Dog Tags: The History, Personal Stories, Cultural Impact, and Future of Military Identification

The 100 year anniversary of the official use of American military personal identity tags, affectionately known as Dog Tags, recently passed without fanfare. We are currently in a war where the Dog Tag is once again a highly personal item to warriors in every service and their families. Each Dog Tag carries its own human interest story. Receiving it, hanging it around the neck, and feeling it is at once a silent statement of commitment. The tag itself individualizes the human being who wears it within a huge and faceless organization. The armed forces demand obedience, commitment, and duty to a higher cause, but the Dog Tag which hangs privately within their shirts, close to their chests, becomes a part of them. In a way it brings comfort to that fear of every Soldier facing death: I do not want to be forgotten; I will not be unknown. Understanding and sharing the history of Dog Tags, the stories shared with me from personal accounts, the cultural impact on merchandising, and the future within our Armed Services.