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The DD-214

You don't need us to get it back.

About half the families who order don't have the DD-214 in hand. It's the most common reason people stall out on this, and it's an easy fix.

Who can ask

The veteran can request their full record from the National Archives at no cost. So can a surviving spouse, parent, child, or sibling. The request takes about ten minutes and all it needs at the end is a signature.

That covers anyone discharged in roughly the last sixty years. Older files sit in the archival collection and the Archives charge for copies there. The amount depends on the size of the file, so it cannot be quoted in advance. They send an invoice and the copies follow payment. It's an official fee and it goes to the government.

Turnaround runs anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the branch and the era they served in. Records from before the 1970s can take longer, and a fire at the St. Louis records center in 1973 destroyed a large share of older Army and Air Force files. Which files burned, and what to do if theirs was one of them.

Two ways to ask

Online, through eVetRecs. This is the Archives' own system and the quickest route. It needs an ID.me account to confirm who you are, which takes a few minutes to set up. Start the request online →

On paper, with the SF-180. One form covers every branch from the First World War onward. Print it, sign it in ink, mail it. Where it goes depends on the branch and on the year they left, and the chart that decides it is on page 2. Service completed before the First World War uses different forms altogether. Get the blank form →

Either way the Archives deals with you directly and going through anybody else will not get you a faster answer.

Not sure which applies to you? Answer a few questions and we will tell you which route, what it costs, and what goes in the envelope. Free, and nothing you type leaves your browser.

Before 1950

The DD-214 is the new form.

It started on 1 January 1950. Anyone discharged before that has something else in the envelope, and the service record underneath is the same. Name, serial number, organization, dates, battles and campaigns, decorations, wounds received. Different paper and different field numbers. We read all of them.

  • Army & Army Air ForcesWD AGO 53-55  enlisted
  • WD AGO 53-98  officers
  • NavyNAVPERS 553
  • Marine CorpsNAVMC 78-PD
  • Coast GuardNAVCG 553

Every one of these is old enough to sit in the archival collection, so the Archives charges for the copies. Whoever sends the request gets the invoice and pays the government directly. Our price is the same for every era.

What a tribute costs →

The 1973 fire

On 12 July 1973 the records center in St. Louis burned and took sixteen to eighteen million personnel files with it. No duplicates were kept and nothing had been microfilmed first. Two branches lost records.

Army. About eighty percent of the files are gone for anyone discharged between 1 November 1912 and 1 January 1960. That includes the Army Air Forces before 1947.

Air Force. About seventy-five percent are gone for anyone discharged between 25 September 1947 and 1 January 1964 whose surname falls alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.

Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard files were not part of the loss.

A burned file can often be rebuilt. The Department of Veterans Affairs can help reconstruct a record from other sources, such as morning reports, payroll data and unit rosters. How the VA reconstructs records →

Every fact in a tribute gets checked against paper. If you can send us alternate documents, we will look at them case by case. Contact us and we’ll tell you what we can work with.

No DD-214 in the house?

The National Archives sends a copy free to the veteran or to next of kin, and the request takes about ten minutes. We’ll show you the quickest way to ask for the era they served in.

No private company should ever charge you for obtaining a DD-214. If a service quotes you a price to get one, walk away.

Start now if you are aiming at a date. The Archives can take a couple of months, longer for older records. You need their DD-214 in hand before you order.

Free, and we mean free

Find the fastest way
to request their record.

There is more than one way to request a military record and the right one depends on when they served, which branch, and who you are to them. Answer a few questions and this will tell you which route is fastest, what it costs, and what to put in the envelope. Everything you type stays in your browser. Nothing is sent anywhere, saved, or seen by us.

1 Who is asking?
2 What year did they leave the service?

A rough year is fine. If you have no idea, put the year they came home.

3 Which branch?
4 Could you set up an ID.me account?

The Archives use ID.me to confirm who you are online. It needs a photo ID and a phone, and takes a few minutes. It is free. It is also the only thing standing between you and the faster route.

About your privacy

This page has no database behind it. The questions above are answered with buttons and a year, and the result is worked out by a script running on your own computer. Nothing is transmitted when you press the button, because there is nowhere for it to go.

We also do not ask for the one thing the request form needs that actually matters: the Social Security number. That goes on the paper form, in your handwriting, and it travels from your mailbox to the Archives without passing through us.