There is nothing really special about this coin. It was presented to every Soldier in F Co at the end of our tour in September, 2008. On one side, the coin bears a map of Iraq with stars denoting where Task Force Thunder had units. The coin also shows the unit patches of the various Divisions and other units who were operating in our Area of Operations (AO). Of course, "Old Glory" and the Iraqi flag are also present. The top shows a scroll with the words OIF, 07, 09, denoting the Operation and time period we were there. On the other side, the words TASK FORCE THUNDER appear at the top, while TF 51 appears at the bottom. The TF 51 specifically represents F Co because we were more than just a 525 BfSB or 519 MI BN asset. F Co was in fact an XVIII Airborne Corps asset and as such, our mission was much larger than that of the Battalion or Brigade that we were attached to. In fact, we only fell under the 525 and 519 for administrative purposes (beans, bullets, awards, promotions, and etc). While either Battalion or Brigade could dictate missions to us, our missions could come down from eschelons even higher up the chain. Thus, we were given our own separate task force designation. Also on this side of the coin is the shoulder patch of the 525 BfSB, the crest of the 519 MI BN, the 51 IN crest, and the guidons for all of the companies who fell under the 519 MI BN.
While this coin holds no particular sentimental value to me, it is still a neat little coin, at least in its design. This is probably the only coin that I have recieved in which I didn't have to do anything special to earn it or pay anything for it. There are a couple of coins coming up in future posts, which are similar in that they weren't "earned," but those coins bear sentimental significance because of the occasions on which they were presented and the people who presented them to me. But, I'll save the stories behind those coins for future posts.
Meanwhile, this post completes the stories about coins that I got during my first deployment to Iraq from June, 2007 to September, 2008.
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