Challenge Coins hit by Sequestion

I’m always pleased to visit you at home and overseas, and leave you with a command coin as a small token of
my appreciation for your hard work, bravery, and your family’s sacrifice. But when I pass out coins later, you may notice they’re a little lighter than ones you might have gotten in the past. That’s because we had to strike them out of zinc instead of brass, to save money. They’re special coins – they won’t be around forever — but they mark a time when you and I served together, and grappled with the fiscal challenges facing our great nation.

For those of you old enough to remember, it’s kind of like the zinc-coated steel pennies that the nation minted in 1943 at the height of World War II. We needed the copper — for shell casings — so we ended up with zinc-clad pennies for a while. In the same way, my command coin will be lighter for the foreseeable future, to reflect the cuts the nation, and the nation’s military, have to make from the bottom to the top. And what better place for the U.S. military to begin – to set an example – than at the top?
General Jim Amos, Commandant USMC
Read more: Sequestion Time, #1 | TIME.com