"Don I know a few others who have run into this problem...They have them but I think they are just to lazy to look...I had to fight with them to get mine and still did not get all of them....He may have to contact his congressman to get results...I kept most of mine after I got out...It sure made a difference....I am not sure this helps but I sure would contact my congressman or woman for assistance...."
Wes - Teletype/Crypto Operations, 1965-1966 & (1973-1976 @ Lindsey)
============
"John,
Sometimes, if you had filed a previous claim with the VA, your records
would have been sent to the Regional Office handling the claim. Lots of
times thats where they sit forever. They either forget to send them back
or they figure that sooner or later they will use them. This is very
common. The records people in St. Louis lose track of where they are.
Go to your congressman and insit that they file a Congressional request
for the records. The usual request without Cong support tend to sit
forever and the effort is less than what a Cong gets. Different people
handle these.
There was a fire in St. Louis years ago, and many AF and Army records
were lost. I don't remember the years involved, but ask the Cong aide
you speak to about this. Unfortunatly for the unsuspecting GI the Govt
says tough shit to this, can't help you. You have to keep pluging."
Mike, 65-67, Nav Aids
former Cong Aide
============
"Hi:
I am an ex-mobster (1960-1962), from Avondale, Arizona.
Former Post 61 Legion service officer, Avondale, Arizona.
Advise you contact the Department Service Officer of the American
Legion or VFW or DAV Officer of the State. Take your DD Form 214
with you and they will verify that you were in the Service.
Take your paperwork that the VA in St Louis MO sent you that your
medical records cannot be located.
They should process your claim. Are you applying for Agent Orange?
If you are, your DD 214 will show you were in country."
Joe, 60-62
=============
"Hi:
We received The Air Force Sergeants Association Magazine
"Sergeants" for April, 2005 and on Page 31, Number 7 on
Requested Records NOT at NPRC (MPR).
7. Most active-duty health records have not been retired to NPRC-MPR
since 1992 for the Army; 1994 for the Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps;
and 1998 for the Coast Guard. Those records are managed by the
Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), Records Management Center,
4360 Goodfellow Blvd., Bldg. 104, St. Louis, MO 63120-8950.
Call the VA toll-free number at 1-800-827-1000 to identify the current
location of specific health records and to find out how to obtain releasable
documents or information, or visit the Web site at
www.archives.gov.
Hope this helps."
Joe 60-62 (Joe's 2nd reply)
=============
"don
this stuff seems to be on the increase..How come the US Govnt. has
apparently mismanaged more
stuff..it will be about the same as getting civil war records..in no time..
can't help but please keep us all informed of anything that is discovered and
sent to you."
Bob
PI,DonMaung, MonkeyMt.etc. 64-65
==============
"Don if memory serves, I think the records division in St Louis was destroyed by fire a number of years ago. I know because I tried to get some information from there about an illness I had in Viet Nam and was told the records were destroyed."
Bob 60-63
=============
"Dear John,
I've had a similar problem, my medical and dental records for the period I was assigned to Clark, tdy to Stead, and VN are not in my records. Have been battling with the VA since about 2000. I have the DAV representing me but they haven't had much success either. All I can say is good luck."
Jim 60-63 Radio Ops
=============
"Hi John,
I am soooo impressed at how my government treats those of us who kept
their promise to their country! Wish I had the magic bullet for you,
however I have made some progress and maybe something that I found will
help you.
1st MOB from early '64 to the end of '67 as a 1Lt, generally Team
Commander, and pretty much like everyone's history of multiple
deployments. A few injuries nothing remotely close to life threatening,
and repeated AO exposure (didn't most of us?). From there, I was PCS to
Bien Hoa which turned out to be sort of a front-job for "other stuff,"
and generally bad. Again, not really life threatening, but a bit closer
than 1MOB. Back to CONUS at the end of '67, and accepted a discharge
offer in mid '72 (USAF was severely overstaffed with Sr. Captains, a
direct result of having all of us 1Lt's around earlier, and I wasn't up
to another combat tour). To get on the VA's AO registry, I needed
medical records. Strangely, they were already turning up AWOL within a
year of discharge.
1. I have had 5 service numbers: One when I enlisted, another
accepting a commission in the Active Reserve, a third (77525A) when I
accepted a commission in the Regular AF in front of a Marine Captain and
a squad of Marines maybe 25 km N. of Dong Ha, the fourth (FR77525) when
they dropped the A and added the FR, and my SSAN when the military sort
of partially changed over to them. This proliferation of service
numbers really complicated things for me, and may still be a problem ...
the local VA clinic has no record of a hospitalization and surgery at
the field hospital at CRB, but I do have the scars. Still working on
those records!
