Your Common Access Card, otherwise known as a CAC card, is an important piece of identification that should always be carried around with you especially on and around military bases and facilities. The CAC card has many functions and information that is all personal to you as a military member or Department of Defense worker.
When you are issued your CAC card, you learn to use it as your identification card. It has your full name, picture and date of birth printed on it along with what section of the Department of Defense you work with; whether it is a military branch or a civilian employer. Stored on this card is information about you and verification numbers that represent you. You use this card to access government computers, rooms that use this card as a key, and other government facilities and networks. It also has an electronic data interchange personal identifier, or EDIPI number. This number is randomly assigned to each person and is like a social security number, which is unique to only that person. The EDIPI is printed on the card and in the integrated circuit chip noting that the card belongs to you when you use it on a government network.
Because of all of this personal identification about you is stored on this card it is essential that you always keep this card on you. If you were to lose this card many things could happen; for example since it states that you are part of that government facility or base and you don’t have it you can be rejected from going to where you need to be. If you don’t have it on you when you are about to try to gain access to a government network you will not be able to log on. Someone could find out your personal identification number that you use to log on to the network and gain confidential information or access sites that you are not allowed to, therefore resulting in a punishment for something you did not do. The other reason to constantly keep your CAC card on you could be