this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2026
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Walk into any American Legion or VFW post.
And ask any random old guy at the bar, if they know somebody who knows the process
There's people all over the country who just do a circuit every couple months helping people out.
To add to this, get in touch with your local VA peer support. They aren't in every city but if you have a regional center they will have at least one peer support. They have the connections to help you get whatever records you need. The military "lost" my dd214 and the only reason I have it now is because of an incredibly persistent peer.
They are also great shoulders to lean on through the process, because it sucks. You will be made to feel like you are less than others for your service connected disability, and sometimes you may question whether you have one at all because of it.
Hang in there!
Depending on age, it was probably the St Louis fire...
An absolute shit ton of military record caught fire, the sprinklers kicked in, and they had people try to reconstruct the records based on pieces that were unburnt.
But everyone should grab copies of their own shit now while they can. Print a copy, email it to yourself, save it on a thumb drive. Have that shit everywhere.
I got out in 2006, that fire happened in 1973
I mean...
But 2006?!
It's not lost bro...
https://www.archives.gov/veterans/military-service-records
They have it if they don't try the VA or OPM. Or your old branch even.
Even if the incredibly slim chance they don't have a dd214, they can (and you absolutely should make them)recreate it.
Like...
There's a shit ton of benefits you're missing out on not having that thing. It's worth the effort to get one
I'm 100% service connected.
But yeah, they did lose it. I have emails from opm and the va just three years ago telling me they couldn't find it. I don't know where my peer found it, but I'm lucky she did. That was half the point of my comment above
Nah dude, I worked in admin while I was processing out in 2007 and they for sure lost shit enough to prompt me to make a copy of my entire record while working there. The people who worked admin full-time told me to do it for my own sake because that was pretty common.
That was before everything was digital by default. Lots of records went missing for no good reason.
Out in 2011 and at any point I would have wanted it, I could have pulled it almost immediately.
But yes, like I said everyone needs to make and keep multiple copies because especially now you can't count on them retaining shit.
You could have pulled it almost immediately because we worked to digitize everything, i was part of that process, yeah.
But that’s not at all the case for someone processing out in 2006, or 2007, and beyond that i don't know.