented by unit commanders in recognition of special achievement by a member of the unit. They are also exchanged in recognition of visits to an organization. Is this a good characterization? Does “Traditionally” mean “According to legend”? They appear to me to be like a low-key, informal, and unofficial medal in some cases and a souvenir in others. But I have little experience with military culture.
these days its an ive been there/ive met him souvenir
theres a drinking game where the one who has the highest ranked coin in a group doesn’t pay for beer that night
from what im told they take their highest ranked coin with them … normally its done between different ship/base groups like if your from fort joe and other guys from fort sam because the guys at fort joe knows you’ll win
I heard a public radio story about challenge coins a year or so ago. Apparently, you are expected to carry your “best” coin around with you. If I remember correctly, the rank of the coin is determined by the rank/position of the person who issued it or perhaps the prestige of the project or accomplishment that it was issued for.
Usually the coin has the command on one side, and the specific Officer who presented the coin on the other. So in some of these games, you go by that to determine seniority.
In other cases, if you go to the club, you have to show your commands coin. If I ask you to produce and you don’t have it, you buy, if you have it I buy.
More and more it’s an opportunity for COs go give them out to show off their commands.
I’ve never been a coin guy, so I have about five laying around. Some have hundreds. It’s traditionally been more or an Army and Air Force thing, but the sea Services are coming around as well (unfortunatly).
In real life they mean nothing at all any more, because you can buy them by the truckload on eBay, and if you don’t find something you like there are companies that will make them for you.
That pretty much sums it up. When you see an entourage of sycophants falling a general or other ranking official around, one of them is carrying a stack of the general’s coins. If he sees something that should be rewarded, or is introduced to someone who did something good, or whatever, he will turn back and ask for a coin, and then give that coin to the recipient. It is traditionally presented in a handshake. The giver puts it in his right hand and when he shakes with the recipient, it is exchanged.
During award ceremonies, they are often given out in recognition of achievement or action. They can be given in addition to an actual medal or just as the award itself, depending. So like, if a bunch of people are called to the front of the formation for doing some awesome job, they might all be presented with coins. And then some other people who did some exceptionally meritorious achievement will get actual medals. The commander pins the medal on the chest, and then the 1sg or CSM gives a coin when he shakes the hand of the awardee. That kind of thing.
So they are given both as impromptu on-the-spot awards and at planned, deliberate award ceremonies as well.
They’re kind of like trophies; kind of like collectibles…
A female friend of mine is ex-military and has been active in several charitable initiatives. She was selected to receive an award. The award was presented by the governor of her state, who also had a military background.
When she was on the dais and he shook her hand, she slipped him one of her challenge coins inside the handshake and ( since he didn’t have one ) whispered “you owe me a beer.” A few hours later, at the reception at the Governers Mansion, he grabbed a few beers from his personal fridge, found her and handed her one. She said they had a really pleasant conversation.
It’s a souvenir from that time you met the Brigade Sergeant Major, or an attaboy from the company First Sergeant. In my experience, the First Sergeants and CSMs handing them out cared a lot more about these things than your average Private or Specialist who received them did. They are big and shiny though, so they catch your attention and make you feel appreciated, at least until the next time you have to pull shit shoveling detail at 3am in the freezing cold. I never heard the “challenge” or “buy a round” stories until today.
Back in the 1950s and 60s owners of Triumph TR2 and TR3 sports cars would challenge each other at a bar to present their “key”. The key is huge as it is the tool that opens the bonnet or the boot. It’s about a 4" long tee shaped wrench. If you did not have yours on you you bought the round. So it was a way of showing. “Yeah, I’m in the fraternity and I carry this silly one pound tool on my neck just like you”
Personally I think the SDMB should have challenge coins. Gold for moderators, silver for charter members, etc.
I was in the Air Guard in the 80s and never heard of them until this thread. According to the Wiki page, they give them to graduates of Air Force Basic Training. Well, they didn’t do it back then.
This is exactly right. They are just little “attaboys” and souvenirs. They don’t appear on your record or have any official standing. It’s just something people started doing because they were fun and cool.
Usually, they are handed out by unit commanders. They might give one to someone when they graduated a school or performed a favor. I got one from the 8th Army Band when my unit hosted them at a small arms range. We were not obligated to help them run a range, so they considered it a “favor.” I got another one from a Division Commander when I gave him a briefing in Iraq. And sometimes I got one just when I changed duty stations.
Another point is that anyone can make a coin. They are not an official thing. Sometimes a school will have a coin struck so that everyone in the class can have a souvenir. I have a buddy who ordered a batch of coins just for his personal circle of friends (less than ten people) and we gave them away to Privates as “attaboys.” Rarest coins in the Army!
I received my first challenge coin, a standard US Navy crest on front and “Fair Wind and Following Seas” on the reverse, in 1972 when I left ship’s company of USS Amberack (SS-522) for another assignment. It was a gift from my division’s leading chief petty officer. In 2016 I received an Army Chaplain challenge coin from a US Army command chaplain. They are among my most prized possessions.
My experience of them kicked in IIRC during the late 90s in the Army National Guard. We actually maintained the challenge for a drink tradition but not every unit did IME. It’s very much a local norm thing. That norm was if you challenge and they have the coin you buy. Our battalion coin was the standard for the challenge if you had one.* I saw someone try the higher ranking coin gambit in violation of our internal norms. He didn’t get a single free drink. He did have numerous question directed his way questioning his sexual proclivities with respect to general officers. There was also a discussion about whether not having the unit coin, that he’d been awarded, meant he owed all of us drinks.
I still carry that coin in my wallet almost 4 years after my retirement. Thanks to National Guard carreer paths I was in my state’s lone tank battalion for 14.5 years and had another two years of service in our battalion’s Fire Support Element. I can tell you which Battalion Commander awarded me that coin and for what event I earned it. That coin along with one from my Battalion Command are two of my most treasured personal mementos.
For an extreme, I remember two Captains that were friends that spent an Annual Training period intentionally trying to catch each other off guard. The drinks had to be saved up until we came in from the field. It got so extreme that there was a challenge in the shower right after we came in from the field. The challenge who was naked lathering up, but had seen his buddy take notice of his going to shower, unclenched his butt cheeks dropping his coin to the shower floor. The rest of us weren’t that serious.
I have a whole box full of them on my dresser, including some from 4 stars due to the nature of my job. They’re kinda neat as souvenirs, but in 17 years I’ve only once seen anyone slap one down on a bar as a “challenge.” We all looked at him and he slowly put it away when he realized he was the only one playing. That was that.
When I was in the Army in the mid-00s my only experience with them was everybody trying to sell them to me officially. The local PX even had a few to sell themselves to people passing through. It’s how I somehow aquired both an Army tanker and an Air Force MTI coin.
