Once you’ve received a FOIA reply that’s not a “we couldn’t find anything” letter, you’ll need to figure out what it’s telling you.\u00a0 Depending on your background and the service involved you may be able to do that yourself. But in many if not most cases, you’ll need to find someone with substantial military experience in the same service and era as the individual in question to assist you in interpreting what it says.<\/p>\n
For example:\u00a0 if the individual served in the USMC during Vietnam, it’s a good idea to get someone with Vietnam-era service (or with an extensive military background) to assist in evaluating the FOIA reply against that individual’s claims.\u00a0 That individual must be someone who “speaks Marine” and understands USMC records and terms.<\/p>\n
I can’t emphasize this enough:\u00a0 if you can find someone to help you with an extensive military personnel background in the service concerned, you have struck gold<\/span>.\u00a0 Their help will be invaluable.\u00a0 Buy them a drink – or dinner.\u00a0 (smile)<\/p>\n Specialty experience (e.g, an actual former Special Forces guy if you’re dealing with someone who’s claiming Special Forces status or qualification) may also be very valuable in identifying lies and exaggerations concerning specialty qualifications and service.\u00a0 “This Ain’t Hell” is also an excellent resource for sorting out FOIA replies – Jonn absolutely hates military fakes, and he can call on a load<\/em> of expertise to assist in figuring out if a claim might be legit or not.<\/p>\n Don’t be afraid to ask for help.\u00a0 No one knows it all.\u00a0 There’s simply too much to know.<\/p>\n Am I punting here?\u00a0 Damn straight.\u00a0 At first, you’ll likely learn something new with at least every other FOIA reply you get relating to a sister service – if not with each one.\u00a0 And you’ll learn a lot about your own service’s history and practices that you didn’t know before, too.<\/p>\n Unless it’s your service and your era, don’t try to figure it out all by your self; you’re likely to get it wrong.\u00a0 And even if it is your service and era, no one knows it all.<\/p>\n Ask for help, if for no other reason than to get a second set of eyes on the docs.<\/p>\n Other Considerations and Miscellaneous Thoughts.<\/span><\/p>\n 1.\u00a0 To reiterate:\u00a0 even if an individual claims to have only National Guard service (USMC and Navy don\u2019t have National Guard elements, but Army and USAF do), it’s worthwhile to send NPRC in Saint Louis a FOIA request concerning the individual<\/span>.\u00a0 If the individual ever had Federal service while in the National Guard (e.g., for training, was mobilized, or otherwise served on Federal active duty), the NPRC should have records relating to at least that part of their service.\u00a0 Most National Guard members serve at least a few weeks or months on active duty for initial training, so NPRC should at least have a record of that (not a 100% guarantee, but they should and usually do).\u00a0 And combat-zone service will be Federal.<\/p>\n In short:\u00a0 you could get the answer you need from NPRC – particularly if the questionable claim concerns service in combat or a combat decoration – with no need to file a FOIA with the state (or states) in which the individual served in the National Guard.\u00a0 However, you may still need to file a FOIA with the appropriate state(s) for a National Guardsman to ensure you get the individual’s complete story.<\/p>\n 2.\u00a0 If you’re not sure about the individual’s specific branch of service, it’s probably OK to list several.\u00a0 For example, if someone tells you they served in the “Army” but doesn’t go into more detail, it’s OK to list their service as “US Army, US Army Reserve, and\/or Army National Guard”.\u00a0 Many people have service in both the Regular Army and the Army Reserve components (USAR and\/or ARNG); listing all three may ensure a more comprehensive search.\u00a0 (The records are supposed to be consolidated, but I’d guess it’s possible that some records don\u2019t get \u201cmarried up\u201d correctly and a few individuals end up with separate listings for their active and reserve records.)\u00a0 It shouldn’t hurt to indicate both (or all three).\u00a0 Ditto if the individual claims to have served in more than one branch of the military (e.g., USMC and Army).<\/p>\n 3.\u00a0 It’s a good idea to be very careful in how you gather information regarding an individual you suspect might be lying about their military service.