This project here started out as a wall plaque but ended up becoming a key chain pendant. I'm a U.S. Army veteran myself, I also have a son currently serving our country as a U.S. Marine, this project is special in it's simplicity and message. In our day to day activities it's easy to forget about those soldiers currently out there risking their lives for our country.
I tested the design on several different pieces of wood, 5mm plywood from lowes and 1/4 inch slices of a few different species of solid wood. They all worked out just okay, with the plywood you never know what's going to come through on the next layer down, I ran into alot of darker spots just from the glue in the layers. That's the only reason I would recommend cutting out of solid wood. Bleed through in the lettering was also a problem, but a quick wipe-on coat of shellac before the color coat took care of that. The cuts are extremely shallow, I carved it from .03 to .05 inches with a 1/4 inch 60 degree v-bit.
In some of the photos you may notice that some of the crossed rifles are turned a different direction and slightly larger, I adjusted it to get better detail in the rifles and to move the letters in the box to the left just slightly.
If you have a cnc router and a v bit, these cost almost nothing to make. The download is a dxf file, 1.25 x 3 inches.
Feel free to share this project or even the pendants that you make. Just put your logo on the back and distribute them to everyone. Those soldiers need as much support we can give them.