Army Dog Tags Meaning

The format and information on ww2 dog tags changed four times between december 1940 and april 1946.

Army dog tags meaning.

The following is a general guideline of the formats used during that period. The army used the army serial number exclusively until the end of 1967 when the use of social security numbers 9 digits was introduced. Dog tags have their origin in the civil war but only unofficially. The tags primary use is for the identification of casualties.

Though the dog tag has remained largely unchanged since the vietnam war the army is currently developing and testing several new dog tags known by various names including the soldier data tag. After this date the social security number was used exclusively. It s very common to find variations of each format. From this time until june 1969 many dog tags used both numbers.

A dog tag is the informal name for the identification tags worn by military personnel because of their resemblance to actual dog tags. The tag is primarily used for the identification of dead and wounded along with providing essential basic medical information for the treatment of the latter such as blood type and history of inoculations. Army serial numbers asn are part of an official designation and will appear in every military record in which the name of the holder appears i e. As such they have information about the personnel written on them and convey essential basic medical information such as their blood type and history of inoculations they often indicate religious preference as well.

Officially they are identification tags but almost everyone calls them dog tags. In all documents so special care should be taken that the correct asn be used at all times since certain records are filed this way and payments and or allowances are often settled by army serial number and not by name it is always used by servicemen. Military dog tags issued during wwii through korea and into viet nam had a distinctive characteristic that instantly identifies these vintage dog tags and also ranks as one of the most highly debated misunderstood myths or urban legends of all time the notch.