\u00a0 Eliciting information from or about them should probably be done carefully so as not to raise suspicion about why you’re asking.\u00a0 And I can’t stress enough:\u00a0 I most strongly recommend<\/span> staying away from anything unethical or illegal in gathering information for a FOIA.\u00a0 Getting fired, sued, or prosecuted just ain’t worth it.<\/p>\n 4.\u00a0 Depending on circumstances, when the situation allows another tactic that might be useful would be to tell the individual up-front you need to verify his\/her claims through official channels and ask him\/her to sign an SF180 giving you access to all or part of their military records.\u00a0 (I really<\/span> wish journalists would do this.)\u00a0 If they balk, that may well be a “red flag” indicator they have something to hide.<\/p>\n 5.\u00a0 If you end up \u201cgetting the goods\u201d on a fake, I would strongly recommend that you be very careful if\/when you confront the person.\u00a0 I’d recommend you think twice about confronting them in person.\u00a0 If you elect to do that, I\u2019d very much recommend you do so in a public place – and bring backup\/witnesses with you to the confrontation.\u00a0 If an individual is lying about their military record, they obviously have at least that much about their past to hide; they may have other questionable (or criminal) tendencies or history as well.\u00a0 The individuals you bring as backup\/witnesses may well come in handy in case the individual becomes threatening and\/or violent.<\/p>\n 6.\u00a0 A caution about negative replies, which I can\u2019t stress enough<\/span>:\u00a0 if NPRC cannot find an individual’s records, be very careful about interpreting their “we can’t find any records” reply.\u00a0 DO NOT take that \u201cwe can\u2019t find those records\u201d as a categorically definitive statement that the individual never served.\u00a0 If the name and SSN aren’t a match, you will get that answer (I’ve made a couple of typos and gotten a bad result because of doing so).\u00a0 If you didn\u2019t send enough information to allow a definitive match, you\u2019ll also get that answer.\u00a0 Ditto if the guy\/gal served under another name, or with a different SSN.<\/p>\n Moreover, sometimes the records technicians at NPRC goof, and send back a false negative (that can happen if the records are checked out at the time and the servicing technician doesn’t notice that fact, or otherwise errs).\u00a0 A post-service legal name change, service under an alias, or the use of a different SSN (legally or otherwise) can also trigger a negative.\u00a0 And as I noted previously, NPRC is allegedly tightening up their release policies.\u00a0 I’d guess they sent out a few bad FOIA replies containing info about the wrong individual (that’s happened on at least one FOIA reply I received) and that tightening up policy is their remedy.<\/p>\n Bottom line:\u00a0 a records \u201chit\u201d is fairly conclusive.\u00a0 A \u201cmiss\u201d is just that: \u00a0a miss.\u00a0 Unless you had a known correct and complete name and SSN<\/span> \u2013 and are certain that the individual used that exact name and SSN their entire life, including during any service in the military<\/em> \u2013 a records miss is NOT definitive proof of that the individual did not serve.\u00a0 And even if you had the correct name and SSN and the individual served under than name and SSN, sometime the techs at NPRC goof.\u00a0 They\u2019re human, too.<\/p>\n 7.\u00a0 However, if a guy\/gal says that NPRC can’t find them because their personnel records or decorations are \u201cclassified\u201d, that\u2019s pure bovine excrement<\/span>.\u00a0 Operations may be classified, but personnel records are not.<\/p>\n Virtually the only classified items found in military personnel records are an occasional classified evaluation \u2013 and classified items are very<\/em> rare.\u00a0 (Evals also aren’t something you can get information about with a FOIA request.)\u00a0 Everything else in an OMPF is virtually always unclassified; a placeholder is there in the individual’s records when a classified item that normally should be there is stored elsewhere.\u00a0 And the placeholder indicates what that item is – e.g., a statement to the effect that the individual has a classified eval.<\/p>\n Decorations aren’t classified<\/span>.\u00a0 The justification and\/or circumstances surrounding an award might be, but the fact of the decoration itself isn’t.