IYAOYAS challenge coins are a distinctive part of the U.S. Navy Aviation Ordnanceman community. Short for “If You Ain’t Ordnance, You Ain’t Shit,” IYAOYAS represents the pride and camaraderie shared by Navy AOs who handle the weapons that keep Naval Aviation mission-ready.
This custom Navy IYAOYAS challenge coin was created for a local chapter of Aviation Ordnancemen. The goal was to build a coin that immediately reflected the personality of the AO community—bold, colorful, and unmistakably ordnance. The finished design features a winged skull surrounded by flames, with the chapter number incorporated directly into the artwork.
Looking at this coin, with its very colorful front imagery, is likely to give anyone an immediate strong impression. Even more interesting, however, is the unusual acronym on the back: IYAOYAS. Unknown to many outside of the Naval Aviation community, this term is slang associated with Aviation Ordnancemen. The acronym stands for “If You Ain’t Ordnance, You Ain’t Shit.”
When Embleholics was contacted to make Navy IYAOYAS challenge coins for a local chapter of Navy Ordnancemen, we wanted to make something very graphic and vibrant since we knew how passionate they are about their rating and job. Out of the design process came a skull flying through the air, with flames enveloping all around it. It’s easy to come to an immediate conclusion with this picture, coupled with knowing anything about Ordnancemen: AOs are helping the Navy bring death and destruction on wings of fire to America’s foes. Or perhaps you can come up with your own meaning?
That’s the great thing about art: it is open to interpretation. Sometimes a coin needs to represent certain values, ideas, or symbols. Other times, when there is a great deal more creative liberty—usually when it is for a specific community like these Navy IYAOYAS challenge coins—a more creative look is possible. The number 68—the chapter’s number—is on the skull, and the back is filled in with factual detail stating who commissioned the coin design. This latter detail, even on the most casual or creative of coins, should be included so that anyone who ever sees it will know immediately where the coin came from. You would be surprised how subtly this information can be presented with a little bit of artistic maneuvering.
Embleholics’ challenge coin artist created this design and has created numerous others equally impressive and creative. All that our artist needs to get started is a basic sketch or idea, or some similar images, and they can begin developing the concept. Our artists have over 15 years of experience creating custom challenge coin designs for military units, organizations, and businesses. We also allow customers to make revisions to the artwork so the final design can be refined down to the details before production.
Custom Aviation Ordnanceman Challenge Coins
Aviation Ordnanceman challenge coins can be customized around your squadron, command, shop, deployment, retirement, or other milestone. Designs can incorporate AO imagery, aircraft, weapons systems, command elements, inside jokes, and other details meaningful to your group. You can also explore our custom Navy challenge coins for more design ideas and information about creating coins for Navy units and organizations.
Have an IYAOYAS coin idea already? Request a free challenge coin quote and send us your concept, sketch, or reference images. Our artists can help turn it into a finished challenge coin design.
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