A folded flag in a closet, or a shoebox of photographs showing a young man in uniform, is usually the only military history most families keep.
Someone served. Everyone in the family knows that much. But the actual details of what happened, where he went, what he did, and how he made it home tend to fade fast once the person who lived through it is gone.
The good news is that a much fuller record probably still exists. The National Archives has been quietly holding onto the paperwork this whole time, and in most cases, a family member can request a copy for free.
The process is not complicated once you know the steps, but it does have a few requirements that trip people up. This guide walks through exactly how to request military service records from the National Archives, who is allowed to ask, and what kind of wait to actually expect.
What the National Archives Actually Holds
Most military service records for veterans who served after 1912 are kept at the National Personnel Records Center, usually shortened to NPRC, in St. Louis, Missouri.
This includes files for the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard.
The file itself is called an Official Military Personnel File, or OMPF. It can include enlistment papers, performance evaluations, awards and decorations, and the discharge paperwork known as a DD-214, which is the document that summarizes a person's entire service in a couple of pages.
Records for service before 1912, including the Revolutionary War, the Civil War, and other early conflicts, are handled differently and are held by the National Archives in Washington, D.C. rather than the NPRC. Those older records use a separate request form and are outside the scope of this guide.
Figuring Out If You Are Allowed to Request the File
This is the part that surprises people the most. A military service record is not automatically public just because the person has passed away.
Federal privacy law protects a veteran's file for 62 years after their discharge date. During that window, only the veteran or their legal next of kin can request the full file.
Who Counts as Next of Kin
The government defines next of kin narrowly. It includes the unremarried surviving spouse, a parent, a child, or a sibling of the deceased veteran.
Grandchildren, nieces, nephews, and cousins do not qualify as next of kin under this definition, even if they are the closest living relative doing the research.
If you are the next of kin, you will need to provide proof that the veteran has passed away. A death certificate works, but so does an obituary or a letter from a funeral home. You do not need anything more formal than that.
What You Need If the Record Is Already Archival
Once 62 years have passed since a veteran's discharge date, the file becomes what the National Archives calls an archival record, and it opens up to the general public.
You can figure out whether a record is archival with simple subtraction. Take the current year and subtract 62. In 2026, that means any veteran discharged in 1964 or earlier now has an archival file.
If the record is archival, you do not need to prove you are next of kin, and you do not need a death certificate. Anyone can request a copy, though a small privacy exemption can still apply to protect other people who might be named in the file.
Choosing How to Submit Your Request
There are two main ways to request a record, and which one makes sense depends on your situation.
The Online Route Through eVetRecs
The National Archives runs an online system called eVetRecs, found at vetrecs.archives.gov. It is the fastest option if you qualify to use it.
Veterans requesting their own file, and next of kin requesting a deceased veteran's file, can create an account, fill out the request electronically, and verify identity through ID.me.
In some cases you will still need to print a signature page and mail it in to finish the process, so keep an eye on your email after submitting the online form in case a final step is required.
The Paper Route With Standard Form 180
If eVetRecs does not fit your situation, the backup option is Standard Form 180, usually called the SF-180. This is the same paper form the National Archives has used for decades, and it still works well.
You can download the SF-180 directly from archives.gov, print it, fill it out by hand, and either mail or fax it in. The fax number for the NPRC is 314-801-9195, and mailing it goes to National Personnel Records Center, 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, Missouri 63138.
Fill out as much identifying information as you can. The branch of service, approximate dates of service, and the veteran's full name used during their time in uniform all help the staff locate the correct file faster. If you genuinely do not know a piece of information, write "NA" rather than leaving it blank, since a blank field can read as an oversight rather than an unknown.
When to Choose the Mail Route Over the Online One
A few situations call for the SF-180 instead of eVetRecs. Third party researchers, such as a genealogist working on someone else's behalf, generally need the paper form along with signed authorization from the veteran or next of kin.
Older or more complex requests, including cases where you are not entirely sure which branch of service applies, also tend to go more smoothly on paper, since a staff member can review the full context by hand rather than relying on an online form's limited fields.
What Happens After You Send the Request
Once your request arrives at the NPRC, it joins a queue that receives somewhere between four thousand and five thousand new requests every single workday. That volume is worth keeping in mind before you start refreshing your email waiting for a reply.
The National Archives asks that you wait about ten days before checking on the status of your request, since it takes that long just to log an incoming request into the system. After that window, an online status tool is available for existing requests.
If you submitted through eVetRecs, you can check status through that same portal. If you mailed an SF-180, the National Archives website has a separate status lookup form for paper requests.
Realistic Wait Times, and Why They Vary So Much
For years, anyone requesting military records had to brace for a long wait, sometimes stretching past a year during the worst of the pandemic era backlog.
As of the National Archives' most recent public updates, that backlog has been cleared. Routine requests for a straightforward document like a DD-214 are now often processed within about a week, and other types of requests are typically handled within twenty days under current performance goals.
Those numbers describe routine cases, though, and plenty of genealogy requests are not routine. A file affected by damage, a veteran whose branch or dates of service are unclear, or a request for a full OMPF rather than just a discharge document can all take considerably longer than the routine timeline suggests.
If your family situation involves a funeral, a burial with military honors, or an urgent medical claim, mention that clearly in your request. The NPRC prioritizes those time sensitive cases ahead of general research requests.
What To Do If the Records Were Lost in the 1973 Fire
On July 12, 1973, a fire broke out at the NPRC building in St. Louis and burned for more than a day before firefighters could fully contain it.
The fire destroyed an estimated sixteen to eighteen million military personnel files. No duplicate copies existed, and no microfilm backups had ever been made, which means the loss was permanent for a huge number of veterans.
The damage was not spread evenly. About eighty percent of Army records for people discharged between November 1, 1912 and January 1, 1960 were destroyed. About seventy five percent of Air Force records were lost as well, specifically for veterans with surnames from Hubbard through the end of the alphabet who were discharged between September 25, 1947 and January 1, 1964. Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard records were stored elsewhere and were not affected.
If your ancestor's file falls into one of the damaged categories, do not assume nothing is available. The NPRC has spent decades gathering what it calls auxiliary records, things like pay records, morning reports, and unit rosters, which can sometimes reconstruct a partial service history even when the original personnel file is gone. Mention on your request that the file may have been affected by the 1973 fire, and ask the NPRC to search auxiliary sources if the primary file cannot be located.
What You Might Actually Find Inside the File
A full OMPF can be surprisingly personal. Alongside the expected discharge paperwork, files sometimes include enlistment photographs, performance evaluations written by a commanding officer, records of promotions and demotions, and citations for medals or awards.
For a genealogist, these details do something a birth certificate or census record cannot. They show what a person actually did with several years of their life, often during one of the most defining periods they ever lived through.
A service record will never tell you what your grandfather was thinking the night before he shipped out. It will tell you he stood in formation, wore the uniform, and made it home to become the man you knew.
That gap between the official file and the actual person is exactly the kind of gap Memoracy was built to help close.
The paperwork can tell you where someone served.
Only their own words, recorded while they are still here to share them, can tell you what it actually felt like.
Sign up and start your first story on Memoracy today.
