The Coins

In the US military there is a tradition of coins. The coins can tell a person what unit you are from, what job you do or organizations that you belong to. Being “coined” is a big deal in the USAF—it means that someone very senior thinks your work is outstanding—normally a General or a Chief Master Sergeant.
When I arrived at the Royal Saudi Air Force (RSAF) Headquarters and met General Faisal for the first time I gave him a coin. The coin I gave was the 315th Intelligence Officer coin. The General liked it and placed it on a table with other military mementos that he displays. General Faisal then asked me to help design a coin for his directorate. I smiled and said “Sure”—not realizing how long the process would be. I started this in June and finally completed the process in mid-Oct.
I contacted military coin companies in the US. One responded and told me that they had customers all over the world so shipping to Saudi was no big deal. Great. I even got a quote for 1,000 coins.
I took the quote to the General. Yes yes this is good. Ok now design a coin. I thought that should be easy.
I went through four designs before one was finally settled on. The winning design was the RSAF symbol on one side and the intelligence symbol on the other side. Then we had to decide the outer color. I chose green to go with the Saudi flag. That color was changed to blue, then white (Tim why is there so much white? Because you thought it would look god. No Tim this is terrible—please chose another color.) then back to blue. THEN the General decides that he wants to present a special coin to the people at the upcoming intel / security conference being held in Nov. No problem—but there were.
I could not find a decent conference logo from the year before. The guys searched their sites and folders—nothing good. I got some logos but when the company tried blowing then up—yuck. Finally, after three months a folder with the logo was found. I brought the folder home and had Laurie scan it—beautiful—finally the company had something they could use.
Now the coins have been ordered. The company sends me the proofs via e-mail. I send them to the General—it’s Oct. He likes them and tells me to order the amounts we want and tells me use the credit card he gave me. I order the amounts. I give the credit card number—it comes back with an error—the mailing address and billing address don’t match. I call the General and tell him not to worry I’ll use my credit card—after all what’s $4,020 to a rich American like me (HA!). He says Yes yes please Tim do this.
Just to make sure that my credit card will go through I call my credit card company and let them know. Then I call the coin company—all goes well.
Now the fun begins. The coins have been shipped. I have the tracking number. I e-mail the General. He calls me—he never e-mails he always calls. Good good—please track the coins Tim and let me when they arrive in Saudi.
The coins leave Alabama, now Ohio, New York, then to Germany then Bahrain. Bahrain—that’s only 45 minutes from where the General is at the conference. I call Bahrain and ask if we can pick them up—no. The nice lady assures me that the coins will be on the next flight to Riyadh--inshallah—and they are.
Yah! The coins are in Riyadh at the airport. They went through customs. They are scheduled for delivery. I get to work to see if they have been delivered—the delivery is on hold. On hold? Coins? I call.
I get a nice man but he doesn’t speak enough English to tell me the problem or give a solution. I get another man—he speaks great English but sounds doubtful that the coins will be released any time soon. I give the phone to one of the Colonels I work with. They speak in Arabic. The problem is that I’m civilian and the box says “military” which means I can’t have them. The solution is that I need a letter written on military letterhead and I have to accompained by a Saudi military man--then the coins will be released.
I call the General to let him know. Tim go talk to Col Fahid and let him know. Yes sir.
I go talk to Col Fahid—who gets a call from the General—yes yes, DHL, yes, Tim—ok.
An hour later a letter is typed, signed and stamped. An admin guy from the office is my driver—he speaks no English and I speak no Arabic—but the ride is nice.
We get to the airport and find DHL. The Saudi military guy signs papers, I show my ID, the coins—in two big boxes—are brought out—and on top is a big red sticker CUSTOMS DUE. Sigh—I pay 550 riyals ($147). They load the boxes in our official government vehicle and off we go back to RSAF HQ.
On the way to the HQ we get a phone call—go to the airbase—a plane is waiting to fly the coins to Dhahran.
We get on the airbase and find the plane—drive right up to it. The pilots shake our hands. The plane is what I call a General’s jet—a small private type plane—not a fighter jet. We give them the conference coins. I call the General. I tell him that I can’t hear him because the engines are running.
I get a call—while driving home—from the General. I expected a They’re nice or They’re ok. Instead I got Tim these are very very nice. Everybody likes them.
Saturday the General comes to work and calls me into his office. He asks me the amount—joking with me that I keep raising it—writes me a check—in Arabic. I take the check to the bank downstairs—I sign it and put my mobile number on it—I get lots of riyals—I’ve been paid in full.
That same day Col Fahid came into our office and gave us each two coins—one intel and one conference. They are nice. The intel one is probably the nicest that I’ve seen. It has so much detail to it—and the crowns on top look brilliant.
This coin story is finished. This was an adventure I wasn’t expecting. But now the RSAF has their very fist coin—maybe it’ll become a tradition.