You wouldn’t want your enemies to know where you are during a battle just because you are wearing two metal tags right?Īlso, I am not sure if this is a current practice in Singapore but I have read of instances where soldiers in US wear one tag around their neck and the other threaded through a boot lace. The black rubber casings are meant to silence the sound of metal clinking onto each other. Have you also noticed how some of the tags have a black rubber ring around them? Photo: Mervin Tay Like the SAF 11B, details are engraved onto the ID tags at CMPB itself! This is the machine used to engrave details onto the blank ID tags. Instead, the soldier’s NRIC number, blood group and religion go on one side of the tag while the other side would indicate any allergy the soldier might have. Today, names are not engraved on the ID tags. In fact, during the American Civil War (1861 - 1865), soldiers wrote their names on a piece of paper or handkerchief and pinned it to their clothing before going into battle because they were worried that their bodies could not be identified. It wasn’t only until the 1800s that armies around the world started issuing official ID tags. There were personal details on the signaculum and they served the same purpose as an ID tag would today.įun fact: Since the Medieval times, many soldiers who died were buried in graves marked with a single word “Unknown”. In fact, there are stories dated all the way back to the early centuries when Roman soldiers wore ID tags known as the signaculum. And in the event where the soldier is killed? The oval tag would be placed in his/her mouth because it is the safest place on the body and the circular one would be collected by his/her platoon mates to report the location of the body. If the soldier gets injured, the ID tags would be used to identify the soldier’s blood group and any allergies he/she might have. Notice that there are two differently shaped tags? Each soldier in the Singapore Armed Forces is given one of each when they enlist. Celebrities like Justin Bieber are often seen accessorising with dog tags.īut did you know that these tags have a military origin? Yup, these ID tags are used to identify a soldier if he/she had been severely injured or killed. Many of us have seen people wearing Identity (ID) tags, better known as dog tags, as fashion accessories.
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