Story Time: The evolution of the BratPin. About 18 months ago Mr. Duke Wheeler came to me with an offer to produce Challenge Coins, to hand out at the Toledo (OH) Vietnam Veterans Appreciation Event (June 2013). He knew of my initiative to have a Congressional Lapel Pin created, and thought this just might be a spark to get the project off dead center. So we designed the coin you see on the left. It has the Vietnam statue as the focal point on the front with a handful of bamboo and a tiger on the back. Very Vietnam. However, I felt something lacking - air cover! So I inserted the F-4 flying overhead to support the troops. Great idea, but along the way, some Bozo (spelled dumb ass) swapped the F-4 for an F-15! Airplanes are all the same anyway, arent they? Grrrr! Hardly anyone noticed, but I did! Anyway, I looked at the opportunity as a dry run: for promoting the BratPin - and it turned out to be exactly that. The lady you see pictured is an Army Brat. We shared a couple of stories, laughed about them, then touched upon a couple things that were painful to each of us, in our own private way. As the tears welled up in each of us, we knew we needed a hug... For 4 or 5 days we handed out those coins to Brats, and to the Parents of Brats. One guy came up, stood there looking at me for a while, then walked away. The next day he came back and asked for a coin. He went on to tell me that he thought the coin just might be what he needed to reach out to his estranged daughter - to begin the healing. More damn tears... So I became ever more convinced that an icon, of some kind, in some form, was exactly what we (Brats) needed to acknowledge and honor ourselves - for our service to our country... And to get to know each other... and last July I set about designing the BratPin, with the help of many of you...
Posted on: Wed, 25 Jun 2014 14:40:45 +0000