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Do you still carry your Dog Tags?

PaddiegruntPaddiegrunt Member Posts: 20 ✭✭
edited April 2013 in US Military Veteran Forum
I do, they help me remember the 24 guys that didn't come home from "C" 2nd of the 60th Infantry 9th Infantry Division in the year I was there - 1968
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Comments

  • elubsmeelubsme Member Posts: 2,323 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My wife mounted them in a shadow box with my ribbons and a few pictures and patches. Eddie
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  • Laredo LeftyLaredo Lefty Member Posts: 13,451 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I still have mine, but I dont carry them around. They are in the garage in an ammo can with my old Army stuff.
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  • ltcdotyltcdoty Member Posts: 4,183 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I do but I probably shouldn't.The day I got discharged, they had us look over our DD214s for errors. Mine said I had B+ blood , but my dogtags read A+. I raised my hand, they took me somewhere and drew more blood, yup I had B+.....then I remembered my induction physical, the Army medic,( who was short), stuck me three times, and missed the vein,he was going to try again, and I said screw you, so I guess he just filled it in A+....I guess its a good thing I never got hurt and needed blood[:D]
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  • Old-ColtsOld-Colts Member Posts: 22,697 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I still have mine, but I don't carry them.

    If you can't feel the music; it's only pink noise!

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  • dheffleydheffley Member Posts: 25,000 ✭
    edited November -1
    My oldest son has mine.
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  • IronrifleIronrifle Member Posts: 664 ✭
    edited November -1
    They are here somewhere? Still have my draft card in my wallet.
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  • River RatRiver Rat Member Posts: 9,022 ✭
    edited November -1
    No. Although I still have them, in my box of mementos.

    I have survived all this by keeping a balance between Remembering and Not Remembering. That is, I don't dwell on it. I'm not one of those who goes around wearing dog tags or old fatigues, or even a veteran's ballcap. Although these are okay for someone if they can keep their balance. Every once in a while I meet someone who is stuck in 1968, and you'd think they just got off the plane. I feel like saying "Hey, the war's over! You survived! Live like it!"

    So the answer is "no," I don't carry my tags. After 37 years, I can actually go several days without thinking about it.
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  • StingSting Member Posts: 629 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I too have my dogtags but don't carry them. My 'Guidebook for Marines' is in front of me right now because I just posted on the knife thread and wanted to look at a bayonet again.

    I have my Dress Blues, and one set of greens, (always loved greens the best), hanging in the closet and they still fit me well. I will never allow myself not to fit into my greens.

    There is also a reminder in my greens pocket that I'll always have as a memory. The stump of a cigarette butt.
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  • MMOMEQ-55MMOMEQ-55 Member Posts: 13,134
    edited November -1
    My ex threw all my stuff away. I lost tags, uniforms, all sorts of things. DD-214, all my promotions, everything.
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  • River RatRiver Rat Member Posts: 9,022 ✭
    edited November -1
    Tough deal, MMOMEQ. I had an ex like that. "Mean" doesn't half-describe her. I was flat out surprised when, a year after the divorce, she actually mailed me my medals and pins. I had everything else, including ribbons and discharge papers.

