# Military Christmas Gifts



## Al B Cuttn Wud (Oct 14, 2007)

I was messing around in the garage this past week and came up with a aircraft carrier shaped challenge coin display. Anyway, thought I would pass along this simple idea for someone looking to make a few gifts for Christmas, specifically for military folks or folks who collect challenge coins. 

I just cut out a pattern from 1/4" MDF since it's easy to work with. Once I got that, I just used a pattern bit and a 1/4" straight bit to cut the grooves. 


Enjoy!


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## firehawkmph (Apr 26, 2008)

Al, 
Nice way to display the coins. You should maybe add some kind of legs or feet to it . Maybe something nautical, couple of anchor shaped pieces or the like. 
Mike Hawkins:thumbsup:


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## Kenbo (Sep 16, 2008)

Sometimes the simplest designs provide the nicest pieces. Great coin holders. How big are they?


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## GeorgeC (Jul 30, 2008)

"Challenge Coins" must be something new in the military. Only recently have I heard on them. I spent 23 years in the military (1959-1982) and never heard of them.

George


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## Al B Cuttn Wud (Oct 14, 2007)

Firehawkmph,
I had thought about making them thicker, more beefier as well as scrolling out a super structure (the part of the carrier on the starboard side where the bridge and flight deck control is. 

I also plan on making a larger one as a base for a shadow box. It just never ends..ha. Thanks for the ideas.


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## Al B Cuttn Wud (Oct 14, 2007)

*Size*

Kenbo,
They are 5 1/2" wide and 13" long. As is now, they will hold about 26 normal sized coins, but may modify the grooves to add room for about 3-4 more. I don't want to make the over all size much larger because it sits nicely at a desk. A guy at work asked if I could add a pen holder to make it look like a desk set. He said they my prevent him from loosing his pen all of the time..ha.


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## Al B Cuttn Wud (Oct 14, 2007)

*History of the Challenge Coin*

George,
Not sure when the challenge coins came to be popular. Some services were more into in than others but recently they have become very popular. 

From my understanding, the "challenge" part came into play when say one command or unit was visiting another. At the club, someone would challenge another person to see if he/she was carrying a challenge coin from their unit. If not, that person would have to buy a round. If so, then the person who challenged would have to buy. That's still true in the clubs today.

More popular is for Commanding Officers, Command Master Chiefs, Sergeants Major, etc give them out to the troops as an atta-boy for doing something good, where the achievement is not necessarily warranting a medal. 

Also, very popular to trade them when visiting other commands/units. Every time I travel I always take 5-6 with me because I don't want to go empty handed.


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## frankp (Oct 29, 2007)

George, they're definitely not new to the services, though I think the Army is the most common place to find them... A couple of my AF units had them, though I only have 3 left and one is from service as a contractor after I got out of the military...that's the one I carry these days. One of my units in Korea had about 4 generations of coins, though, dating back to the 50s so I know they've been common at least that long.


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