Front: “Improvise · Adapt · Overcome”
Back: “If the plan doesn't work, change the plan but never the goal”
At a glance
- Theme: when the plan breaks: field tested flexibility
- Good for: a project gone sideways, a deployment, a career change, a crisis at work
- Gift for: Marines and veterans, first responders, ER staff, project leads, founders
- Finishes: Antique Silver (brass alloy), Antique Bronze (brass alloy)
- Size: 39 mm, about 1 oz, die struck in the USA
The meaning
Improvise, adapt, overcome is the unofficial mantra of the United States Marine Corps. It describes how good teams act when nothing goes to plan: use what you have, change your approach, and get it done anyway.
The back adds the rule that keeps it from turning into chaos: if the plan doesn't work, change the plan but never the goal. Flexibility in the how, stubbornness in the why.
The design
The front shows a skull in a netted combat helmet with a knife clenched in its teeth, the three words above, inside a ring of barbed wire and stars. The back sets the quote at the center of the same barbed wire and star border.
On good days and hard days
- On good days, it keeps you sharp and ready for the moment the plan changes.
- On hard days, when the plan falls apart, it gives you the Marine Corps answer: improvise, adapt, overcome. Change the plan, never the goal.
Carry it
Veterans carry it as a reminder of their time in service; one called it a great reminder of the Corps. Another keeps it in a wallet. It is a good coin to grab when the day goes off the rails.
Give it
Customers give it to veterans and active duty friends, husbands, and anyone in a job where plans rarely survive the first hour: nurses, firefighters, project managers. One customer had already given theirs to a friend who needed it.
Specs
- Diameter: 1.54 in (39 mm), about the size of a silver dollar
- Thickness: 2.7 mm
- Weight: about 1 oz (28 g)
- Material: brass alloy (Antique Silver, Antique Bronze)
- Made: die struck, minted in the USA
- Each coin is antiqued with a special patina so it looks like it has already been in circulation. The patina never settles the same way twice, so no two coins look exactly alike. Small variations in color and shading are normal, and they are what make your coin one of a kind.
Questions
Where does improvise, adapt, overcome come from?
It is the unofficial mantra of the US Marine Corps, used for decades to describe getting the mission done when the plan falls apart.
What is a good gift for a Marine or first responder?
A challenge coin with a motto they live by. This one is a favorite with veterans and service members.
What does change the plan but never the goal mean?
Stay flexible about how you get there, and firm about where you are going.
Other coins for those who serve
- Patriotic Coin: for those who serve
- Molon Labe Coin: come and take them
- Never Give Up Coin: fall down seven times, stand up eight
- Tenacity Coin: losing is not quitting
Care: keep it dry and wipe it with a soft cloth. No polishing needed; the aged finish is part of the look.
Original design by EDC Reminder Coins, protected by copyright. We don't take custom orders.