One of the first steps we take when we get a new client is to obtain all of their military records. We request these from the Department of Veterans Affairs Regional Office. Some clients have wondered why this is a time consuming process.
If the veteran has filed a claim but it is now inactive the file is retired to Records Management Center (RMC). This is a storage facility for the Department of Veterans Affairs. RMC receives over 300,000 inactive claims folders annually from VA Regional Offices. The RMC’s storage area houses over 3.1 million claims folders and over 2.9 million separate Service Treatment Records. An average of over 1,800 claims folders and service treatment records are shipped daily to Regional Offices.
If the claimant has never filed a claim then all of their military records are housed at The National Personnel Records Center, Military Personnel Records (NPRC-MPR). Both of these facilities are located in St. Louis, Mo. At NPRC-MPR they store millions of military personnel, health, and medical records of discharged and deceased veterans of all services during the 20th century. (Records prior to WWI are in Washington, DC.) NPRC (MPR) also stores medical treatment records of retirees from all services, as well as records for dependent and other persons treated at naval medical facilities. They receive approximately 5,000 requests a day. All files at the facility are permanent paper files never to be destroyed and there are currently 80 million records on file. On July 12, 1973 a major fire of mainly the top floor destroyed approximately 1/3 of its 52 million official military personnel files. The National Archives focused its immediate attention on salvaging as much as possible. To this day they still have a Conservation Lab whose main priority is to put the pieces they have of the record back together and conserve as much as possible.
There are several different ways you can request your files and we understand how some of them can be confusing. This is just one of the many obstacles we can help you overcome here at Jan Dils Attorneys at Law. We have the knowledge, and the ability to navigate through the VA Disability Claims process. Our friendly staff is always willing to answer questions you may have, so feel free to give us a call: 1-877-526-3457.
