.

軍人身份確認牌亦稱兵籍牌，因其外形又常俗稱為「狗牌」。其目的是為了便於對傷亡的士兵進行身份的鑑別，和獲取諸如血型^[2]、預防接種史及宗教信仰等必需的醫療相關基本信息。狗牌通常用不易磨損及腐蝕的金屬製成。由於戰場條件可能不允許屍體被迅速掩埋，狗牌或者易於分成兩份，上面各有相同的一份信息；或者直接使用兩塊標籤牌。

"Dog tags" is the informal term for the identification tags worn by military personnel, because of their resemblance to actual dog tags. The tags are primarily used for the identification of dead and wounded soldiers, and to convey essential basic medical information, such as blood type^1] and history of inoculations, along with religious preference. Dog tags (called "identity discs" in the UK^]) are usually fabricated from a corrosion-resistant metal although they have been made from whatever was available.

They may contain two copies of the information and be designed to break easily into two pieces; some nations use two identical tags. This allows half the tag (or one of two tags) to be collected from a soldier's body for notification, while the other half (or other tag) remains with the corpse when battle conditions prevent the body from being immediately recovered.

United States of America

In the 1990s, the U.S. Army stopped using the term dog tags, replacing it with the designation ID tags.

A persistent rumor is that debossed (imprinted with stamped in letters) dog tags were issued from World War II till the end of the Vietnam War and that currently the U.S. Armed Forces is issuing embossed (imprinted with raised letters) dog tags. In actuality, the U.S. Armed Forces issues dog tags with both types of imprinting, depending on the machine used at a given facility. The military issued 95% of their identification tags up until recently (within the past 10 years) with debossed text.

The U.S. Armed Forces typically carry two identical oval dog tags containing:

U.S. Marine Corps

• Last name^[
• First and middle initials and suffix; blood group^[]
• Social Security number with three/two/four format as follows:123 45 6789^]
• Branch ("USMC"); Gas mask size (S – small, M – medium, L – large)^[
• Religious preference, or medical allergy if red medical tag^[

 

U.S. Army

• Last name
• First name, middle initial
• Social Security number
• Blood type
• Religion

 

a Dog Tag belonging to Draftee Schultz, Wilbur H, ASN 38062988. Steel Dog Tag, fourth type, but still with address of next-of-kin, and necklace with hooks and catches.