When Did The US Military Switch From Serial Numbers To SSN's??

[arwalden]

The other day at my barber shop, I overheard two retired vets trying to remember what year it was. One of them swore that it was 1947, and the other one said it was 1957.

My attempts to Google the answer haven't been very successful. Do you know when it was?

-- Allen

[SotarrTheWizard]

1. I t **was** after 1955. . .

. . .my father's discharge was in 1955, and HIS papers had a serial, not an SSN. . .

[GOPisEvil]

2. My dad joined in 1956. I have his duffel bag, and there is a serial #.

So, I'm guessing '57 is correct.

[rangerfan]

3. 1968. I enlisted in 1968 and was issued dogtags with a service

number and within a few weeks was issued new dogtags with the SSN on them.

[Frodo]

4. 1969

Was the first year that everyone had switched over.

[jukes]

5. that occurred while i was inservice

C 1968/69; i was given an RA# when i enlisted, but mustered out w/my SSN.

[Dyedinthewoolliberal]

6. I was in from

1968 to 1972. Had both. I think they stopped using serial numbers by 1980 or so. I still rmemember my serial number too. Not sure if thats a good thing....... :)

[arwalden]

7. Well... we're making progress...

My haircut-day is tomorrow... and I'm hoping to be able to impress these fellows with the definitive and authoritative answer to their question.

At least one of them... sometimes both... but at least one of them is always there on Friday around lunchtime. This place often has patrons that remind me of the fellows who hung out at Floyd's barber shop on the Andy Griffith show. It's a treat just to listen to them reminisce and BS and tell fish-stories and war-stories.

-- Allen

[Ganja Ninja]

8. I joined the navy in August of 71 and was given a service ...

number in boot camp but they changed it to my SSN shortly thereafter. So I would say January of 72 but it may have been different in the different branches of the military.

[bearfan454]

9. It was SS number when I went in

in 1974.

[5thGenDemocrat]

12. Right. I went in on January 8, 1974

And I used my SSN number, too.
John
I love questions like this one, where one is required to say "beats the hell outta me." You learn something new every day, y'know?

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

10. In 1970 I went in with a Service Number, it was changed sometime

while I was in.... I don't exactly remember when.

The 47 and 57 dates they are talking about are probably when everyone in the military was required to have a SSN, which was not required before since the military does not contribute to the SS fund.

[lpbk2713]

11. I was in the Navy (enlisted) from 65 - 69

and nothing was ever mentioned about any change from my svc nbr to SSN.

[arwalden]

13. Kick For Evening Folks

[arwalden]

14. Last Kick... Then I'm Letting It Fall