While dog tags’ origin as a concept is fairly straightforward, the name itself has multiple possible origin stories. The rest of the military followed suit, and by 1917, all combat troops were wearing dog tags. The Army put out an order for aluminum disks that contained each soldier’s basic information to be worn by its members. The armed forces didn’t begin using identification tags in an official capacity until December of 1906. Around 75 percent of those soldiers are unknown Union soldiers. The numbers are particularly stark The Vicksburg National Cemetery serves as the resting place for over 17,000 soldiers. While the first identification tags were unofficial, the US government soon understood the value of ID almost half of the Union soldiers who died in combat were unidentified. Some soldiers could afford to have their information engraved on metal disks, but this was rare. Soldiers would create their tags, usually out of wood or old coins. The identification tag first came into vogue amid the Civil War, when soldiers feared that they would not be identifiable if they died on the battlefield. While far too in-depth to list the entire history here, this article will give you some basic information about where the idea for dog tags came from, how they got the name and some changes in the history of dog tags.

There’s no shame in that dog tags have an exciting history. You may know precisely how much it weighs, all the information printed on it, and in what order it’s published, whether or not one side is slightly rougher due to age.īut it’s possible that you don’t know much about the history of dog tags. You may be intimately familiar with every detail of your dog tag. If a soldier is going to deploy, they are the first ones that need to have the new ID tags,” he said in the Army release.Contributed Content Provided by WordPro SEO. “We are focusing first on the personnel who are going to deploy. Klemowski said the change would not be immediate for all soldiers. The tags “bring comfort and help calm the fears of soldiers facing death,” the Library of Congress tribute says, allowing them to know they would not be forgotten or become an unknown casualty. By July 1916, the Army was issuing two of the tags to each soldier, one that would stay with the remains of those lost in battle and one that would go to the burial unit, according to the Armed Forces History Museum.

The tags became part of the Army field kit shortly before World War I. While the armed forces demand obedience and duty to a higher cause, dog tags, hanging under service members’ shirts and close to their chests, remind them of their individuality.” “The tag itself individualizes the human being who wears it, despite his or her role as a small part of a huge and faceless organization. “Dog tags are highly personal items to warriors of every service and to their families as well,” says a Library of Congress tribute to the dog tag produced in 2012. While identity theft may be among the most impersonal of crimes, the dog tags are anything but that. The change was mandated in 2007, but it has taken the military this long to replace the Social Security number with the 10-digit idea number through a number of systems, Klemowski said. Army Human Resources Command, said in an Army press release. The only thing missing is their birth date and you can usually get that by Googling a person,” Michael Klemowski, Soldiers Programs Branch chief, U.S. “If you find a pair of lost ID tags you can pretty much do anything with that person’s identity because you now have their blood type, their religion, you have their social, and you have their name. On the new dog tags, the service member’s Social Security number will be replaced with a randomly-generated, 10-digit Department of Defense identification number. Army is making changes to a century-old piece of hardware, dog tags, the identification implements that hang around each soldier’s neck.įor a low-tech thing like the aluminum dog tag, the reason for the change is decidedly high-tech, the threat of identity theft.

Dog tags military