Forum: Air Force Life

When you get a dog tag, what is on the dog tag like what's first ? Cause some people told me that the first line is for your name, the second line is your ranking and the 3rd is your date of birth. Do they have callsigns on the dog tag?

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Minimal information: Name - social - blood type - relegious preference

cool thanks, but why do dog tags have that little chipped part at the bottom and why is there 2?

There are two so incase you die, one can be left on your body to identify it, and your comrades can take one to prove you went down.

The chipped part is the way it comes out of the stamper. It really holds no other significance whatsoever.

There are two dog tags because in combat, one is usually taken from you when you are killed. Note the scene in "Saving Private Ryan" when the Ranger team has to collect dog tags and sort through them to see if Ryan was one of the numerous bodies.

The second tag should stay on your body. This way, should the unfortunate time come to identify you, they will have a good idea who you are. A good place to put the second tag is inside your boot. That way if your body ends up not in one piece, they won't lose both dog tags, and they can still have more than one way of identifying your body.

Callsigns hold little to no relevance outside your squadron, or off of the flightline. Also, pilots receive their dog tags well before they ever even become pilots (you get issued dog tags when you enter the service). Thus, callsigns are not on the dog tags.

Rank is not placed on the dog tags because if it was, you'd be changing your tags everytime you got promoted. You can see where this could become a major PITA. Plus, one always wears their current rank insignia on their uniform anyway, AND has their rank on their ID card. No need for redundancies. Therefore, rank is also not placed on the tags.

My tags appeared like so:

LAST NAME, FIRST NAME, MI
XXX-XX-XXXX (SSN)
O POS ROMAN CATHOLIC

Name and SSN are important for obvious identification purposes.

Blood type is important if you are still alive. That way, they know the correct blood or plasma to transfuse into you if you need it.

Religion is important if you are near death, or have been killed. That way, they know the proper Chaplain to call so he can perform any "Last Rites" your particular religion practices.

Hope this helps you.

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

TC, is maybe the lack of rank on dog tags also in case of any detrimental effects it may incur if captured by an enemy? Obviously if you have, for say, General, on your dog tag (though we know a general will prolly never die on the field), then the enemy can extort that to some extent during torture, where as if they just thought you were a very low enlisted, they would not expect much out of you...

-Aaron

If "Homer" is about to make me an involuntary guest of his country, I'd be sure to be rid of any identifying information: rank insignia, ID card, dog tags, anything that could exploit me.

Besides, they know who most any ranking officer, especially a general would be already.

For example, if Gen. Myers or Gen. Jumper turned up missing, the media *COUGH*FOX NEWS*COUGH* would jump all over that story. I could see Geraldo now...

"United States Air Force Chief of Staff General John P. Jumper, callsign 'Laredo' has turned up missing in Iraq. Here is his probable position (draws map in sand)"... Rolling Eyes

No, the reason why they don't put rank on your dog tag is simply because you'd be changing your tags every few years and there really is no need to do that.

Only the minimum pertinent information required is what goes on your dog tags.

Beers and MiGs were made to be pounded!

so everyone gets issued them when they join?? as in mechanics etc not just pilots? in NZ we only get given them when deployed. (lol sorry assumptions haha).

Yes...everybody gets them. I got mine at the end of boot camp. You never wear them unless you deploy usually. However, many young guys wear them regularly to try and impress the ladies. Wink

lol

What Taco is trying to say is that he doesnt need to wear them to impress the ladys Wink

but if your in his vicinity put them on cause youll need everything you got! Wink

-Aaron

lol

DING!DING!DING! We have a winner! I didn't want to say it....thanks for the compliment Aaron.

Taco44

oh ok thats making a little more sense now.

cracking me up. but by the sounds of it, its not like either of you have any trouble there hahahaha Laughing

Not to impress the ladies, but I've worn my tags since basic. 18 years this october!

TC wrote:

The chipped part is the way it comes out of the stamper. It really holds no other significance whatsoever.

The old dog tags had the chipped part so when the soldier died, they would jam one between the 2 front teeth of the soldier.

Last name
First name, Middle Initial
SS#
Blood type
Religious pref.

(I got mine in basic, Jan. 2001)

adamgh81 wrote:

TC wrote:

The chipped part is the way it comes out of the stamper. It really holds no other significance whatsoever.

The old dog tags had the chipped part so when the soldier died, they would jam one between the 2 front teeth of the soldier.

(I got mine in basic, Jan. 2001)

I have heard support from this and also bullshit called on this by reliable sources. But, I have yet to talk to someone who actually kicked someones jaw shut on their dog tags...

It's still in the air as to whether that is true or not.

Forum: Air Force Life

Dog tags