Identification (ID) tags have been an important part of military history dating back to the end of the Spanish-American War. The United States (US) Army first required tags to be worn by soldiers for identification purposes in the event of severe injury or death in 1906. Over the following century the information on ID tags has changed, with the most recent update replacing the servicemember’s social security number with their Department of Defense identification number (DODID). One piece of information that has remained steadfast, however, is the inclusion of blood type. The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) requires all servicemembers to have their ABO/Rh types on their ID tags. This, however, is not for the purpose of proper administration of blood products. Conversely, Health Affairs Policy 95-005 allows the use of ID tags for Rh typing blood product administration during contingency operations. In the event the US becomes involved in an armed conflict, resource limitations may force the utilization of ID tags for the purposes of administering blood products. There have been few studies assessing the accuracy of ID tags when compared to laboratory-confirmed blood typing, all of which yielding concerning results. Studies performed by the US Army and Air Force revealed ABO/Rh error rates of 10.6%, 4.2%, and 3.7% in 1988, 1995, and 1999 respectively. All three studies concluded that while the inclusion of blood type on military ID tags was never meant to replace laboratory testing for transfusion, in-extremis, physicians may be forced to rely upon the readily available information provided such as ID tags. According to the Joint Trauma System Clinical Practice Guidelines tags for ABO/Rh typing should be utilized as a last resort only, without there being further guidance regarding an acceptable error rate. Given the paucity of data with ABO/Rh error rates ranging from 3-10%, the risk of transfusion reactions from inaccurate tags is non-negligible, and daresay, unknown. Implementation of a standard procedure by which ID tags are created is an easily modifiable factor which may result in a reduction of blood typing errors. Currently, individual servicemembers are relied upon to provide their own blood types for tag creation without cross-referencing the medical record. Furthermore, there are no branch-wide instructions at present to regulate the creation of military ID tags, nor a centralized database to maintain records. Nowadays it is common for servicemembers to create ID tags at non-DOD facilities, without there being distinguishing features from DOD-issued tags. Given the limited research, lack of standardized instruction, and absence of record maintenance, there is a clear need to proactively re-evaluate the current process of ID tag issuance. Additionally, with the advent of rapid type-and-screening, the requirement for ABO/Rh typing on ID tags may prove to be anachronistic. Though the use of tags is only recommended for contingency purposes, should their use be required in the future, we may cause undue harm to those who support and defend our Constitution and our way of life.