Types of Military Records

The military records of the United States of America cannot be checked by visiting a single department or archive. Quite a few of the researchers are keen to educate themselves on the military achievements of their forefathers and visit the National Archives with the objective of retrieving specific records.

Unfortunately, the process is not so simple and needs much more details for obtaining the requisite information. The kind of military service as well as the approximate date range needs to be specified before the records can be sought. The rank is one of the many details that are required to be provided as well. Receiving a regular pension for serving the country is yet another bit of information that cannot be overlooked while conducting a search for military records.

The National Personnel Records Center (http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/ ) or the NPRC along with the National Archives (http://www.archives.gov/ ) store and maintain every kind of military record between them.

Personnel Records

The National Personnel Records Center, Military Records Division located at 9700 Page Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63132-5100 is responsible for maintaining all military personnel records including those that contain health and medical information. The military servicemen who have retired from active service as well as those of the deceased military men are all included into the huge repository.

The medical records of the dependants as well as the other individuals treated at the medical center are also available here. The records are given on request which needs to be submitted in writing. The details that are considered to be ‘open’ under the law of the nation are disclosed to the requester. Veteran military personnel or their heirs may obtain the record by ordering it online from http://www.archives.gov/veterans/evetrecs/http://www.peoplepublicrecords.org/index.html.

All military personnel records before the World War I can be retrieved from the National archives building in Washington DC. Detailed information about the procedure and information provided can be accessed by logging in to http://www.archives.gov/research/order/http://www.peoplepublicrecords.org/vets-records.html#nara.

Morning Reports and Unit Rosters

Both the morning reports and the unit rosters had been created with the objective of maintaining the various personnel and pay roll functions effectively. The National Records Center uses the information available from these records in order to verify certain assignments and events that are not a part of the official military personal file.

The morning reports are created every morning and contain only the records of those individuals who could not be accounted for or were not present during the roll call.

The unit rosters, on the other hand, contain information about the various members of a particular unit and are created periodically. The regularity of the unit records varies from unit to unit with some of them being created quarterly, others monthly and yet others on a half yearly basis. None of these reports contain any historical information pertaining to the battles and wars. The records are available from:-

U.S. Army Center of Military History
103 3rd Avenue
Fort Lesley J. McNair, DC 20319-5058
U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency
600 Chenault Circle
Maxwell AFB, AL 36112-6424
National Archives and Records Administration
Modern Military Records - NWCTM
8601 Adelphi Road
College Park, MD 20740-6001

Philippine Army and Guerilla Records

These records usually contain information about only those military personnel who had served in the Philippine Commonwealth Army of the United States Armed Forces Far East (USAFFE). It also contains the records of the Philippine Guerilla Forces who served in the World War II. The requests for the records can be submitted to National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records, 9700 Page Avenue, St. Louis, MO 63132-5100.

VA Records

The records for the veteran affairs are stored and maintained by the VA Records Center and Vault (RC&V). Details about the kinds of records available and ways of quick retrieval can be obtained from the official website http://www.rcv.va.gov/.