For Marines... when I was in..getting rank... you got them "pinned" by walking a guantlet and each man punched your shoulder...( each man who out ranks you) and when you earned your blood stripes (Corporal).. you were kneed in the thigh.... by the time you walked the guantlet... you were limping.. and bruised..

and for the special units... when you earned your jump wings... they were literally pinned to your chech... each man punched the pin with the pins going into your chest...