How to Search Military Service Records
Military service records can be a useful reference in genealogy or familial research. Service records contain information such as dates served, ranks achieved and awards earned. If you would like to see the military service records of a veteran, there are websites, like Ancestry.com and Accessgenealogy.com where the information can be looked up, though these sites all charge a fee. There are also a couple of different ways in which military service records can be obtained free of charge, depending upon on your relationship with the veteran in question.
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Instructions
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Veterans & Immediate Family
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Open the eVetRecs system. EVetRecs is an electronic system for requesting copies of military personnel records that can be used only by military veterans or next-of-kin. Family members who can obtain copies of an individual's military service records using eVet Recs include a spouse, a parent, a child or a sibling.
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Click the "Request Military Records" button to begin a military record request. A window will launch and request the required information for a request.
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Type in the information requested by the eVetRecs system. The system provides boxes to enter the veteran's personal information, like name and other identifying information, and which personnel records of the veteran that you would like to obtain.
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Print the page that asks for signature verification. Sign and date the form.
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Provide proof of the service person's death if you are next-of-kin. Accepted proof of death includes a death certificate, published obituary or letter from a funeral home.
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Fax or mail the signed eVetRecs request, along with proof of death if required, to the National Personnel Records Center within twenty days of the online request. If it is not receive within twenty days, the request will not be processed.
Fax the form to (314) 801-9195 or mail to: National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records, 9700 Page Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63132.
Non-Related Requesters
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Download and print standard form SF-180 if you are not the veteran or next-of-kin. This form must be completed for all other military service record requests.
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Fill in the information requested on SF-180. Personal information, such as full name, social security or military service number, branch and dates of service, is requested, but not all information must be completed in order to process a request. Required information is marked on the form.
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Send the SF-180 in to the proper address. The address to which the SF-180 form should be mailed depends on the branch of the military in which the person served and which personnel records are being requested. All addresses are listed by branch record type on the bottom of the SF-180 form.
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Tips & Warnings
A surviving spouse can obtain military service records using eVetRecs only if her or she has not remarried.
