Religious Insignia on Dog Tags Act

HR 453, the Religious Insignia on Dog Tags Act, requires the Secretary of Defense to update Department of Defense regulations within 90 days to permit religious symbols to be combined with official military trademarks on commercially sold dog tags. This change, effective retroactively from September 13, 2013, directly affects service members who wish to wear religious insignia on their commercial dog tags and the commercial vendors authorized to sell them. The bill’s key mechanism is amending DoD Directive 5535.12 to allow this combination, making it permissible for licensees to sell such tags. It does not change military-issued dog tags but modifies rules for commercial products.