Our mental image of what happens on the battlefield is heavily influenced by pop culture, particularly the movies. Unfortunately, the people making those movies have usually never been around a real fight, either, and are mostly just making things up as they go.

While we agree that fiction requires some suspension of disbelief to be enjoyable, that's applicable to genres like science fiction and horror. Misrepresenting serious subjects like war on the big screen comes with its fair share of drawbacks. Most of us grow up with a glorified idea of what war is really like, as movie writers are busy writing about dual wielding guns rather than the stench of poop in the aftermath of a typical battle.

10 Showing Off Your Dog Tag Isn't Cool

Dog tags have always been a popular part of casual fashion. They admittedly look quite cool, which is probably because of being associated with the military. Because of Hollywood, a lot of us assume that wearing dog tags as necklaces is something people in the forces do all the time. As any veteran would tell you, though, showing off your dog tag isn't considered to be sound etiquette within the military.

While it's true that you've to wear your tags at all times for identification while on duty, most soldiers keep them tucked inside. Off duty, keeping your dog tag visible in civilian clothes is not in good taste, even – and especially – if you're topless, unlike what the movies tell us.[1]