\u00a0 Ditto for the orders announcing it and the citation.\u00a0 Those are all unclassified.<\/p>\n 8.\u00a0 I’m not absolutely certain about this, but FOIA inquiries concerning Navy and USMC records for recently discharged veterans seem to me to take a bit longer than others.\u00a0 While NPRC has archive responsibility for all veteran’s records, since the early 2000s the services have maintained electronic records vice on paper.\u00a0 The Army gives NPRC access to theirs (I think the Air Force does too) for the purpose of FOIA requests concerning veterans.\u00a0 The USMC and Navy may not; NPRC sometimes seems to send a FOIA request to the Navy or USMC for action if\/when they get a “hit” on recent Navy and USMC records.\u00a0 Or something else may be going on, or I could be in error.\u00a0 But that’s my impression.<\/p>\n 9.\u00a0 On very rare occasions, records at NPRC may be incomplete.\u00a0 This is very rarely the case, but it can happen.\u00a0 Be careful about publicly \u201couting\u201d someone who actually has other documentation backing their claims.\u00a0 If possible, get a copy of that other documentation and have someone who knows what \u201cright looks like\u201d from the time in question take a look at it first.\u00a0 And if you can\u2019t find anyone who knows what \u201cright looks like\u201d from a particular era, well, TAH often can.\u00a0 (smile)<\/p>\n Fake documents are usually pretty obvious to someone who knows what \u201cright looks like\u201d.\u00a0 Lord knows, fake documents appear to be common when it comes to award certificates and DD214s.<\/p>\n 10.\u00a0 Claims that \u201cmy records were burned up in the fire\u201d are also likewise BS for virtually anyone who was discharged after the Vietnam War ended \u2013 or who served in the Navy or USMC, regardless of when they served.\u00a0 The NPRC fire occurred in July 1973; it affected almost exclusively records from the Army and USAF.<\/p>\n The records affected by the fire were:<\/p>\n I’ll have more info on the fire in a future article.<\/p>\n Bottom line: \u00a0claims that an individual\u2019s records were \u201cdestroyed in the fire\u201d are virtually always BS. It’s definitely BS if they were discharged after December 1963, or if they served in the Navy or USMC.\u00a0 Such claims usually don\u2019t even qualify as a \u201cnice try\u201d when you start asking questions.<\/p>\n 11.\u00a0 Claims that “my records were lost” are similarly almost always bogus.\u00a0 Do lost records occur?\u00a0 On rare occasions, yes.\u00a0 But NPRC stores approximately 57 million military records today (plus over 40 million personnel files relating to former Federal civilian employees).\u00a0 The odds of that being the case for someone making wild claims of derring-do that are otherwise unsubstantiated and can’t be otherwise documented are, frankly, so close to nil as to be laughable.\u00a0 And as the 1973 records fire shows, lost records can generally be substantially recovered from other sources.\u00a0 For starters, DFAS keeps pretty good records of who they paid.\u00a0 (smile)<\/p>\n 12.\u00a0 Finally:\u00a0 the articles I’ve written here apply only to veterans who’ve been discharged from all components of the military or who have retired<\/span>.\u00a0 If you’re dealing with someone who’s currently serving in the military (either full-time or in the reserve components, including the National Guard), the rules on what you can and cannot find out using a FOIA request are quite different.\u00a0 The process described above won’t work reliably for those who are still active or reserve military; at best you’ll get a partial answer, and you might get no answer at all. \u00a0 They also may or may not work if someone has been discharged from active service but still has a military service obligation and is technically still a member of the IRR.\u00a0 (I think they’ll work under that last scenario, but I’m not positive.)<\/p>\n I don’t have a clue as to how to do a FOIA request for information about someone who’s still serving – or what can be released.\u00a0 All I know is that the process – and rules about what can be released – are very different.<\/p>\n . . .\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, that\u2019s it.\u00a0 I hope the articles in this series have been helpful.\u00a0 Lord knows, there are enough fakes out there that everyone working to expose them could use help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\n
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