"Dog-tags" of the British Armed Forces

Royal Air Force

Mine are army and five lines:

Blood Group
Number
Surname
Initials
Religion

One on the main chain, the second which is connected to the main chain by a very short chain. The second is removed when the service person is killed, for tallying the Dead. The one on the main chain remains with the body forever. If I remember right.

I think the older fibre ones were a red disc for the body, a green octagonal one for the tally. A second red disc was attached to the person's respirator. I know this was still the case (with the modern stainless steel discs) in the RN in ~2003.

One of my colleagues used to keep a third disc laced into his boots. Morbidly, in case he had his head/shoulders blown off. He was a Falklands War veteran.

Thank you, Paul, for your reply!

Some interesting facts about the Australian "dog-tags"...

An octagonal Australian Defence Forces identity disc (the so-called "dog-tag") is to be threaded through the laces of the left boot. As distinct from the US, Canada, UK, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium and other countries, the Australian military identification tags set consists of two differently shaped discs, made of oxidised (black) brass.

The discs are shaped in the octagonal and round forms, respectively. The ADF set is provided with 2 ball chains of steel: 60 cm and 11 cm long. The hexagon-shaped disc is to be placed in the lower part of the left boot's lacing, while the round-shaped "dog-tag" is to be worn on the neck chain.



More info:
http://cartalana.com/002-03.php#0094ba

Haydamaka wrote:

Some interesting facts about the Australian "dog-tags"...
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A lot of defined religions. Yet a few mainstream religions not on the list and a confusing (to me!) distinction between Anglican and Church Of England - don't let my vicar know!

...but no religion "Jedi"... ;-)

(I think "Jedi" HAS been legally recognised as a religion in the UK. The ID disc with that should be worth a pretty penny. Also "Druid", surely non-debatable as a bona fide UK religion.)

Fallschirmwomble wrote: ...but no religion "Jedi"... ;-)
(I think "Jedi" HAS been legally recognised as a religion in the UK. The ID disc with that should be worth a pretty penny. Also "Druid", surely non-debatable as a bona fide UK religion.)

Yes, for sure... ;-) no religion "Jedi"... ;-)

That happens, probably, because of cruel undercover activities of their competitors from the so-called "Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster"... ;-)

Pastafarianism (a portmanteau of pasta and Rastafarianism) is a social movement that promotes a light-hearted view of religion and opposes the teaching of intelligent design and creationism in public schools. According to adherents, Pastafarianism is a "real, legitimate religion, as much as any other"