2. The medical records I do have copies of have strange holes in them.
I finally sent in the last copy of my AF Form 11 (AF Form 7 for
enlisted) which clearly indicates that I was assigned to a medevac unit,
and ... 6 months later, some (but not all) medical records from that
time showed up in the local clinic.
3. First assignment back from Vietnam was to NASA in Houston working on
Apollo. While there, I got the mumps (second sickest I've ever been ...
all I did was fix a good friend's A/C knowing they suspected one of
their kids was coming down with them!). There were already holes in my
record, and most seemed to be caused by everything we did in those times
being classified. I guess they just took everything associated with
that out, whether it was really classified or not. Ellington Dr asked
me, "What the hell did you do and where did you do it?" when he finally
saw them. With the doctor's help, I managed to get a partial set with
all the location data and some of the dates redacted, but a lot of the
basic medical stuff was there.
4. I've gotten a lot of help from my County Veterans' Service Officer.
He officially works for Placer County, but I believe his office (3
people) is funded by the State and VA. It is slow going, but this guy
is persistent. So is the local clinic. I don't know how this works in
all counties and states, however.
5. St. Louis seems to be a bit aloof and bureaucratic. At least one
piece of my records came from the hospital at Mather AFB here in
Sacramento (before it was closed and transferred to the VA ... it's
actually a pretty good facility now). St. Louis disclaims any knowledge
of them, but they carry the stamp that they were copied and sent to the
archive. Obviously, anything in RVN is history, but if you can contact
other facilities that are still in existence, you may get better
response.
My conclusion is, "If you are hoping for a complete, pristine set of
records, you're probably going to be disappointed." Mine have dribbled
in, and there are still quite a few holes, and unfortunately a couple of
contradictions. In fact, there is only one page relating to the
hospitalization and treatment at Ellington when I had the mumps in '69
-- I was off work 32 days and still in treatment for about 50 days at AF
facilities. But, all that said, I do have quite a few of the records
after a lot of effort.
It all sucks big time, I think it is probably immoral, and I wish my
government cared more. I hope you can get some resolution, and I hope
you can pick something out of this that may help. I was thru Saigon
multiple times in '65. I don't specifically remember you, but if you
remember me and think I might have some corroborating records, please
let me know.
Best Regards,
Fred 63-66 Team Commander
Auburn CA CM98lw
===========
"I had a similar problem several yrs ago, and I went to the last base that I was stationed, and got with the medical admin people. They had sent them to the med records secton in St Louis. So I let them work it out with the people at St Louis. When they finally located them, I then got copies to give to my DAV Chapter to fight my case with the VA . Let your last Base med facility fight it out for him."
Jim 65-68
==========
"Hi Don,
FYI, My Wife had saved my letters written from team 4-62 which I sent to the veterans along with copy of orders changing my assignment date from PI to Danang, and they have called me in for a physical which must mean they have excepted the fact that I was "in country". I'll let you know how it turns out."
Vic 60-62
===========
"Hi John & Don,
There is a good article in the "Sergeants"
magazine of April 2005 about getting your records. I
tried scanning it but the paper is too glossy and the
print doesn't show up right. If you were discharged in
1994 to present, the Air Force sent them to: Department of
Veteran Affairs (VA), Records Management Center, 4360
Goodfellow Blvd, Bldg. 104, St Louis, MO 63120-8950. Call
1-800-827-1000 to identify the current location of
specific health records and to find out how to obtain
releasable documents or info, or visit the Web site at
www.archives.gov"
Bob PI 65/66 Team Commander
===========
"John,
I would suggest going to the VA or AF hospital you last visited to see if they have them. If that doesn't work, try your last active duty assigned base. If none have them, go to your Congressman. This sucks"
Rich 64-66 ATC
==========
"FYI
I would keep going back to the record center with a request to check their archives. Believe some records got damage in a fire, don't know which. years were affected.
For myself, on my first try to obtain my records I was told they they could not be found. On my second try, they finally told me that my records were requested by the regional office in Honolulu. If at any time our fellow Mobster went to any VA for consultation, they may have requested for his records from the NPRC and just forgot to send it back; as was the case for me.
My reason for going back to them a second time was "records just don't disappear in thin air". and that seem to have gotten their attention.
Was talking to a fellow member of the American Legion the other day and he mentioned that going to your Congressional Representative may also help as was his case.
I hope he they will find his records."
Carl 68-74
=============
For modern folks, things have changed slightly. A year before I got out, three years ago, my
records went missing for three months. When they resurfaced, they had shrunk by half.
I had a copy made that I keep, but the damage had all ready been done.
When I was going through my seperation briefings, about one third of the folks there had been
through the same thing.
Dale 97-02
