How lond should I keep our military records?

Question

I am referring to travel orders, copies of copies, etc. I know to keep all discharge paperwork. Thank you!

Answer 1

I would keep everything as long as you possibly can. You can't count on the military not losing something. Back in 1997, my husband would have been screwed had I not kept some paperwork from 1985. If you can't have it with you, store it at a trusted relative's house.

I would STILL keep the paperwork even after discharge, especially if there is any possibility that a few years from now, this person will go back to active duty or join the Reserves or National Guard. Again, there is the problem of lost paperwork in the transfer of military records from the archives to the Reserve/Guard component, or important paperwork that never made it to the archives. This has happened to people I know. One had to serve an extra two years in the National Guard to get his 20 because of lost paperwork. It wasn't in his record book from the Reserves, and he couldn't prove his actual drill dates because he had thrown away his LES copies. He still had his W2 forms, but the Guard wouldn't accept those.

Go through the records and shred any duplicate papers. You would be surprised how many of those there are. That will eliminate quite a bit of the bulk.

I personally wouldn't rely on storing these documents in any computer format without the hard copies to back it up. Maybe a little of it, but not most of it. Too much changes over time, especially in the computer field. Ever hear of WordStar? That was a popular program back in the 1980s. Try finding a computer program that can read a WordStar document now. Hard drives don't last forever. They get bad spots, then eventually totally crash. Say goodbye to anything stored in a sector that goes bad. Your backup media may not be compatible years from now. Try finding a computer that can read a 5 1/4" floppy now. Zip drives are a thing of the past too. Most new computers now don't have 3 1/2" floppy drives. Those will be obsolete in a few years. Who knows what will happen in the future. Better to play it safe.

Answer 2

The only thing that you need to keep forever is the DD Form 214 and any medical records for VA purposes later on. If there is a question, about any combat related duty, you might want to keep those records/orders. Other than that, the other paperwork makes good bedding, when shredded for the animals.

Answer 3

Yeah, and she's the same broad that twice refused to meet with a national organization of wives of MIA's from the Viet Nam era. Hilarious Hillary is the most classless First Lady this country has ever had to endure, and now she's the most classless, sniveling, whining candidate.

Answer 4

I'd save them all. If your files are destroyed like what happended at the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis back in 1973, you'll need them to piece his service back together again. It could delay you getting some benifits if the records are lost.

Answer 5

Hubby spent last summer scanning in everything, so it is now all filed electronically. He still has hard copies of all of his reenlistments, and his current orders, but everything else is on the hard drive for the rest of forever! (He doesn't get rid of anything... shredded about 30 lbs of paper last summer!)

Answer 6

I have three banker's boxes that contain every piece of paper the Army has given me.

Keep everything and store it away - you never know when one particular piece of paper will be important.

(For example my grad school wanted to see all records of my military training.)

Answer 7

You should keep travel orders, copies of copies (?), LESes, leave forms, etc, for one year. They can be used for tax purposes.

Answer 8

we still have all of ours no one asked to see it for
14 years then they wanted to see discharge papers.

Answer 9

Keep them until your ETS date. Keep your DD214 forever!