Why are military men assigned two sets of dogtags?

Question

I just wondered cause hubby has two sets..he wears one and i wear the other..is it just in case u lose one?

oh thats not good then if i have his dogtag huh? i mean he is in Iraq...right now

he has the one for the toe..it creeped me out i didn't want to get near it...and he has on for his neck....will u please pray for him

Answer 1

(IMy husband is no longer in the Army but I have one dog tag on my key chain- I like having it with me, there's no other item that represents his life like that dog tag does)

It was during the Civil War that soldiers first found the need for some kind of identification on their bodies during combat.

According to the National Museum of Naval Aviation:
"In the days of the Civil War 0f 1861-1865, some soldiers going into combat improvised their own identification, pinning slips of paper with name and home address to the backs of their coats, stenciling identification on their knapsacks or scratching it in the soft lead backing of the Army belt buckle."

Record keeping was haphazard under wartime conditions and grave locations were often lost. After the conclusion of the Civil War the U.S. Army located and exhumed the remains of 300,000 Union veterans buried in the South, then reinterred these remains in a national cemetery. Nationwide, 54% of the number reinterred was classified as "Unknown". At Vicksburg National Cemetery 75% of the Civil War dead are listed as unidentified. At Salisbury National Cemetery, North Carolina, 99% of the 12,126 Federal soldiers interred are listed as unidentified.

The first national cemeteries were established in 1862 by an act of Congress to provide a burial place for "soldiers who shall die in the service of the country". Upright headstones with rounded tops mark the graves of known soldiers. Small, square blocks, incised with a grave number only, designate the unknown veterans. A few graves are marked by other than government issued headstones

Graveyard picture of known soldiers with upright headstones with rounded tops and unknown soldiers with small, square blocks.
From 1862 to 1906, many systems of identification were presented to the government for adoption and publicly for individual sale. Then in 1906 a circular aluminum disc was presented and by 1913 identification tags were made mandatory.

From 1862 to 1906, many systems of identification were presented to the government for adoption and publicly for individual sale. Then in 1906 a circular aluminum disc was presented and by 1913 identification tags were made mandatory.

During WWII the circular, engraved disk was replaced by the rectangular shaped dog tag with a Notch. The nickname “dog tags” was adopted during WWII. The dog tags on the right, are shown without silencers.

Silencers were put in use around the end of 1944. Those who never received silencers may have looked for their own solutions by sticking the tags together with cotton ties, rubber rings from gasmask tubes, and/or adhesive tape.


During the late 1950s the Notched dog tag was discontinued and replaced with the tag that is used today—without a notch.

Also, the second tag was separated from the first tag by placing it on it's own short chain, 5.5". Thus, coming to be known as the "toe tag".

Purpose of the Notch
There are many explanations for the Notch on the WWII / Korean Conflict dog tags. The notch refers to the “V” cut out on the short side of the dog tag across from the hole.

Battlefield Use The most popular explanation for the notch is to place the tag securely (in the teeth) on a fallen soldier’s body. This may have been done but that was not the original purpose of the notch. (There’s a great story told about a soldier who was kicking the tag into the teeth of a “dead” soldier and actually “woke” him up!)

Dog Tag Stamping Another popular belief is that the notch was used in the old Graphotype dog tag stamping machines in order to line up a blank dog tag for proper tag alignment during tag stamping. We have used both electric and hand crank machines from the WWII era, and have never figured out how a notch would help in the alignment of the tag. If you have any pictures or comments about this, please let us know.

Transfer of information to Medical Records The best explanation is the notch’s use by the Medical Corp submitted by Alain Batens.

“The Model 70 "Addressograph" was a pistol-type imprinting machine used by the Medical Department during WWII. Its function was to transfer the wounded soldier’s identification information directly from his dog tags to his medical records (see above graphic). The notch in the dog tag would align and hold the tag securely in the "Addressograph". First the dog tag was inserted into the imprinting machine. After the medical document was aligned in the "Addressograph", the trigger on the imprinting machine was pulled and the information on the dog tag was transferred to the medical document through the ribbon of carbon paper located inside the "Addressograph".”

The red arrows in the picture above, are showing the carbon marks from the use of the Addressograph to transfer data from a soldier's dog tags to the "Report of Burial".

Today, the notched tag is no longer used by the US government and has been replaced by one tag placed on a short chain, 5.5" long, commonly referred to as the "Toe Tag".

Answer 2

I served in two tours in Vietnam, one in 68-69, the last in 71 and, unfortunately can tell you first hand why. Place one id tag between the lower and upper jaw, on edge and give the lower jaw a good kick; this will lodge the id tag firmly between the teeth so that it won't get lost during the transport of the body. If there is no jaw or head then try to lodge it firmly in whatever bone you can. Don't know about the toe (never heard of that one), I wouldn't think that would be a secure spot to place it in the field. Give the other to your tactical Sargent or platoon leader to turn in.

edit: You've got one of his tags! That's great as he would never disobey orders and get killed with only one tag. Really, don't worry as it will make you crazy and won't help him. We are all praying for our soldiers.

God Bless

Answer 3

The main reason for two sets of tags (one is usually on a shorter chain and detachable from the other) stems from the use of the "A" Bag/"B" Bag system of World War II.

Instead of hauling all of your worldly possessions around with you on your back, you had a duffel bag with most of your stuff in it. This was kept in your billet when you went into combat, and was sent up to the front, or your next base, or wherever, by truck, jeep, or mule. Although you were supposed to mark your bag with your name, unit, etc., it was decided that to keep the enemy from figuring out who was in the vicinity if these things were captured, it would be better to simply attach the spare tag to the bag.

When you got your bag, you could retrieve your tag, and since your didn't want to loose it, you put it back with its mate.

Answer 4

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Answer 5

One of the dog tags is to stay with the body. The other is used as an ink stamp to close the soldiers records, in lieu of a signature.

Answer 6

One is usually worn around the neck and one is interlaced in the combat boot, in case dismemberment occurs.

The notch in the dog tags mentioned in other posts was simply an alignment tool used by the embossing machine. (History Channel)

Answer 7

well i dont know how the other branches do it, but the way the Air Force does, is the squadron hold the set of dog tags in a mobility folder it stays with that folder for the entire time the person is assigned to that unit. I was deployed to Guam so we didnt have the dog tags with us. But they are there for medical reasons

Answer 8

One is for the toe in case you die the other is for while you are alive to waer around ur neck foridentification.

Answer 9

they are issued one set of dogtags normal-two tags. one for the body for reporting casuality. if they have two sets it's either by mistake or they asked for two. my brother has two sets. i keep one and he has the other.

Answer 10

Actually I think it is in case someone gets killed. One set is removed from the body while the other is left on. Sorry, you probably didn't want to think about this. Thanks to your Husband for his military service.