Officially Licensed USMC/ Combat Helicopter Association Reno 2010 Reunion Coin - USMC/Combat Helicopter Association officially licensed die-cast challenge coin commemorating the 2010 biennial reunion held in Reno, Nevada.
Often Tested, Always Faithful, Brothers and Sisters Forever — the motto that has held Marine rotary-wing veterans together across every decade and every reunion city since 1988.
The USMC/Combat Helicopter Association, known widely by its newsletter callsign POPASMOKE, was founded by former Marine helicopter pilots searching for the crews they had flown with in Vietnam. What began with a handful of phone calls grew into a biennial gathering that draws pilots, crew chiefs, gunners, air observers, maintainers, corpsmen, flight surgeons, and chaplains from across the full history of Marine rotary-wing aviation. The association holds its reunion every two years in even-numbered years, rotating across the country, and the 2010 edition landed in Reno, Nevada. Each reunion produces a small run of officially licensed commemorative items, and the challenge coin is the most personal of them — a palm-sized record of the year, the city, and the community that showed up. The Reno 2010 coin carries that specific moment in association history, connecting the bearer to a gathering of veterans who flew UH-1Es, CH-46s, CH-53s, AH-1s, and the full lineage of Marine combat helicopters from Vietnam through the modern tiltrotor era. Its official licensing means the design was approved by the association itself, giving it a provenance that separates it from generic military coins.
Perfect For: USMC helicopter veterans, POPASMOKE association members and alumni, Marine aviation collectors, Reno 2010 reunion attendees, crew chiefs and gunners preserving their service story, family members honoring a Marine rotary-wing veteran, shadow box builds, challenge coin displays, unit-history collections, and anyone who wants a dated, officially licensed piece tied to a specific chapter of Marine combat helicopter heritage.
One coin, one reunion, one community — Reno 2010 locked in metal and memory.