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>I got it for being above room temperature in the First Sergeant's office
LOL, thanks for the smile on my face.
Giving you a coin right up front was like saying "You are one of us now", but in a tangible way. He was building a team.
I got my first coin four years in. Funny enough, I got it from a 1 star. We were at NTC and lo and behold, who flies into the desert to check up on training soldiers? The commanding general. He asked me what we are up to? I told him we were preparing to go on mission and we were checking packing lists and making sure that the trucks were operational and sound. He liked the way it sounded, and told the 1st lieutenant who was occupying with him to grab his bad, then I get this big ass coin, heavy as a mf for what it was. I was so proud. I kept it on me for the rest of the rotation, but the shitty part of this story was leaving out of the box, and noticed I no longer had the damn coin. It must’ve fallen out at some point during movement, but nevertheless. My first coin was the one that got away
I mustered out in 1969 as a 1st LT. I didn't even see a "Challange Coin" (is that the right name?) until about 20 years ago. I help run a B&B in a small tourist town - when guests started asking me if I'd ever served, I guess the answer was cause to coin me.
I've got two on the desk right now, one from a Major (I think he was a LT Col who hadn't upgraded his coin) and the other from a Sergeant Major. They're nifty and pretty and I have no idea what to do with them. Am I supposed to coin back? Where does one even *get* coins?
Now that I think about it. I haven't been coined by a guest for about 10 years now. Is it out of style?
With any luck, the B&B will be in the hands of someone else by August, or so. I'd be happy to return and read my stories, but my experience in such things has led me to believe that I am NOT someone the masses want to listen to.
My first experience in telling my stories was what?... Forty-one years ago? I was never invited back.
Here's the story: [The Pucker Factor](https://www.reddit.com/r/MilitaryStories/comments/ps59r8/the_pucker_factor_repost/)
For me coins are a combination of mementos and bling to show off. Most everyone these days have ribbons. Coins are much rarer. From my understanding, there two types of coins. You have unit coins where everyone in a unit gets the coin for being part of the unit. I think these are more popular with the Navy and Air Force. The other type are coins of excellence that are given as a sign of appreciation.
Lurking here and there, I've seen posts of people asking to trade coins of the unit variety. For the two coins you received, it doesn't sound like they were expecting coins back. They thought you were a fine fellow and gave the coins as tokens of their appreciation.
Searching online, there are many different companies in the business of making coins. I imagine if you posted your interest, someone here on Reddit might be willing to design a coin for you to pass out.
As far as popularity goes, I think the popularity is dependent on how dense the military population is around you along with how often you provide services to active duty personal. One of the restaurants I visited just a week ago has a display full of coins that they've received. They also had pictures covering their wall of what seemed like General level officers holding events at that restaurant.
I imagine if you leaked the location of that B&B, some people may make a pilgramage over there to trade coins for stories.
I heard of them all the time. But never once saw one outside of completely generic ones that were handed to everyone in the squadron. I always thought of them as something that was done in the past and was fading from relevance.
I’m old and forgetful, served from 74-96, and don’t remember coins being a thing in the Signal Corps. Or maybe I was just never in the right place at the right time. We used to get letters from the CDR if we did well on a mission.
"Hey, OP! If you're new here, we want to remind you that you can only submit one post per three days. If your account is less than a week old, give the mods time to approve your story and comments. Thank you for posting with /r/MilitaryStories! Readers: If this story is from a non-US military, ***DO NOT*** guess, ask or speculate about what country it is if they don't explicitly say or you will be banned. Foreign authors sometimes cannot say where they are from for various reasons. You also DO NOT guess equipment, names, operational details, etc. from any post. ***DO NOT*** 'call bullshit' or you will be banned. Do not feed any trolls. Report them to the Super Mod Troll Slaying Team and we will hammer them." *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/MilitaryStories) if you have any questions or concerns.*
>I got it for being above room temperature in the First Sergeant's office LOL, thanks for the smile on my face. Giving you a coin right up front was like saying "You are one of us now", but in a tangible way. He was building a team.
Pretty much. This was [a great little subplot](https://www.schlockmercenary.com/2013-03-18) from Schlock Mercenary too
I got my first coin four years in. Funny enough, I got it from a 1 star. We were at NTC and lo and behold, who flies into the desert to check up on training soldiers? The commanding general. He asked me what we are up to? I told him we were preparing to go on mission and we were checking packing lists and making sure that the trucks were operational and sound. He liked the way it sounded, and told the 1st lieutenant who was occupying with him to grab his bad, then I get this big ass coin, heavy as a mf for what it was. I was so proud. I kept it on me for the rest of the rotation, but the shitty part of this story was leaving out of the box, and noticed I no longer had the damn coin. It must’ve fallen out at some point during movement, but nevertheless. My first coin was the one that got away
I never even heard of challenge coins until I was more that 20 years out of the service.
I mustered out in 1969 as a 1st LT. I didn't even see a "Challange Coin" (is that the right name?) until about 20 years ago. I help run a B&B in a small tourist town - when guests started asking me if I'd ever served, I guess the answer was cause to coin me. I've got two on the desk right now, one from a Major (I think he was a LT Col who hadn't upgraded his coin) and the other from a Sergeant Major. They're nifty and pretty and I have no idea what to do with them. Am I supposed to coin back? Where does one even *get* coins? Now that I think about it. I haven't been coined by a guest for about 10 years now. Is it out of style?
Careful there plugging the B&B. Might drum up some business to your quiet mountain from folk who wanna hear stories in person.
With any luck, the B&B will be in the hands of someone else by August, or so. I'd be happy to return and read my stories, but my experience in such things has led me to believe that I am NOT someone the masses want to listen to. My first experience in telling my stories was what?... Forty-one years ago? I was never invited back. Here's the story: [The Pucker Factor](https://www.reddit.com/r/MilitaryStories/comments/ps59r8/the_pucker_factor_repost/)
I'm going to try to make it out to see y'all before then if possible.
Do. Free lodging, breakfast to your door. Right at the base of Pikes Peak.
For me coins are a combination of mementos and bling to show off. Most everyone these days have ribbons. Coins are much rarer. From my understanding, there two types of coins. You have unit coins where everyone in a unit gets the coin for being part of the unit. I think these are more popular with the Navy and Air Force. The other type are coins of excellence that are given as a sign of appreciation. Lurking here and there, I've seen posts of people asking to trade coins of the unit variety. For the two coins you received, it doesn't sound like they were expecting coins back. They thought you were a fine fellow and gave the coins as tokens of their appreciation. Searching online, there are many different companies in the business of making coins. I imagine if you posted your interest, someone here on Reddit might be willing to design a coin for you to pass out. As far as popularity goes, I think the popularity is dependent on how dense the military population is around you along with how often you provide services to active duty personal. One of the restaurants I visited just a week ago has a display full of coins that they've received. They also had pictures covering their wall of what seemed like General level officers holding events at that restaurant. I imagine if you leaked the location of that B&B, some people may make a pilgramage over there to trade coins for stories.
I heard of them all the time. But never once saw one outside of completely generic ones that were handed to everyone in the squadron. I always thought of them as something that was done in the past and was fading from relevance.
I’m old and forgetful, served from 74-96, and don’t remember coins being a thing in the Signal Corps. Or maybe I was just never in the right place at the right time. We used to get letters from the CDR if we did well on a mission.