MILITARY RECORDS

  1. Branch Status Date Record Location
    Army Discharged, retired, or separated from any component

    10/16/1992 to 12/31/2013

    		 Department of VA, Records Management Center
    on or after 01/01/2014 AMEDD Record Processing Center
    Navy Discharged, retired, or separated from any component 01/31/1994 to 12/31/2013 Department of VA, Records Management Center
    on or after 01/01/2014 BUMED Navy Medicine Records Activity
    Air Force Discharged, retired, or separated from any component 05/01/1994 to 12/31/2013 Department of VA, Records Management Center
    on or after 01/01/2014 AF STR Processing Center
    Discharged or retired from Reserves or National Guard 06/01/1994 to 12/31/2013 Department of VA, Records Management Center
    on or after 01/01/2014 AF STR Processing Center
    Marine Corps Discharged, retired, or separated from any component 05/01/1994 to 12/31/2013 Department of VA, Records Management Center
    on or after 01/01/2014 BUMED Navy Medicine Records Activity
    Coast Guard Discharged, retired, or separated from Active Duty - Reservists with 90 days active duty for training 04/01/1998 to 09/30/2014 Department of VA, Records Management Center
  2. Military Service Department unit histories and military operations:
     

 

 

Records not at NPRC

State Militia Records

The National Archives does not hold state militia records:

For these records, you will need to contact the appropriate State Archives.

 

See Records Location Table for listings and locations of military personnel and health records.

 

  1. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) records: For further information call the VA Toll Free number 1-800-827-1000.
     
  2. Pay records: If available at all, these would be at the various Department of Defense Finance Centers.
     
  3. Records of veterans who have been separated from active service but have reserve status, either active or inactive: Contact the Reserve Component of the appropriate branch of service.
     
  4. Older military personnel records, generally prior to WWI depending on the service branch are on file at the National Archives and Records Administration, Old Military and Civil Records Branch (NWCTB), Washington, DC 20408. See Requesting Copies of Older Military Service Records for more information.
     
  5. Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) of veterans who have been discharged, retired or who have died in service since January 1, 1995 (Navy), January 1, 1999 (Marine Corps) and October 1, 2004 (Air Force): Contact the Personnel Center or Headquarters of the appropriate branch of service. The Army, since October 1, 2002, has also ceased retiring OMPFs of former service members to the NPRC; however, the NPRC has access to those records and will service your requests. See Records Location Table for complete details.
     
  6. Records of members currently in the National Guard: Contact the Adjutant General's office of the appropriate state. The National Guard Bureau  website contains additional information.
     
  7. Records of former National Guard members who were not called into active federal service: Contact the Adjutant General of the state in which the member served.
     
  8. Recent active duty Health Records: Formerly, when a member was released, discharged or retired from active duty, the military services retired the health record to the NPRC with the personnel record portion (note: the Department of the Navy retired its health and personnel records to the NPRC separately until the late 1980s).

    However, in the 1990s, the military services discontinued the practice of filing health records with the personnel record portion. In 1992, the Army began retiring most of its former members' health records to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). Over the next six years, the other services followed suit - Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps in 1994 and Coast Guard in 1998 (see Records Location Table for a listing of personnel and health record holdings and locations). In 2014, the military services discontinued the practice of retiring the records to the Department of Veterans Affiars (VA). In order to determine where a medical record is located, please see the chart below: