Dog tags are two flat metal tokens attached to a small chain that are carried by military personnel to indicate the person's statistics.
In Game
Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Dog tags can be seen in one instance in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, being carried by the dead soldier Paulsen. They are retrieved by Nikolai. A dog tag can also be seen in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare hanging from the combat boots of Marine Force Recon soldiers. This is maybe to help identify the corpse in the event that the dog tag around his neck is blown off.
Call of Duty: World at War
In Call of Duty: World at War, in the campaign mission "Breaking Point", depending on the player's actions, Roebuck will give Polonsky's dog tags to Miller. If the player saves Polonsky instead, then Polonsky gives Roebuck's dog tags to Miller. Roebuck/Polonsky was killed minutes before by suicide grenadiers. In the mission "Their Land, Their Blood", in the opening sequence the player can see a German soldier tossing around a dog tag. Also, on the death cards hanging from the rifles will be dog tags with the Treyarch symbol on it.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Dog tags are seen once in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, appearing as an emblem in Multiplayer. They are the player's starting emblem, and can be on a player's Callsign at any time.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3
In Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, dog tags are seen in the game mode Kill Confirmed. After the player has killed an enemy, he/she has to collect dog tags that the enemy drops to get points for the team. If another enemy takes the dog tags the kill will be taken away. No matter if the player does collect the dog tags or not the kill will count to the player's personal xp. The dog tags in Kill Confirmed have the name of Ghost in them. Soap's dog tag can also be seen on one of the missions cutscenes. They also represent the beginning emblem in multiplayer, with the description: "Welcome to Modern Warfare 3."
Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Dog tags return in the game mode Kill Confirmed in Call of Duty: Black Ops II. They are virtually unchanged in design from Modern Warfare 3 with the exception of the tags having Viktor Reznov's name on them.
Call of Duty: Ghosts
Dog Tags reappear in Call of Duty: Ghosts, in Kill Confirmed, Grind, Search and Rescue and Extinction.
Multiplayer
The dog tags in multiplayer are once again used when a player dies in Kill Confirmed, but also when a player dies in Search & Rescue. Picking a friendly dog tag up in Search and Rescue allows that player to respawn. Picking an enemy dog tag up prevents the enemy team from possibly reviving that player.
Extinction
When a teammate dies in Extinction, they will leave behind a blue dog tag. This cannot be picked up; however, other players can go to this dog tag and revive the player by holding the use button, just like if that dead player were downed.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare
Dog Tags reappear in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, again in Kill Confirmed and Search and Rescue, as well as Exo Survival.
Multiplayer
Dog Tags are once again used when a player dies in Kill Confirmed as well as in Search and Destroy.
Exo Survival
Dog Tags appear for an objective in Exo Survival. When this objective is active, players must find and collect ten or twenty dog tags (depending on the amount of players) scattered around the map.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III
Dog Tags reappear in Call of Duty: Black Ops III multiplayer, in Kill Confirmed. In Private Match, players can add dog tags to Search and Destroy to make it like Search and Rescue from past games, and it can be added to Team Deathmatch for the same effect as they have in Search and Rescue.
Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare
Dog Tags reappear in Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, in Kill Confirmed, Search and Rescue and Grind. They are also available as an accessory for a weapon.
Multiplayer
The dog tags in multiplayer are once again used when a player dies in Kill Confirmed, but also when a player dies in Search & Rescue. Picking a friendly dog tag up in Search and Rescue allows that player to respawn. Picking an enemy dog tag up prevents the enemy team from possibly reviving that player. They are also used to gain points at for your team in Grind.
Trivia
Easter Egg
- During online gameplay, when the player is killed, a dog tag will appear beside the killed player's name in the leaderboards, representing their death.
- On the match type Kill Confirmed the tags have Simon "Ghost" Riley's name on them.
- Likewise with the Black Ops II version the tags have Viktor Reznov's name on them
- In Black Ops III, the tags have specific names and details for each Specialist, depending on who is chosen as a player's Specialist. Spectre's tag, however, has most of the details scratched out.
- The accessory in Infinite Warfare has the name John Price written on them, with his birth date indicated.
- In Modern Warfare 2 level "S.S.D.D.", if using noclip console command, it is possible to see that one of Rangers that is sitting near several M16A4's at the start of the level has dog tags. On them, it is possible to see written
- "WE MAKE WAR THAT WE MAY LIVE IN PEACE"
- — Aristotle
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It is part of the quote "And happiness is thought to depend on leisure; for we are busy that we may have leisure, and make war that we may live in peace."