You'll Be Proud To Show – Army Coins To enhance motivation and boost up the morale of the members of an organization, the coins and medallions having the insignia of organization are distributed among them. This practice is usually common among the military units to make the members' attitude more firm and constant towards the organization. Such things are ideal for boosting up the sagging morale of the unit members.
Origins
This popular tradition of
air force coin started from the US Air Force, when a wealthy lieutenant was awarded the bronze coins and then he distributed them among his other squadron members.
These army challenge coins are very expensive due to being plated with gold. One of the pilots wear it at the chest in leather pouch. The Germans caught this pilot in WWII. But luckily he escaped, when the British bombarded the camp and then the pilot reached at the French patrol. The pilot took out the army coin so that to prove his allegiance and identification as they were considering him as the German agent and were about to kill him.The sign over the coin saved him as the Frenchman recognized it. The trend of these air force challenge coins became famous after this event when the pilot came back to his base and told the story about the coin to other members.
There are many other stories related to these air force challenge coins that made rounds. These army coins soon became popular and then several other units also started distributing them among its members in order to make them feel proud of being the part of the group and lift their confidence. The trend of distributing the coins became so popular in short time that this practice is not only common among the military units but other organizations have also adopted it; even students have started distributing the medallions and coins among members so that to lift the morale.
You can know about the popularity of these army coins and air force challenge coins by recognizing the behavior of the Presidents like Bill Clinton and present Barack Obama who flaunt these army coins at the back of their oval Office desk. Obama displayed these coins at the Fort Hood shooting commemorating slain soldiers.
The tradition of challenging
The importance of air force coins is still the same, however the honor and pride feelings are somehow reduced. Each member carries these army coins and to ensure this the custom of challenging was planned creatively where every other member of the organization may challenge on the basis of army coins. The member who don't able to produce army coin was asked to purchase the drinks for other members. But if the person who was challenged succeeded to produce the coin then the challenger has to buy the drinks.
The members place these army coins and medals at their chest pockets to show their pride feeling. These coins are rewarded as an honor but these days people usually purchase them at auctions as collectible items.