Challenge coins. Do you use them, collect them, or both?

I do both, and my rugby team has taken the tradition and if you are caught without yours , youl be buying a round! Love challenge coins but im older so maybe thats it. Semper Fi!

I collect the ones I've been awarded with, and have used my highest only one time against a boot who was determined to get a free drink

Never received one and didn't know about them till after I ETSed

I was in service from '81 to '92, never heard of them that whole time.

I have my original Combat Camera (both AVIS and ACCS versions) coins.. they were drinking coins. You had to buy one, and you had to honor all others in the placing them on the table and see who buys drinks or if you might get a free one by doing it.

But they became Atta boy coins.. I as a Graphics Specialist have done artwork for commanders to get coins made, I have won a few from commanders. I have one from the 8th Air Force Commander that I "won" because I found a few things in a video tape made by their intel section missed while my unit edited it for presentation. It is my most prized one..

I have a couple from foreign officers too..But they all sit in container.. now that I am retired.. they are just keepsakes for me.

I have a small collection. Some of mine were lost in a divorce situation while I was overseas. I received my last 1 in 2010 from General Petraeus while deployed.

Well I do not know what use them means to be honest. I am a soldier of the 80's and 90's. The 6 I received in 12 years were from personal security details or major accidents. 1 from General Burba when his child/relative was in a bad accident so he was likely biased but I pulled her out and gave CPR so he and his wife hugged me full of blood in the ER. 2 from Regimental SGM of the MP Corp in combat (David Stalter) Who I worked for in his earlier years. 1 from a Presidential escort in Central America and I have forgotten the other. In my day a coin was better than an Arcom and I asked each to write me a letter of recommendation. They did so when I was medically put out at 12 it lead to a great career in law enforcement.

I have a few i had out as rewards and such, most of the customs officer i work with a really big into collecting them. So they get me stuff and they get one.

I collected a few and would of love to have one when i was with 1/5 and mscfo rota.

In the old days it was rare to have them and it was usually the spec/ops/warfare guys that had them, I've met that challenge a few times.

I just have a few that were given to me through out the years of being in. They are a cool way to bring up stories of how I revived them but never been in a bar with other vets that used them

Well, a coin and a dollar should get you a cup of coffee, maybe

I'm pissed. The ones that I had been given by General Petraeus where stolen. Because of my injuries I have LOST memory about the names but clearly remember their appearance. I was with the 526 FSB which later became BSB in Ft Campbell, 2003 TO 2005 and while in Iraq we where given the coins. 1 was in the shape of a dog tag that had a Blackhawk on it, 1 was round that had the Iraq country on it, and the others I have LOST the memory of. It's upsetting knowing they question and not by a fellow soldier but my x-wifes now husband! Yeah very pissed off about it, so much to the point I informed them that if I ever see them I am gonna stomp a mud hole in their ass, so they moved to another state.

I mostly collect them. Some I have been given others I have purchased from bases or deployments that I have been on. I carry one every day I work at my civilian job as a Paramedic. It commemorates one of the worst days or calls I have had in my medical career. It is an EOW for Officer Scott Patrick who was murdered on traffic stop. I was in charge of the crew that responded to and tried to save him. It reminds me how bad a day can be. I have since become a Swat medic since. I also carry a coin whenever some of my firefighters deploy without me.

I carry two in my pocket everywhere I go. One was given to me by a former state CSM who was my mentor when I made E6. He had my promotion date engraved on it. The other was given to me by the then current state CSM for what I did for the unit as the unit's NCOIC as an E5. Both have a lot of significance for me which is why I keep them with me and would never dream of throwing them out. I have a couple I've purchased that have the post names that I've served at. I also have one unit coin that I served in which was a limited production run so there are not a lot of them out there. I don't purchase other coins no matter how cool they look because they don't have any sentimental value or memory attached to them. My son got an NCIS coin from an agent one time and still has that one. It is a pretty neat coin. The agent gave it to him after my son spent some time asking him about his career and what being an agent was like. I'll never have the large collections that many have but the few I have are important to me. When I am an old man and take my last breath, the hospital or my family will find those two coins in my pocket.

Both. It is tradition to have one during formal unit events. I do agree that it should be mentioned to the unit for rules that all agree upon. Collecting them is useful because it tells a more personal story of where someone has been versus the awards that are almost handed out for deploying anywhere.

They sit in a holder on my desk. If I didn't work for the Army, they would be a box with the rest of my military stuff collecting dust.

Nope. Collect dust in a box or drawer somewhere.

I have been given some collector coins which I keep and would give up but I won't say I'm a collector. They are things that represent often units I've been in or people I've met so some of My own History is often tied in with it I sure can't carry them all around and don't but keep them in a safe place, not usually where they can bee seen but where I can access them at any time.

Got any good ones? send them my way!

I keep one in my wallet. Who doesn't love free shots?