25 Cents Bienhoa Special Forces

Military Payment Certificates issued by the U.S. government are well documented, but the parallel ecosystem of privately issued scrip by base clubs, messes, and PX operations in Vietnam is far murkier. The Bienhoa Special Forces Open Mess scrip circulated internally among personnel at Biên Hòa — one of the largest U.S. air bases in-country — functioning as a control mechanism to keep dollars off the local economy and reduce black market exposure.

These mess scrip issues were never officially catalogued during the war and were typically destroyed or discarded on departure. Survivors exist almost entirely because individual soldiers pocketed them as souvenirs.