A dog tag serves an important purpose in warfare: it helps with the identification of military personnel. The dog tag is usually worn with a chain around the neck and contains a soldier's personal and medical information. The information on a U.S. military dog tag is arranged in a particular order and form to make it easier and faster to read, especially in emergency situations. Once you know the sequence of details on a dog tag, reading a dog tag is easy.
Read the letters on the first line of the dog tag. This should be the owner's last name.
Move on the the second line, which should be the soldier's first name and middle initial. So if the soldier's name is John J. Doe, the first line will be "Doe" and the second line will be "John J."
Observe the numbers on the third line of the dog tag. It should be a string of nine digits, which is the owner's Social Security Number (SSN).
The fourth line identifies the owner's blood type.
Finish by reading the information on the last line. This is the soldier's religious preference.
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dog tags image by pearlguy from Fotolia.com
Writer Bio
Edriaan Koening began writing professionally in 2005, while studying toward her Bachelor of Arts in media and communications at the University of Melbourne. She has since written for several magazines and websites. Koening also holds a Master of Commerce in funds management and accounting from the University of New South Wales.
