Service Records for a VA Claim — How VA Gets Them and What Happens If They Are Missing

Your service records show what happened to you in uniform. For a disability compensation claim, two kinds matter most: your service treatment records, the health record from your time in service, and your personnel records, which show where you served and how you left. VA is required to try to get these for you. This guide covers what that duty requires, where the records are kept, how to get your own copy, and what happens when records are missing or were destroyed.

The rules below come from 38 CFR 3.159, 3.203 and 3.304(d) as published on eCFR (current through October 26, 2026) and from 38 U.S.C. 5103A, read on October 28, 2026. Agency practice comes from National Archives and VA.gov pages read the same day and is attributed to the agency that printed it.

The records involved

Personnel records matter in a medical claim too: they can place you in a unit, a location or a job at the time of an injury or exposure.

What the law requires VA to get

In a compensation claim, 38 U.S.C. 5103A(c) and 38 CFR 3.159(c)(3) require VA to make efforts to obtain, if relevant: your service medical records; other records of your service held by a governmental entity; VA medical records and records of treatment VA authorized at non-VA facilities; and other relevant records held by any federal agency.

For federal records the rule is stronger than for private ones. Under 3.159(c)(2), "VA will make as many requests as are necessary to obtain relevant records from a Federal department or agency." That covers military records, VA medical facility records, care at VA expense, and other agencies such as the Social Security Administration. VA may end its efforts only if it concludes "that the records sought do not exist or that further efforts to obtain those records would be futile." Private records get a lighter rule, generally an initial request and at least one follow-up (3.159(c)(1)); see the guide to private medical records and VA Form 21-4142. Social Security records have their own guide, obtaining SSA records.

Your part

Under 3.159(c)(2)(i) you must cooperate fully and, if VA asks, identify the records: who holds them, the approximate time frame, and for treatment records the condition treated. For records meant to corroborate a stressful event in service, you must give enough information for the custodian to search them, which can mean your unit, the dates and the place.

You do not have to order your service records before filing. VA.gov says VA will request your DD214 when it receives your application, and the National Archives says VA will obtain the original health record from NPRC after a claim is filed.

Where your health record is kept

The National Archives says the services stopped retiring health records to NPRC with the personnel file in the 1990s, sent them to VA for a period, and stopped sending them to VA in 2014. Its chart:

The chart gives separate dates for Air Force Reserve and National Guard members.

Getting your own copy

Your own copy lets you see what VA will see. VA.gov describes three routes: the National Archives' eVetRecs tool online (with an identity-verified ID.me account); Standard Form 180 by mail or fax; and milConnect, the Defense Department site, for Air Force discharges after October 1, 2004, Army after October 1, 2002, Marines after January 1, 1999 and Navy after January 1, 1995.

The National Archives says basic records are generally free for veterans and next of kin when the discharge was less than 62 years ago. If your records may have been in the 1973 fire, it asks you to add your place of discharge, last unit of assignment and place of entry into service. It asks requesters not to send a follow-up before 90 days.

Under 38 CFR 3.203(a), VA may accept a DD Form 214 you submit without checking with the service department if the document was issued by the service department (or is a copy meeting the rule's conditions), shows length, time and character of service, and VA believes it genuine and accurate. Otherwise 3.203(c) has VA request verification from the service department.

The 1973 NPRC fire

On July 12, 1973, a fire at NPRC in St. Louis destroyed approximately 16 to 18 million personnel files, according to the National Archives:

For the Army period, VA.gov adds that the fire did not involve records for retirees and Reservists who were alive on July 12, 1973. The National Archives says no duplicate or microfilm copies existed, and that it rebuilds basic service information from other sources, among them VA claims files, state records, Selective Service registration records, pay records, military hospital records, entrance and separation x-rays, and organizational records. Army and Air Force morning reports were saved from the building.

When records are missing or destroyed

VA.gov says VA sends NPRC a specific request, and NPRC searches for documents that may help, which may include unit records, morning reports and hospital admission records. VA.gov asks you to file your claim, complete NA Form 13055 (Request for Information Needed to Reconstruct Medical Data) with as much as you can about your unit, company, battalion, regiment, squadron, group or wing, and send any supplemental records you have or ask VA to help find them.

The supplemental records it lists include statements from service medical personnel, certified buddy statements or affidavits from fellow service members who witnessed your injury or illness, military accident and police reports, employment or insurance exam reports, letters or photographs from service, prescription records, and records from doctors who treated you during service or shortly after separation. For these claims VA.gov encourages working with an accredited attorney, claims agent or Veterans Service Officer.

The notice VA must send

If, after continued efforts, VA concludes it is reasonably certain federal records do not exist or further efforts would be futile, 38 CFR 3.159(e) requires it to tell you, orally or in writing. The notice must identify the records, explain the efforts VA made, describe any further action, including that VA will decide the claim on the evidence of record unless you submit the records, and state that you are ultimately responsible for providing the evidence.

You may see this called a "heightened duty to assist." That phrase does not appear in 3.159; the regulation prints the duty to keep requesting federal records and the notice above. The notice is a prompt to send what you have, including your own detailed statement.

For combat veterans, 38 CFR 3.304(d) accepts satisfactory lay or other evidence that an injury or disease was incurred or aggravated in combat as sufficient proof of service connection "if the evidence is consistent with the circumstances, conditions or hardships of such service even though there is no official record" of it. The combat veterans guide covers that rule.

If something you sent VA goes missing

Evidence you submitted can also fail to reach your file. Keep copies of everything you send, send again anything that is missing, and review your VA claims file (C-file) to see what VA actually has.

Note: This article references sections of the VA's M21-1 Adjudication Procedures Manual. The VA periodically reorganizes the M21-1 and section numbers may have changed since this article was written. For the most current section references, visit the VA's public M21-1 Web Automated Reference Material System (WARMS).

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need to get my service treatment records before I file a claim?

No. Under 38 CFR 3.159(c)(3), VA makes efforts to obtain your service medical records when they are relevant to a compensation claim, and the National Archives says VA will obtain the original health record after the claim is filed. Your own copy can still help you check what is there.

Were my records lost in the 1973 fire?

The National Archives says it affected Army personnel discharged November 1, 1912 to January 1, 1960 (about 80% lost) and Air Force personnel discharged September 25, 1947 to January 1, 1964 with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E. (about 75% lost). For the Army period, VA.gov says it did not involve records for retirees and Reservists alive on July 12, 1973.

What happens if VA cannot find my service records?

VA keeps requesting federal records until it concludes they do not exist or further efforts would be futile (38 CFR 3.159(c)(2)), then sends the notice in 3.159(e). VA.gov describes reconstruction through NPRC using NA Form 13055 and supplemental records such as buddy statements.

Are VA hospital records handled the same way?

Yes. Records from VA medical facilities, care at VA expense and other federal agencies are federal records under 38 CFR 3.159(c)(2), so VA makes as many requests as necessary.