CHARLIE'S CANTEEN
Charlie's Canteen is still growing, and some of this we're building together. Here are answers to a few things you may be wondering about.
I'd love to—and that's part of the long-term plan. Air Force names, emblems, unit insignia and other protected marks can't simply be put on merchandise and sold. Commercial use requires approval through the Department of the Air Force Intellectual Property Management licensing program.
Charlie's Canteen is still a young business, and that licensing process looks at things like operating history, financial stability, product quality and manufacturing practices. When we're in a position to meet those requirements, I absolutely intend to pursue licensing so we can offer properly licensed RED HORSE and Air Force merchandise.
Until then, we'll keep building Charlie's Canteen, creating our own original designs and celebrating the RED HORSE community without pretending to be something we're not.
No. Charlie's Canteen is an independent project I created out of my own connection to the RED HORSE community. We're not an official Air Force, Department of Defense or RED HORSE unit website, and nothing here should be taken as an endorsement by any of them.
This is simply a place for the community—to preserve some history, tell some stories, have a little fun and build something worth passing on.
The Memory Project started with a pretty simple idea: a lot of RED HORSE history is sitting in people's closets, old photo albums, phones, hard drives and boxes—and some of it is going to disappear if we don't start collecting it.
The goal is to build a living community archive of photos, videos and stories from RED HORSE members across different units, years, deployments and locations. It's not meant to be my personal photo album. The more people who contribute, identify faces and tell the stories behind the pictures, the better it becomes.
Absolutely. That's exactly what we're looking for.
Don't worry if they're not perfectly organized or if you don't remember every name or exact date. Send us what you know and we'll work from there. If you still have the original digital files, we'd prefer those whenever possible because they may contain useful information about when and where the photo was taken.
And don't count yourself out if all you have is a box of old prints, slides or other physical photographs. Get in touch with me. Depending on what you have and where you're located, we'll see if we can arrange to get the material to me safely or work out a way to have it professionally digitized.
Don't send irreplaceable originals through the mail without talking to me first.
Nothing gets thrown onto the public website automatically. Contributions are reviewed first.
Please do. One of the reasons I'm building the Memory Project this way is because there are people in these photographs that I don't know—but somebody out there does.
If you recognize someone, tell us who they are. If you were there and know what was happening, even better. Those little pieces of information are how a folder full of old photographs becomes an actual historical record.
Tell me.
Dates get remembered wrong. Names get misspelled. Locations get mixed up. And two people who were at the same event can remember it differently 30 years later.
I'm much more interested in getting the history right than pretending we got everything right the first time. If you see something that needs correcting—or you can add context we're missing—please let us know.
Yes. If you're pictured in something, contributed something, or have a legitimate concern about material in the archive, contact us and explain the situation. We'll review it.
The point of the Memory Project is to preserve the community's history, not make somebody uncomfortable just because we can.
Silver Stallions isn't something Charlie's Canteen invented. If you've been around RED HORSE long enough, you've probably heard the name associated with the retired RED HORSE community. That's the tradition we're carrying forward here.
For Charlie's Canteen, it's about staying connected after the red hat comes off—the people, the stories, the experiences and the pride that don't disappear just because your time in uniform ended.
That's really what I mean when I say: “For those who wore the red hat—and those who never stopped being RED HORSE.”
Not yet—and that's the fun part.
Series I is being developed with input from the community. We're showing concepts and asking people to vote instead of sitting in a room and deciding what everybody else should like.
When the final design is selected and we're ready to produce it, we'll make that very clear. Until then, what you're seeing is part of the process.
It's our Silver Stallions twist on the old military coin-check tradition. Coin-check customs have never been exactly the same everywhere, so we're not going to pretend there's one official set of rules.
For our house version, if numbered Silver Stallion coins are in the check, the lowest number gets the bragging rights. Keep it friendly, keep it voluntary, and let common sense win.
The Numbered Coin Check is a Charlie's Canteen/Silver Stallions house tradition—not an official military rule.
Please do. I don't want to build a Canteen full of things nobody actually wants.
If there's a shirt, jacket, hat, piece of memorabilia or something completely different you'd like to see, send me the idea through the Contact page. I can't promise we'll make everything people suggest, but I absolutely want to know what the community is looking for.
No.
Helping with the Memory Project, voting on something or sending us feedback isn't permission to start filling your inbox with marketing. If we ask whether you'd like to receive Charlie's Canteen emails, that choice will be separate and optional.
Yes—and thank you for asking.
Right now, I'm personally funding the Memory Project and Charlie's Canteen. That includes the website, digital storage and the work involved in collecting, organizing and preserving RED HORSE photographs, videos and stories.
I've had people ask whether they can help with those costs. I'm working on a simple and transparent way for people who want to contribute specifically toward preservation expenses to do that.
Until I have that set up properly, the best way you can help is by contributing photographs and stories, identifying people in the archive, correcting information, and spreading the word to other RED HORSE members.
Drop me a note if you want to talk about contributing.
Still have a question I didn't cover?
Explore drinkware & accessories from Charlie's Canteen.
Silver Stallion All-over print bandana
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Charlie's Canteen Hoodie
Charlie's Canteen Retired Letterman Jacket
