Service Number - United States

United States

The Armed forces of the United States introduced service numbers on February 28, 1918 and discontinued their use in 1974. The first U.S. military member to hold a service number was Arthur Crean.

The following formats were used to denote U.S. military service numbers:

  • 12-345-678: United States Army and U.S. Air Force enlisted service numbers
  • 123-45-67: United States Navy enlisted service numbers
  • 1234-340: United States Coast Guard enlisted service numbers
  • 123456: United States Marine Corps enlisted service numbers
  • 12345: Service number format for most U.S. military officers

Social Security Numbers are today used as the primary means to identify members of the U.S. military. The common format for a social security numbers is 123-45-6789.

Effective June 2011, the US military has introduced a plan to eliminate the use of Social Security Numbers on military and dependent ID cards, and replace them with a service number, in an effort to prevent identity theft against members of the armed services. All members are expected to have been granted the new service number by 2015.

Read more about this topic:  Service Number

Famous quotes related to united states:

    Printer, philosopher, scientist, author and patriot, impeccable husband and citizen, why isn’t he an archetype? Pioneers, Oh Pioneers! Benjamin was one of the greatest pioneers of the United States. Yet we just can’t do with him. What’s wrong with him then? Or what’s wrong with us?
    —D.H. (David Herbert)

    Today’s difference between Russia and the United States is that in Russia everybody takes everybody else for a spy, and in the United States everybody takes everybody else for a criminal.
    Friedrich Dürrenmatt (1921–1990)

    The recognition of Russia on November 16, 1933, started forces which were to have considerable influence in the attempt to collectivize the United States.
    Herbert Hoover (1874–1964)

    In the United States, though power corrupts, the expectation of power paralyzes.
    John Kenneth Galbraith (b. 1908)

    When, in some obscure country town, the farmers come together to a special town meeting, to express their opinion on some subject which is vexing to the land, that, I think, is the true Congress, and the most respectable one that is ever assembled in the United States.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)