[Casket]

When I was in the Army coins were pretty rare. The SF groups, the Ranger battalions, and the The Old Guard had them and that's it.

In all cases you had to successfully get through the training (be it the Q Course, RIP or ROP respectively), be assigned to your company and be able to keep up and be a productive member of the unit for about a year. Then you got your coin.

I got mine when I was in TOG, and although I've been out of the Army for 20 years I still carry it everyday. It's one of my most prized possessions because I had to work my ass off to earn it.

I can't for the life of me understand why they give them out like candy these days. Something that's just given to a troop, that he/she doesn't have to work for ...isn't going to have any sort of real meaning. Or to think of it another way, I wonder how many of these folks will be carrying whatever coin they got 20 or 30 years from now?