Requesting Copies of Military Personnel Records

If you are a veteran or next of Kin

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                                          (Click here if you are not the veteran or next of kin)

You may request copies of Military Personnel Records by clicking:

                                           http://www.archives.gov/veterans/evetrecs/index.html

Go to the bottom of the above page and click on:

• A military veteran, or
• Next of kin of a deceased, former member of the military
  • The next of kin can be any of the following: surviving spouse that has not remarried, father, mother, son, daughter, sister, or brother.

You will be walked through the process.  Items you will need to know before starting to fill out a form so you won’t “time out” on the site and lose info you entered:

1. Social Security Number (If you do not have the “Social Security Number” for your deceased veteran you can locate it at: http://ssdi.genealogy.rootsweb.com/ )
2. Date and Place of Birth (You can obtain the “Birth Certificate” from the court house.  You will need a copy of the “veterans death certificate” for proof of deceased veterans birth certificate and your birth certificate and/or marriage certificate proving that you are the spouse or child of veteran.
3. Service Number (You may get this from the veterans discharge papers or “Report of Separation”. Many veterans filed their separation papers at their local court house)(If you are a veteran and have not filed them at the local court house I highly recommend that you do this.)
4. Approximate Date the veteran left the service (you will need month and year.  You can get this from discharge papers or “Report of Separation” papers.
   1. If you do not have the “Report of Separation” papers for the above information you can order them online at this time.  By leaving one of the red areas blank it will automaticly take you to the form to order the separation papers.

When you have completed the form you will be asked to print, sign and date the signature verification area of your customized form. If you don't have a printer, have a pen and paper handy and you will be guided through the process. This is important because the Privacy Act of 1974 (5 U.S.C. 552a) requires that all requests for records and information be submitted in writing. Each request must be signed and dated by the veteran or next of kin.

Mail or fax your signature verfication form to them, and they will process your request. You must do this within the first 20 days of entering your request, or your request will be removed from our system.

Requesting Copies of Military Personnel Records

If you are not the veteran or next of Kin

If you are not the veteran or next of kin, you must complete the Standard Form 180 (SF 180). You can obtain this form from Fax-on-Demand, (see below for number) or download it, then mail or fax it to the appropriate address on the form.

The SF 180 may be photocopied as needed. Please submit a separate request (either SF 180 or letter) for each individual whose records are being requested. You may submit more than one request per envelope or fax.

• Send by Mail
  
  Mailing address is:

National Personnel Records Center
Military Personnel Records
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis, MO 63132-5100

• Send by Fax
  
  Fax number for requesting military records is 314-801-9195.
  The Center will respond in writing by U.S. Mail.

Order Processing Time

Response times for records requested from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) vary greatly depending on the nature of the request. For example, the NPRC Military Records Facility currently has a backlog of 180,000 requests and receives approximately 5,000 requests per day. Routine requests for separation documents currently require only 2-4 weeks for servicing. However, requests that involve reconstruction efforts due to the 1973 fire or older records which require extensive search efforts may take much longer. The average turnaround time on all requests is currently running at approximately 12 weeks.