In order to successfully secure Veterans’ service records, regional office (RO) a. Basic Elements in employees responsible for this development activity must Securing Veterans’ carefully consider a variety of factors that affect where service departments Service Records route service records after a service member’s period of service ends, and understand the various means for securing service records from their respective custodians, which often include agencies outside of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The information in this section provides employees with the factors they must consider in order to determine the current location of a Veteran’s service records, and an explanation of the proper means for requesting service records. For listings of service record custodians, their contact References: information, and the address codes for requesting records from them through the Personnel Information Exchange System (PIES), see M21-1, Part III, Subpart iii, 2.D and E. b. Determining Knowing whether a Veteran left active duty with an obligation for further Whether a service in the Reserve components (which includes the National Guard) is Veteran Has an critical in locating his/her service records. Additional Service The table below explains how RO employees may use the Veterans Obligation Information Solution (VIS) and a Veteran’s 214, DD Form Certificate of to determine whether a Veteran has Release or Discharge From Active Duty, an additional service obligation and, if so, the type of service he/she is currently performing. If Then the Veteran … … the type of separation shown on the left active duty with an obligation Veteran’s is for further service in the Reserve DD Form 214 Release components. From Active Duty the type of separation shown on the left active duty with further no Veteran’s is service obligation. DD Form 214 Discharge the code in the RESERVE is currently an active member of the COMPONENT CATEGORY (RCC) Reserve or National Guard. field in VIS (under the heading National Guard and Reserve Service is Period) SA the code in the RCC field in VIS is is currently in the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR) or Inactive National RE Guard (ING).
a. Basic Elements in Securing Veterans’ Service Records In order to successfully secure Veterans’ service records, regional office (RO) employees responsible for this development activity must carefully consider a variety of factors that affect where service departments route service records after a service member’s period of service ends, and understand the various means for securing service records from their respective custodians, which often include agencies outside of the Department of Defense (DoD) and the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). The information in this section provides employees with the factors they must consider in order to determine the current location of a Veteran’s service records, and an explanation of the proper means for requesting service records. References: For listings of service record custodians, their contact information, and the address codes for requesting records from them through the Personnel Information Exchange System (PIES), see M21-1, Part III, Subpart iii, 2.D and E. b. Determining Whether a Veteran Has an Additional Service Obligation Knowing whether a Veteran left active duty with an obligation for further service in the Reserve components (which includes the National Guard) is critical in locating his/her service records. The table below explains how RO employees may use the Veterans Information Solution (VIS) and a Veteran’s DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge From Active Duty, to determine whether a Veteran has an additional service obligation and, if so, the type of service he/she is currently performing. If … Then the Veteran … the type of separation shown on the Veteran’s DD Form 214 is Release From Active Duty left active duty with an obligation for further service in the Reserve components. the type of separation shown on the Veteran’s DD Form 214 is Discharge left active duty with no further service obligation. the code in the RESERVE COMPONENT CATEGORY (RCC) field in VIS (under the heading National Guard and Reserve Service Period) is SA is currently an active member of the Reserve or National Guard. the code in the RCC field in VIS is RE is currently in the Inactive Ready Reserve (IRR) or Inactive National Guard (ING).
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