Military identification tags, aka dog tags, serve many different purposes, but the primary one is offering a means for identifying a fallen soldier, according to previous Fort Morgan VFW Post commanders.
Every military personnel gets issued two dog tags, one with a short chain and one with a long chain.
The reasons for having those different chain lengths is significant.After a soldier is killed in battle, fellow soldiers or officers can use the two tags to mark the body. One tag goes between the top and bottom front teeth, and the other goes between the toes.
The chains for the tags are each of a specific length. The longer one has 365 beads, which represent the 365 days of the year. The shorter one, which goes with the toe tag, is 24 beads, which represents the months in two years.
These numbers of beads are important for soldiers taken prisoner of war, and likely for those who wind up lost or even missing in action.The beads allow for keeping track of time, including hours of a day and days of a year.
Soldiers taken prisoner of war typically are allowed to keep their dog tags, although that may not always be the case.
For quite some time, dog tags have been made of stainless steel so that they would not rust or get destroyed easily.
The U.S. military’s use of metal dog tags dates back to at least 1906, according to history website armydogtags.com and other online sources.
They became mandatory for U.S. service members in 1913, although typically only one was issued at a time until around the 1950s, the website stated, which was the formal start of the short chain and toe tag.
One common thing about dog tags since their use was adopted is that they contain specific information about the military member.
That information has changed over the years, depending on what identifiers were most helpful at that time. It also varied by branch of the service.
Ones issued today for a U.S. service member might have things like the last name, middle and first initial, blood type, Social Security/service number, branch of the service, gender designation and any specific religious preference.
That way, if a soldier is wounded and unable to speak but needs a blood transfusion, it is easier to make sure that transfusion would not make things worse.
It also allows for any expressed religious beliefs to honored in the event of death.
There’s no specific protocol for what happens to dog tags after leaving the service, whether by discharge or death.Former service members do not have to return them to the military, but they also can choose whether or not to keep them.
For the ones of fallen soldiers, there may or may not be a choice in what happens.
Military members may receive multiple sets of dog tags over the course of their service. For those in the service for lengthier periods of time, as their dog tags got worn, the military would replace them, or else if the service member changed units new ones may be issued.
For some service members, hanging on to old dog tags has allowed for keeping track of where all they wound up going while they were part of the military. Others gave them to loved ones or disposed of them in other ways.
Dog tags also are something that go in and out of fashion as accessories. At times, they have been available at large chain stores as necklaces.
For family members of veterans who receive their loved one’s dog tags, wearing them can be a means of honoring a specific veteran or veterans as a whole.
