On January 14, 2020 First Liberty Institute sent a letter to the United States Marine Corps (USMC) Trademark Licensing Office urging it to allow Shields of Strength (Shields), a private, faith-based, business to continue producing military-themed items such as replica dog tags and jewelry.  The USMC banned Shields from making replica dog tags with inspirational Bible verses after it received a complaint from the Military Religious Freedom Foundation (MRFF).

Because of the USMC’s decision, Shields had to decline a recent request for 2,000 replica dog tags made by a Marine Corps unit to be distributed upon request to individual Marines, many of whom could soon be deployed to the Middle East during rising tensions.

In its letter, First Liberty argues that, “Once the government has created a limited public forum via a trademark licensing regime, it cannot ‘discriminate against speech on the basis of its viewpoint.’ The Marine Corps is therefore prohibited from discriminating against [Shields] because of its inclusion of biblical references on its products, in its advertisements, or on its website.”

For over 20 years Kenny Vaughan and his wife Tammie have been making Shields of Strength replica dog tags with encouraging Bible verses or references on them for service members and first responders. To date, the Vaughns have made over 4 million dog tags and given hundreds of thousands to the US military and other ministries. During the Iraq War, they donated over 50,000 pieces a month and even fulfilled a single request for 30,000 pieces.