The Sword Is Back

[kwe1009]

People keep asking about the difference vanguard charges for similar products.

The Civil Air Patrol sword $356.40 versus the almost Identical Air Force Sword $592.90.  Um...over $230 bucks for an inscription difference. 

If I were Air Force in the market for the sword, I'd probably get the CAP one and nobody would be the wiser.   

The only place the Air Force swords are used is at the Air Force Academy by the Firstclassmen (seniors). They are required to buy them through payroll deduction.
And after graduation they will never have to wear them again....

Honor Guards use the swords for weddings, cordons, and other ceremonies. 

Other than that the swords are useless.  I would imagine that the only people who buy them are the super moto young airmen but personally I have never seen anyone that owned one.

[Briank]

Tempting to get one just because...

However, it would just be one more functionally useless thing around here to maintain...  Fighting hard to stay rational about it and not order one!  :-)

[AlphaSigOU]

The only place the Air Force swords are used is at the Air Force Academy by the Firstclassmen (seniors). They are required to buy them through payroll deduction.
And after graduation they will never have to wear them again....

Unlike the Hudson High School for Wayward Children and the Canoe Boarding School at Sodom-on-Severn (I keed, I keed!) which presents rolled-up sheepskins AFA grad diplomas are made as plaques and are designed to mount the cadink saber and scabbard (not sword) for display.


ETA: they do issue sheepskins but are already framed and matted for presentation. Some will frame and mat their Regular Air Force commissioning certificate separately.

[MSG Mac]

I'll stick with mu USMC NCO sword.

[DJ Light Chop]

I was discussing the CAP SWORD with someone.  And I figured out the only occasion that I can think of in which it wouldn't be totally ridiculous.  If a couple were to meet in cap, and eventually get married, and they opted to have a cap honor guard (and if they could have swords) there as a nod to how they met, that could possibly fall under the umbrella of not completely stupid.

[kwe1009]

I was discussing the CAP SWORD with someone.  And I figured out the only occasion that I can think of in which it wouldn't be totally ridiculous.  If a couple were to meet in cap, and eventually get married, and they opted to have a cap honor guard (and if they could have swords) there as a nod to how they met, that could possibly fall under the umbrella of not completely stupid.

The only other this is as a cordon at a form function, again only if the cadets were allowed to use the swords.  Neither occasion happens often enough to warrant spending the money (for either activity it is recommended that you have at least 6 Honor Guardsmen).  Many USAF base Honor Guards don't even own swords, they borrow them from nearby ROTC programs if the need comes up.