Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Martin E. Dempsey introduces service members before they presented "dog-tags" to members of the U.S. national mens basketball team before their exhibition game against the Dominican Republic at Madison Square Garden in New York city Aug. 20, 2014. (Photo by MC1 Dan Hinton)
WASHINGTON —
Thirty U.S. service members presented military identification tags -- also known as, “dog tags” -- to the Team USA basketball all-stars, Aug. 20, in New York’s Madison Square Garden during the halftime ceremony of the Team USA and Dominican Republic game.
Army Gen. Martin E. Dempsey, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Mike Krzyzewski, Team USA’s coach, presided.
Both teams are preparing to compete at the International Basketball Federation, commonly known as FIBA, World Cup championship tournament slated to start later this month in Spain.
The presentation was part of the “Commitment to Service” relationship the U.S. military has with USA Basketball.
Military identification tags are symbols of what it means to represent America, said officials speaking in advance of the ceremony.
Both sides the hope partnership will foster the spirit of service that is integral to America.
FIBA, derived from the organization’s French name, Fédération Internationale de Basket-ball, is an association of national organizations that governs international competition in basketball. The FIBA World Cup championship games are slated to be played in Spain between August 30 and September 14.
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