BRITISH FORCES DOG TAGS

Unlike US forces, British service personnel are issued with their identification tags only when on active duty.

As a result we rely on the help of past and present service personnel to make sure our tags are as authentic as possible.

The material and type of personalisation used for British identification tags has changed over the years and to this day, the way dog tags are made varies depending on where they are issued.

Currently British Forces dog tags feature two 38mm 316 surgical stainless steel disks which are either laser etched or dot peen marked with the wearers details.

Laser etching gives a permanent black mark on the tags while dot peen marking uses a sharp point to mark out the text using a series of dots.

In addition to the regular circular dog tags, service personnel may also be issued with an allergy / medical tag.

This is a separate rectangular tag that's worn to denote any relevant allergy or medical condition that might to be relevant to medics.

As with the circular tags both laser engraving and dot peen marking is used by the British Ministry of Defense to mark the tags. We have both versions available below.

In contrast to the circular tags the medical tags are worn all of the time, whether on operations or not.

If you've got any info, anecdotes or pictures relating to British Forces ID tags we'd be delighted to hear about it. Please email us at [email protected]