** I just can't believe that the chains go for so much! I'd like to have a bracelet, but I know that by tradition, I'm not authorized to wear it, not having been a real crewmember, and isn't it sort of supposed to be for guys who have tucked a crash under their belts? **

As Tom said, Lumpy, yup. The chain had to be salvaged from the ship, then distributed to the crew. And the crews lucky enough to live through one of those deals, those who still have such a meaningful memento, deserve them and much more.

That unfortunately ended even before I got there, but sorta still applied and, as Bob Taylor explains, it remained sort of a back seat thing rather than pilot deal.

Today? Forget it. The shithead "Florida Dude" Holloway dispensary medic, for example, got one somewhere and plastered it up on his website. Any asshole with enough money can buy one on eBay.

Are you "authorized" to wear one? Anybody tells you "no", I wanna know about it. We'll talk.

Bob