Service Identity Tag
Service Identity Tags (other cognomens: Tags, Canid Tags, Ident-plate, Soldier’s Stele,[2b] Dog Tags) are issued to all Imperial Guardsmen and often serve as the only means of identifying their remains. The more heretical renegades collect them as souvenirs[1] or trophies, sometimes using them as a form of psychological warfare. Each unrecovered tag is a hero lost, unable to be lionised in Imperial propaganda.[2b]
Service Identity Tags are typically made with a corrosion resistant metal, like aluminum, and often worn around the owner's neck on a small chain. The Tag has the soldier's name, rank, regiment, and company stamped on it in Low Gothic. In addition, they also have a unique number assigned to them for Departmento Munitorum records. An officer’s Tags might contain access codes for restricted areas or technology.[2b]
They are considered part of the uniform and must be worn on active duty. Many soldiers wear them even when off-duty, seeing them as holy icons showing their willingness to fight, kill, and die for the God-Emperor.[2b]
Some regiments use alternative materials for their Service Identity Tags according to a variety of traditions. For example, the Asterion Grey Legions use golden solars as Tags, and the Leonovan regiments are issued Tags of etched crystal repurposed from the waste of the world’s extensive gemstone mining.[2b]
