The Department of Defense Common Access Card is an everyday sight on military installations. From Soldiers to civilian employees, the card is a means of identification and access to various services on post – including access through the gates. Because the card is issued to Soldiers, civilian employees, affiliates, contractors, etc., each is distinguished by its own associated color.
Within the next few months, CAC cards issued to new (or renewing) recipients will undergo a visual revamp in order to make each card distinction more noticeable.
“In compliance with Federal Identity Standards, the Department of Defense has added Affiliation Color Code to the front of the card,” read a notice from the Defense Manpower Data Center. “This feature will aide those with impaired color perception in recognizing the affiliation of the card-holder. The affiliation color code ‘B’ for Blue, ‘W’ for White or ‘G’ for Green shall be printed in a white circle under the expiration date.”
“The modifications are taking place because there are certain individuals that are – for lack of a better word – colorblind,” said Willie James Austin, DEERS and ID card site supervisor. “Now basically they’re basically adding a circle with a letter. That’s going to help the individuals at the gate to identify who they’re dealing with.”
In addition to color-coding, changes will be made in font sizes on the front of the CACs to accommodate longer first and last names.
“The cards you have now, depending on how many letters are in your name, it cuts it off,” said Austin. “What this will do is shrink the font so your entire name can now fit on your identification card.”
Under the new guidelines, font sizes will range from seven to 10 points. Using the seven-point font size will allow space for three lines of text on the cards and will be used if the full name does not fit into two lines using the eight-point font size.
“And those are the only two major changes,” said Austin. “Besides that, everything will stay the same.”
The changes to the CACs will begin in July at Fort Campbell’s RAPIDS ID issuance facility at 2702 Michigan Ave.
“Like any other change, when it pushes there’s always some sort of glitch, so it might be a while before it runs smooth,” Austin Said. “So I’d expect for it to become fully operational around the August or September timeframe.”
No changes will be made to the back of the cards, and DOD officials say that existing cards will not be reissued solely for the purpose of these changes. Rather, the revamped card will be issued upon expiration or need for replacement.
“This is going to be something that is grandfathered in, so if you already have an active card, it doesn’t have to be changed,” said Austin.
Austin encourages anybody who has questions about the CAC revamp to contact the Fort Campbell ID card office at (270) 412-7967.
