Yeah, there's a couple of clubs that hand them out. I think they are a great service for the guys who want to do this stuff, and they do have a good record.
I just never intend to fly in any of these groups.
'Hand them out' is a gross mischaracterization. The Formation and Safety Team has done a tremendous amount of work to create training and performance standards, so much so that FAA allows it to be self-managed by several type clubs (e.g., Red Star Pilots Association, T-34 Association, Classic Jets Association and a few others).
The typical FAST Wingman will have 2-3 dozen hours of dual by the time he receives a recommendation ride, and then a check ride. Ground school is required, there are a substantial number of hand signals to master, and the check ride includes a very challenging oral. It is a significant time and financial investment and is I believe on-par with the Commercial License in terms of the difference it makes in your flying, again - a whole other level.
The local guys who fly in a gaggle to breakfast are nothing like the professionalism I have experienced with the Red Star and T-34 guys, it is an entirely different level of flying, a totally different level of commitment and focus. In the past year I've probably flown about 40 hours in formation, most as GIB for videography but am now actively working on my Wingman card in the Yak.
Safe formation flying requires standards, instruction and practice, lots of practice - this is what FAST and the type clubs offer. I wouldn't fly formation with someone who does not have a Wingman card from a FAST accredited organization.
As for the incident with the RV guys, those of us in the community do certainly hope to get the full debrief and learn from it.
The RV's have much shorter wingspans, are quite a bit lighter, and are typically a bit more quick reacting than my Yak or a T-34 or Nanchang CJ-6 for example, which all combine to make them more challenging in formation - I think the RV guys also fly more acute (forward of the bearing line) than we do since it looks good and that reduces error margin.
Hopefully we learn what happened and can incorporate it into training standards if necessary, but it might have just been a bad day, fortunately nobody hurt.
'Gimp