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Tagged – Dog Tags – From War Necessity to Fashion Accessory

The “dog tag” is a staple of the military uniform. The classic image of oblong metal discs hanging from a beaded metal chain is both iconic and masculine, and has been used in to represent the American soldier in film and on television arguably since either medium was created. These little metal discs, however, were not intended to be icons, they were intended for something much more simple.

According to military historians, what we now commonly refer to as “dog tags” came into existence during the Civil War. The desire amongst many troops at the time was to have a means of identification on them should they fall in battle, as they were fighting in a time before state issued, or even official identification. The original, field-expedient identification tag was often nothing more than a wooden disc adorned with the barest scratches of a name, and worn around the neck on a bit of string.

Jewelers were quick to offer war-bound troops a more permanent alternative in the form of privately purchased metal disks. These tags, being individually purchased, allowed the buyer to have any information that they wished engraved on the tags. That sense of individuality was increased as the soldier buying the identification disk, as they had several metals to choose from – from tin to gold. With each disk being unique these tags served not only to identify the wearer, but to also speak about his personality.

Jeweler-produced individual identification tags survived the Civil War and remained something of a tradition amongst soldiers until 1899. That year, while Army Chaplain Charles Pierce was stationed in the Philippines he founded the Quartermaster Office of Identifications. One of the Office’s first recommendations was the creation of an official “identity disc” for every soldier in the Army. By 1913, the Army had followed Chaplain Pierce’s advice and set about issuing a pair of identification tags to every soldier.

It wasn’t until World War II that the dog tag assumed the rounded rectangle shape it’s known for, albeit with a notch from where the tag was held by the embossing machine along the lower ridge. When that notch was lost during the Vietnam War, the dog tag had finished its transformation into the shape we know as iconic.

The dog tag as a sign of masculinity has been enforced in American popular culture through a wide variety of war films, ranging from the violent and gritty Platoon, to the polished and romantic Pearl Harbor. Recently, though, the dog tag has crossed over from the military and pop culture realms and into the mainstream, becoming a fast growing region in the jewelry market. Enter the fashion dog tag.

Ironically, the fashion dog tag has more in common with the dog tag’s origins than the modern military dog tag. Like the identification discs of the Civil War era, today’s modern fashion dog tag comes in a variety of materials. From plastics to platinum, and quite literally everything in between, the fashion dog tag can be crafted to suit the identity and personality of the wearer.

The content of the fashion dog tag has equally expanded. Not being bound by military regulations, the fashion dog tag can carry whatever the wearer wishes – names, dates, and images. Like using unique materials, the contents of a fashion dog tag help to separate the wearer, not only establishing identity, but also individuality.

Not all fashion dog tags are a means to establish individuality, however. Many companies and groups are offering dog tags as a means of showing inclusion in a group. In some cases, such as Gucci, the dog tag is a sign of inclusion in a brand, serving as both a status symbol and advertising for the company. In others, such as the non-profit group Pros vs. GI Joes, the dog tag is a thank you give, a method for showing exclusivity and inclusion both within the group that donated to the charity, but also with the group that the charity supports. The highest profile use of fashion dog tags, however, belongs to Nick Jonas. Nick Jonas is using dog tags to spread awareness of juvenile diabetes through his Walk in Nick’s Shoes charity and contributing a portion of the proceeds from sales going directly to charity.

The charity dog tags of the Jonas brothers seem a world away from the simple wooden devices crafted by soldiers in the field during the Civil War, and they are. But the modern dog tag serves the same purpose as the original dog tag, a means of establishing identity. In the modern age, our identity is in constant flux, determined by a combination of not only who we are, but what we do. Through a combination of unique materials, unique content, and group identification, the fashion dog tag is an effective and masculine canvas to help establish that identity.

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