Special Items Given for Passing Selection?

[woodstock36]

Hey so I was wondering if you guys know of or can help answer this question for me. I was watching the show The Unit and in one of the beginning episodes one of the main characters passes selection for the Unit/Delta Force and he is given and silenced .22 pistol by senior members and it was made clear that all new commers get one and obviously past members have one as well. Also I am aware that upon passing selection for Green Berets they receive a Yarborough knife with their serial number etched into the blade.

So this got me thinking and i was wondering what other special forces or even other jobs(like being an astronaunt or fighter pilot) that have something to commemorate their passing of selection or becoming the few elite among the many and rewarding them with a token. This is a cool idea and must be awesome/exciting to receive a physical thing to show for passing such a hard selection and having something only the members have and can get especially when the token is a usable tool/weapon like a knife or pistol. It is not a new idea but I wonder what are some of the cooler more elite and hard to get tokens out there? Do you guys know if the SEALs, SAS, GIGN, GSG9, Delta Force, fighter pilots, SWAT, Snipers, recon marines, etc. I am looking for the more interesting or cooler tokens(I know this is subjective but I am sure you know what I am looking for), not something like a gold watch. I also know that this maybe pointless as maybe these items are actually kept under wraps as part of the entire ceremony and idea but who knows you my know and are willing to share the knowledge and actually add to the mystique.

Thanks

So let me know


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[Cpl. Haas]

On the Naval aviation side, we usually commemorate graduating from Candidate School, or any of the other phases of the training pipeline with a commemorative patch... we usually wear it during graduation, or the last week of phase training if we're not graduating in flightsuits. I also got a piece of a retired flag given to us by a former POW at the end of SERE... that was pretty powerful.

[Anthracis]

There are special awards for pretty much all...

Ornate Oars for MARSOC/RECON/SEALs
Tomahawks for RANGERS
And other awards for achievements therein. Puckett award, best ranger, etc...etc...knives, pistols, plaques with patches and coins...very cool stuff for very cool guys.

[Gun_Smoke]

Scout Snipers get a HOGS tooth which is 7.62 bullet on a 550 necklace.

[09rubicon]

It really depends on the unit. I cant speak for specops, but many units/skills have cool things. Cav can earn their spurs, engineers can earn a gimlet, etc. Maybe not as cool as some of the specops stuff, but some people work very hard to earn those things.

[lemonademaker]

Nobody earns a paddle upon graduation. They may give one to their class Lead Instructor or Proctor, with all their names on it, and class number, but it doesn't go to the students. Typically it'll get hung up in the school house. Paddles are also given at the ends of tours, but they aren't necessarily a SPECWAR/SPECOPS/MARSOC thing, I've seen Navy doctors get them after working at a hospital. They are commercialized and just like any other plaque these days. Sometimes you'll hear old MARSOC/etc. guys lamenting the "old days" and how those paddles "used to be special, just for them, blah blah blah" but it's all in however a unit, command, etc. wants to honor a departing comrade at the end of their tour.

[Mr.Caketown]

Scout Snipers get a HOGS tooth which is 7.62 bullet on a 550 necklace.

Kinda.... they get a "PIG tooth" for say "Professionally Instructed Gunmen" they get their HOG (Hunter of Gunmen/Game) tooth after they take the bullet out of a barrel of someone they killed in combat

[Gun_Smoke]

Kinda.... they get a "PIG tooth" for say "Professionally Instructed Gunmen" they get their HOG (Hunter of Gunmen/Game) tooth after they take the bullet out of a barrel of someone they killed in combat

No you get a pigs tooth, a 5.56 bullet, after some pre sniper courses it depends on cadre.

[thebloodsonthewall]

I do remember that. And another buddy from a different class had Neil Roberts ( I think he is the first Navy Warrior to have fallen) on his.

Look-up Roberts Ridge.

[UncleJohnny]

Yes Roberts Ridge is a good book! Read it couple years back. He fell from a chinook when the aircraft took RPG fire, awesome book, would be a really good movie. Rangers, AF PJ and CCT, Seals, were all fighting that day. I think it was the highest peak in Afghanistan, Takur Gar.

[brando]

In 1/10SF you had to earn your coin. This is before the days of buying coins online or at surplus stores, mind you, so not having a coin and being a newb was a tough position to be in. A common way you could earn yours was by outscoring everyone on PT or some other event or doing something that really impressed your team. But the vast majority of folks earned them just by putting up with **** for a few months, not Batt Boy hazing but stupid **** like "here, add this 12 pack of hefeweizen to your ruck - see you at the top of the mountain!"

In all my Army years, I never heard of gifts or tokens for passing any selection process. Passing is the reward as it is. However, I've seen a number of traditions for guys leaving the community or unit, namely an engraved Fairbairn-Sykes knife to retiring NCOs and officers in SF. There was a time when the winning team of the Best Ranger Competition were given ceremonial matching pistols. IIRC, in 1994 it was a pair of HK P7M13s.

[tnlrat37]

I got a special unique cover in my unit after doing "E-tool Qual"