Buddy Research Help

Tips for Conducting Military Research

If you are sending off to National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis Missouri, make sure that you are either the veteran or next of kin. (See the SF 180 form [PDF]).

If you are not the next of kin, you are able to receive a deleted copy which may be of no value to you or your research. Please remember: If you get a phone call or letter in the mail, when you call that number the individual on the other end of the phone has total control over which information they will give you (controlled by the privacy act).

Request the following to receive your complete military records and replacement medals:

  • Service Records
  • Service Medical Records
  • Personnel (201) File
  • MOS and Duty Assignments
  • Special Training Accomplished
  • Medals/Citations/Ribbons Awarded

If you request only your DD 214, the turnaround time is just a few weeks. If you request other information such as the above list, you will get your entire record as well as a replacement set of medals sent to you. The paper documents can take up to 3 to 18 months and your replacement medals up to 18 months or longer.

Basic Information

Basic information on conducting a web search for information on family or buddies that you might have lost contact with:

  • Prior to January 1, 1950, the discharge/separation documentation wasn't a DD 214. Each branch of service had their own form numbers, so if you are looking for a family member's DD 214 and can't locate it, you may need to look for another form number such as: NAVPERS-553, NAVPERS-661, NMC 258 A and I, NMC 2571 A and I, NAVCG-2510, Army DS ODF.
  • Searching for records using service numbers or social security numbers: You will rarely find anything online with these listed unless it was posted from someone who is sharing their military family history. These are the dates that changed from service numbers over to social security numbers:
    • Army and Air Force - July 1, 1969
    • Navy and Marine Corps - January 1, 1972
    • Coast Guard - October 1, 1974
  • If the Veteran was in during this time, it would be helpful to send/search for files using both. If you are requesting military records from the National Personnel Records Center, put as much information as you possibly can on the SF-180.
  • When browsing any large websites, use the F3 function to search for keywords (last names) instead of having to read through the entire site to see if the information you are seeking is there - your search will be easier.
  • Use small information from one website to help aid in the search on another (i.e., find the area the person lives in then conduct a phone search for only that state or city, use background research websites to get ages and states lived in for free). Use quotes around names or specific things you wish to search for together. "GI Joe" will bring back those exact words in that order, so after that you could put "GI Joe" "1st Cavalry Division."
  • Search for the unit rather than the company or squad-level entity. There are a lot of websites that have Division information on them, and smaller sections that have been submitted by military veterans or their families to keep their honor alive.
  • Search for reunion organizations. Consider those from high school era as well as reunion organizations for the military services. Try to not be too specific until you narrow the search down and get some of the results you are seeking.
  • Use the locator services in the back of many military magazine periodicals. You can have a request put in the magazine, looking for anyone in a specific unit during the years that the veteran was enlisted. Locators are found in the following:
    • Army Times
    • Navy Times
    • Marine Corps Times
    • Air Force Times
  • If you think the person might be deceased, conduct a social security death search on Rootsweb.com.
  • Try to remember which part of the country they were from. Remembering accents or some of their hobbies might help you recall whether they fished on the Great Lakes or in the slues of the Mississippi River delta. A lot of times, people tend to stay in the same climate where they were raised, however, it might also be useful to search for the warm, dry places! The older we get, the more winters wear on us, so looking in the southern states has proven effective at times. Who wouldn't want to be enjoying some nice dry Arizona heat in the dead of winter?

Forms

Standard Electronic SF 180 Form (PDF)