    You might check with a VA rep, and see about replacing what you can. You might be surprised at what they can do.
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  • NAMVET1970NAMVET1970 Member Posts: 1 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I do also, they have my old service number not my social. they are on my key ring, may help me get them back if lost. I also have a new set with SSN on them. Why you ask? Well I did 6 active stayed out 10 years went into the reserve(unemployed for 18 mos. needed the cash) did 24 in reserves, retired at age 60 (they kicked me out) with 30 years service. MMC USN (RET) ps I still fit my uniform, and still wear it when the occasion is needed, I am still involved in the CPO mess at Great Lakes(retired from the same placed I started at)!
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  • sgmhsgmh Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yes I still ware mine I did it for 30 years I just don't feel right with out them. SGM[:)]javascript:insertsmilie('[:)]')
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  • SpokesSpokes Member Posts: 341 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I still have them but I don't carry them with me.
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  • widowmakerwidowmaker Member Posts: 28 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Carry them and my 1911 every day. Why---is the war over ? ?
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  • 11echo11echo Member Posts: 1,008 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I've got them but I don't "carry" ...they were always a pain in the neck ...the hair around my chest and neck would rap around the chain and the chain would try to pull them out! [xx(] They're in a box in the closet. ...HOWEVER I still carry the first P38 I got my hands on at Ft. Ord!!! Betya most of the Vet.s still "carry" them![;)]
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  • joker19joker19 Member Posts: 110 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I put mine in a book for my grandchildren along with the other grandpa's. Nothing special just a thing to remember us by.
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  • joker19joker19 Member Posts: 110 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    11 echo........wow!!! I still have my very first P38!!!
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  • tmj00099tmj00099 Member Posts: 15 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yeah somewhere in the attic with the rest of my stuff. The only exception was my dad's WW2 navy dress blues. I had them restriped in 72 wore them the whole time in. Theses were made in hongkong, I think. He was in NewZeland when he got them special pocket in flap in blouse dragons under the sleeves and flap. That is in storage still in good shape, doubt the tags are.
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  • Delta CaribouDelta Caribou Member Posts: 2 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Gentlemen,
    For Dog Tags, there are many on line. I just checked one site called: Dog Tags Online.com (clever, huh?) and they do all of them. The ones with the notch (like mine) and the newer ones.
    Also, one can now get one's DD214 via the internet. Most important piece of paper I have from the Military.
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  • Fighto109Fighto109 Member Posts: 7 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I carry one still, (in my billfold) hole wore thru to the edge of the tag. The other was on my boot when I got hit, never got it or the boot back--
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  • bojedisbojedis Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I don't even own a green sock. The only three things I have is my picture and book from boot and my dd214.
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  • George of the JungleGeorge of the Jungle Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Most of us wore our tags in our boot laces in the jungle when I got home I put one on my key ring with a p38 after many years the tag wore through, so I put it away. The p38 still is hanging in there. The other tag is still in my jungle boots in the attic. Sometimes it seems like yesterday, it will be 40 years in Jan. boots on the ground.
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  • swampratswamprat Member Posts: 12 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I wore the hole out of my only tag left,so I put it and ribbions in a shadow box,and yes I too still have my first p38.I was lucky enough to get my first captured 7.62x.39 round taped to my chest in Camp Zama Japan July, Aug 68.Thanks Doc,13 stiches 14 inch scar(EM) wide stiches,again thanks Doc.
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  • HOGWILDMANHOGWILDMAN Member Posts: 5 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have had one of mine on my key ring since November 14, 1970.
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  • Jimboak47Jimboak47 Member Posts: 8 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Yes I still have mine. My 16 year old daughter wears them every day.
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  • brotus2brotus2 Member Posts: 178 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Still have mine. Nam 65-66.
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  • 48094-48094- Member Posts: 19 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I have mine in a display with my Purple Heart. Vietnam 1968.
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  • hogleg7hogleg7 Member Posts: 3 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I used to get a P38 in every box lunch from the in-flight kitchen.
    I never saved any, strange. guess I always figured they'd be there if I needed one. I used to keep one of my dog tags on my keychain, until I had a jacket stolen from me while I was in a bar and realized my house, Harley, car key was on the ring and I was in the phone book. Now I do keep the remaining tag in my boot lace. I remember what the mayor of New Orleans said to people who refused to evac. "write your social on your arms and legs with indullable marker so when we find your bloated corpse, we will be able to identify it."
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  • A1BigTunaA1BigTuna Member Posts: 126 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I carry mine in my wallet, cause if I do something wrong and get totally wasted or burned up, they will know who it was. Never kept any P38's cause they were always there. RVN Army, first day in country was Jan 31, 1968!! For the first two weeks I thought the only reason we had 1 year to ETS or DEROS, was because we couldn't make it. WWII and Korea had "duration" on their ID's.
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  • huffmanitehuffmanite Member Posts: 58 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    Ever since my Army discharge in 1970, one of my dogtags has been on my key ring.
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  • lee shermanlee sherman Member Posts: 405 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    I carry one on my keychain. The blood type might make a difference one day. The second one is in the sock drawer, where else??[:D]
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  • BergtrefferBergtreffer Member Posts: 629 ✭✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    My tags are in a bag with brass and buttons, stripes, etc. Because my original tags date from August 1962, the art of typing blood changed over the years. In the 1990s I had to get new tags made with my modern blood type designation. It kind of made me wonder how the servicemen in WW-2, Korea, and Vietnam lived through transfusions with slightly incorrect blood type designations on their tags. ? ?
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  • john6012john6012 Member Posts: 97 ✭✭
    edited November -1
    I always got a new set of dog tags when I deployed but always favored my "original" tags. i had them in a tool box with some tools and they mysteriously turned up missing one evening when the kids were cleaning rattlesnakes. I've often wondered who actually stole the toolbox and tools. But thats just another of life's unanswered questions.
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  • fyrfinderfyrfinder Member Posts: 205 ✭✭✭
    edited November -1
    Got mine in the top drawer .. run across them now and then and pause to appreciate them. USMC 60-66. May pull one out and put it on the key ring ... important time in my life back then.

    Got drafted in 61' while I was active duty .. Capt. wouldn't let me anwer their call, he wrote them a nice response telling them that he wouldn't let me go.

    [:)]
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