page_title: Dog tag
section_title: Australia
hierarchical_section_title: Dog tag / Variations by country / Australia
caption_attribution_description: English: An example of dog tags as issued by the Australian Defence Force
context_page_description: "Dog tag" is an informal but common term for a specific type of identification tag worn by military personnel. The tags' primary use is for the identification of casualties; as such, they have information about the personnel written on them, and convey essential basic medical information such as their blood type and history of inoculations. They often indicate religious preference as well.
  Dog tags are usually fabricated from a corrosion-resistant metal. They commonly contain two copies of the information, either in the form of a single tag that can be broken in half, or as two identical tags on the same chain. This purposeful duplication allows one tag, or half-tag, to be collected from a personnel's dead body for notification, while the duplicate remains with the corpse if the conditions of battle prevent it from being immediately recovered. The term arose and became popular because of the tags' resemblance to animal registration tags.
context_section_description: The Australian Defence Force issues soldiers two tags of different shapes, one octagonal and one circular, containing the following information:
  AS (denoting Australia, previously both AU and AUST have been used)
  PMKeyS/Service number
  First initial
  Last name
  Religious abbreviation (e.g. RC – Roman Catholic, NREL – No religion)
  Blood group
  The information is printed exactly the same on both discs. In the event of a casualty, the circular tag is removed from the body.
caption: Australian dog tags, fitted with rubber dog tag silencers
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