Seeking clarification regarding ordering archival military service records
J. Andrew Jun 14, 2019 11:59 PMI understand that the Official Military Personnel Files of veterans that separated from military prior to 1957 are considered Archival Records Requests and are therefore subject to different rules than for latter records. However there are a few finer points on which I need clarification.
1) Can eVetRecs be used to request archival records by persons other than a "Next of kin" (spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, sister, brother) or are non-next-of-kin required to instead use an SF-180? For example, can a grandson use eVetRecs to order the records of his grandfather that served during World War II and separated prior to 1957.
2) Does the cut off date for separation only include active duty service, or does it include all forms of service? For example, if a person served as active duty in the Army Air Corps/Army Air Force and latter entered the Air Force Reserves or the Air National Guard, does the discharge date from the active duty or from the reserves count as the cut off date for whether the records are considered archival?
3) If a military member served in more than one branch, in nonconsecutive enlistment terms, or in more than one status, will there be separate OMPFs for the same person, or will all their years of service be combined into one file?
To pick some examples from people I know:
A person serves in the Army Air Force and then in the US Air Force.
A person enlists as a Regular Army solider. He then enters the National Guard for a period of several years. He then reenters the Regular Army.
A person enlists in the US Army Reserves. He then goes through ROTC, accepts a commission and is placed on active duty as an officer.
A person enlists in the Army Reserves. He then transfers to the Army National Guard. He then transfers to the Regular Army.
A person transfers from the Army to the Navy.
3) Your web pages state that there are fees for ordering archival OMPFs. Does this apply to orders of archival records by the veteran himself or his next of kin?
4) Your web pages state in some places that archival OMPFs are open to the public and the Privacy Act does not apply, and in other places it states that information in these files might be redacted for privacy reasons. Which is the case? In cases where the veteran is deceased is there still a possibility of privacy related redactions? Does it make a difference if the request is coming from a next of kin?
5) In regard to the 1973 fire, if someone served first in the Army Air Force and then in the Air Force Reserves, should we look at the listing for the Army or for the Air Force when judging the likelihood that there records were destroyed? The person I'm thinking of had a surname starting with A.