Custom Challenge Coin of the Month – November 2016
This month’s custom challenge coin of the month celebrates one of the Coast Guard’s most storied units – Port Security Unit 309, one of the Coast Guards rough and ready deployable specialized force units.
During the recent conflicts in the middle east, the US military came to rely more and more on the Coast Guard to fill crucial strategic positions on and off the battlefield. The proud men and women of Port Security Unit 309 exemplify the commitment and versatility of our country’s citizen soldiers. Called to serve in such diverse settings as Kuwait, Cuba, and South Korea, PSU 309’s special skillset brings an added layer of protection to United States maritime operations throughout the world.
Made for the Fight
Port Security Unit 309 was commissioned in 1995 along with several other PSUs as the first of a new generation of operationalized Coast Guard units designed to work in a variety of challenging and novel settings, outside the bounds of US territorial waters and alongside forces from the other branches and even other countries. Based out of Port Clinton, Ohio, the proud members of this modern fighting force work to support Department of Defense operations globally. It is considered a great honor to be deployed with a PSU, since it takes hundreds of hours of specialized training to prepare for the challenging and technical mission set units like PUS 309 are assigned.
Those members who fulfil a PSU deployment are awarded a badge only 1% of Coast Guard Reserve members ever receive. This same badge decorates the reverse face of this month’s featured custom challenge coin. Its distinctive seahorses and dramatic waves drive home the uniqueness of this decoration and the duty it celebrates. The sabers, shield, and trident remind those who might wonder that though a PSU’s mission is primarily a kind of logistics, they aren’t afraid to use force in pursuit of their stated mission and goals.
Making a Custom Challenge Coin Your Own
The way a unit’s personal history interweaves with a coin design is what makes every custom challenge coin created by Unit Coins unique. A coin’s custom touches always speak values about the coin’s recipients, whether in powerful words or striking images. In the case of this month’s featured custom challenge coin, PSU 309’s striking unit insignia speaks of this unit’s proud heritage. A shark in gray swims around a bright red trident, emerging from a dark blue field topped with waves into a lighter blue field made to resemble the sky. The top banner reads “U. S. Coast Guard” and the bottom banner reads “PSU 309.” Only those members who had served out a tour of duty and earned their Port Security Badge would have received this coin, so the inscription “Deeds not Words – Facta Non Verba” rings especially true.
As recently as November of 2017, members of PSU 309 were being deployed to support Operation Freedom’s Sentinel in the Caribbean. There, they performed round-the-clock force protection and anti-terrorism defense security, keeping watch over valuable Department of Defense assets.
Before they set off on this important mission, PSU reservists conducted exercises emphasizing integrated land-based and maritime tactics. They reviewed procedures and techniques that would be essential to their success in the field. Every asset PSU had to offer was activate during these exercises, under the umbrella of a tactical operations center for command and control of land-side point defense. A comprehensive, well-thought-out, and well-practiced plan goes a long way toward insuring the success of the involved missions a PSU is tasked with accomplishing. Staying in mission-ready shape is also of paramount importance, since units like PSU 309 must be ready to deploy anywhere in the world with 96 hours notice.
Keeping the Waters Safe
As one of only 8 PSUs in the Coast Guard, PSU 309 performs tasks few others are able to tackle. Without PSUs, shipping lanes and ports would be vulnerable to attack or sabotage. Thanks to an extensive loadout featuring the latest and best in land and sea based security and surveillance equipment, PSU 309 has the capability to keep an ever-watchful eye on the mission-critical assets they are charged with protecting. Technological breakthroughs in recent years means spending time training on the latest and greatest tools, and the effectiveness of these tools has been proven out by the stellar track record of PSU 309 and units like it.
The battlefield is much bigger than most people realize. Often, the most vulnerable points of a military force are far from active fire and pitched house-to-house battles. When the Department of Defense needs to preserve its most valuable assets in and out of the water, it looks to units like PSU 309 to get the job done.
“Facta Non Verba”
Unit Coins loves telling the story of units like PSU 309 with our American-designed custom challenge coins. Every coin we design helps its holder remember a lifetime’s worth of history and achievements. In the case of this month’s featured military challenge coin, Port Security Unit 309’s unique personality brings this compelling design to life. Your custom coin will receive the same expert attention to detail as this captivating piece, forever capturing a moment in your unit’s storied history in a medium that will stand the test of time.
Unit Coins’ expert coin designers know just how to pull together the design elements that will best illustrate your custom challenge coin vision. Drawing inspiration from the traditional heraldry of the United States Military as well as any number of civic organization, Unit Coins creates coins that are pleasant to look at and even more wonderful to examine in detail. Indeed, to the discerning eye, every custom challenge coin tells a complex and intricate story. Veteran-owned and operated, Unit Coins knows how to tell the stories of the brave men and women who keep our country safe.
Free Custom Challenge Coin Consultation
“How do I make a custom challenge coin?” It’s as simple as calling Unit Coins. Call us today for a free design consultation.