V-N era dog tag question

[Ltdave]

hi everyone...

i was given a dog tag from a friend who served in Vietnam from Feb 1967 to April 1968. he was assigned Foxtrot 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines (1st MarDiv)...

having served in the Air Force (albeit close to 20 years later than him) im familiar with most of the notations on the tag...

i have a question though. after USMC, about 4 spaces there is a solitary "M"...

i understand the name, "O" blood type, service number (not SSN), branch of service, and religious preference but that "M" has me baffled. the only thing i could think of is "Male" but i dont think thats correct...


are there any Vietnam Marine vets here (lol... dumb question im sure) that could fill me in?

[Griff Murphey]

Did he have an androgynous name like Ashley or Carroll?

You could have anything you wanted put on one it might stand for Methodist or mother. It was in vogue in 1975 in 1-4 among the platoon leader 2LTs to have one laced into each boot, one regular one and one saying: "BLEEP you, g--k!"

[Ltdave]

found out what it was...


Medium gas mask size...

[blackhawknj]

Medium gas mask ? IIRC the M-17 came in one size-like the helmet liner- you adjusted the fit with the straps. "METH"=Methodist. Like so many things military it sounds like someone wasn't paying attention-or didn't really know what he was doing.

[TomSudz]

The m-17 originally came in three sizes and a fourth- x-small- was added in 1983. Much like the masks used by firefighters, most people fit in the medium. So it's not that anybody wasn't paying attention as much as it was that unless you needed the small or large, you didn't know they existed. (just like most firefighters don't now small and large masks exist)

[jim-d]

The m-17 originally came in three sizes and a fourth- x-small- was added in 1983. Much like the masks used by firefighters, most people fit in the medium. So it's not that anybody wasn't paying attention as much as it was that unless you needed the small or large, you didn't know they existed. (just like most firefighters don't now small and large masks exist)
Only thing a firefighter is concerned with about his mask is that it seals without leaks.

[m1ashooter]

I googled and found this. Hope it helps!

Vietnam-Era USMC Dog Tags
there seems to be many variations that are not as "straight forward" as Army tags. The last name is on the first line and the second line either has both of your initials, or your first name and middle initial. For the third line, the Marines used service numbers which could be 5, 6, or 7 digits. Fourth line is USMC followed by gas mask size. The sizes are XS,S,M,L,XL. Fifth line for religion is fully spelled out such as Protestant, Baptist, Methodist, Catholic, Episcopal, Hebrew, etc.