How to Find Anyone That Has Been in the Military
Military service members and veterans are followed by long paper trails that provide a roadmap to their time in the Armed Forces. The National Archives takes over the records of those service members when they become veterans. Veterans are issued a Department of Defense Form 214, which contains the veteran's address upon discharge and the address of his nearest relative. The DD-214 also includes the service member's telephone number and the address where he lived when he joined the military.
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Instructions
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Verify that the person you wish to find was actually in the military by visiting the Department of Defense's Service Member Civil Relief Act website (see Resources). Enter as much information as you have about the service member, including his name, Social Security number and birth date. Complete the captcha code at the bottom of the page and click "Look Up." Scroll through the results to find the person's name; if they were, in fact, in the military, their name will appear in the results.
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Visit the National Archives' website at Archives.gov. Download Standard Form 180 (see Resources) and complete the form to the best of your ability. Provide the former service member's name, Social Security number and other identifying information if you have it available. In Section 2 of the SF-180, check the box marked "DD Form 214 or Equivalent" to obtain the service member's discharge papers.
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Mail the SF-180 to the appropriate address as indicated on the last page of the form. For example, the record for a Marine serving in the Individual Ready Reserve must be requested by mailing the form to a different address than the address used for Army veterans discharged after 1992.
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Wait four to six weeks for a reply from the National Archives. The branch of the National Archives that handles military records requests, the National Personnel Records Center, handles nearly 1.5 million requests each year.
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Look at block 19A when you receive the DD-214. The veteran's address at the time of his discharge is contained in this block.
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Tips & Warnings
Use the service member's nearest relative's address if you cannot find the veteran at the address listed on his DD-214. His nearest relative's address is in block 19B.
Veterans may move if a significant amount of time has passed since their discharge from the military, so the address on the DD-214 may not be accurate.
References
Resources
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