ginevent

Dubbed so as it assumes close resemblance to the metal badge on a pet collar, a dog tag is an oblong metal piece strewn though a metal ball-and-socket chain around the neck by armed forces. These chiefly serve to identify casualties in conjunction with fundamental medical background (e.g. blood type, vaccines) for their treatment.

Dog tags are customarily issued in pairs, thus permitting the second copy to be collected whilst the first copy stays with the carrier given circumstances hindering the carrier’s retrieval. Usually, the second dog tag is laced unto the wearer’s combat boots. The edges of dog tags are sometimes set in a rubber frame to avoid clinking.

It is said that the lone professional soldiers in Greece during the ancient times, the Spartans, were the ones who conceived the prototype for dog tags. The called these as skytalides. Spartans engraved their names on bits of wood and affixed these to their left wrists using leather thongs. A material less precious than gemstones and metals, wood thus rendered these archetypal dog tags superficially insignificant and prevented enemy soldiers from looting them. The usage of dog tags allowed the Spartans’ kinsmen in the same battlefield to precisely ascertain their corpses for burial, since Spartans were not habituated to bringing deceased comrades back to their native soil.

The American Civil War in the 1800s supposedly gave the earliest documented account of American soldiers making a sundry of personal attempts in securing their identification. Just like the Spartans, they exerted effort to have their effects properly marked for future identification if they get killed in the combat zone. They fastened paper labels to their clothing that are marked their names and detachment, or etched information on their personal belongings. There were also some who hewed wooden identification tags that they wore around their necks – this was analogous to what the Spartans did when they were about to engage in warfare.

Subsequently, manufacturers arrived on familiar terms with the requisite for a standard identification scheme among American soldiers. Silver or gold pins were on hand through mail order. Brass or lead tags with machine-stamped details were also commercially available. In 1899, Chaplain Charles C. Pierce of the Quartermaster Office of Identification in the Philippines endorsed the integration of “identity discs” in combat field kits. Aluminum dog tags were later officially distributed to military personnel, as stipulated by revised martial regulations.

By tradition, dog tags adorn improvised cenotaphs erected by military personnel in combat fronts for their deceased comrades. Marines also purportedly confer dog tags to their sweethearts on rendezvous and to their cherished individuals prior to deployment.

With martial apparel permeating the fashion arena since the 1960s in, most paradoxically, dissent versus the Vietnam War, gents and ladies from the armed forces aren’t the only ones that may be now caught sporting dog tags. Often emblazoned on these military-esque badges are the wearers’ particulars and their pet passages, as well as names or logos that are of value to them. Jewelers can now tailor dog tags in accord to their customers’ requests.

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.