06-25-2019, 09:03 PM
In my day they were rather rare. Back then, you carried your unit coin as means of esprit de corps. If you were challenged by someone in the unit and didn't have your coin, you bought drinks for everyone present. Unit coins were presented as a memento to honored guests and gifted as a sign of respect, often for helping the unit in question. If you were a noncombatant and received one from a combat unit it was a really big deal and the coin was often a prized possession. Today it seems every military unit has one.