How Do I Check My Military Awards and Records?

To check your military awards and records, start with Block 13 of your DD Form 214, which lists every decoration, medal, badge, citation, and campaign ribbon from your active duty service. If you don’t have your DD-214 in hand, you can pull your Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) digitally through milConnect or request it from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis. If something is wrong or missing, the fix runs through your service branch’s Board for Correction of Military Records.

Read Block 13 of Your DD-214 First

The DD Form 214, officially the Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, summarizes your entire active duty period, including duty stations, rank, military education, and separation details.¹ Block 13 is the specific field where decorations, medals, badges, citations, and campaign ribbons are recorded.²

Compare Block 13 against your personal records: old orders, award certificates, anything you kept from your service. Awards processed late, or ones that arrived after your separation date, are the most common omissions. If everything checks out, you’re done. If not, keep reading.

Pull Your Records Through milConnect

If you separated recently, the fastest way to see your OMPF is milConnect’s Defense Personnel Records Information Retrieval System (DPRIS). Many requests come back in under two hours, though some take up to two days.³

DPRIS only works if your branch had scanned your records into its digital repository before you separated. The cutoff dates:

Navy: January 1, 1995
Marine Corps: January 1, 1999
Army: October 1, 2002
Air Force: October 1, 2004
Coast Guard: October 1, 2006

Separate before your branch’s cutoff and your file is likely still paper at the NPRC, unavailable through milConnect.³ In that case, request the file directly.

Request Your File From the NPRC

The National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis stores personnel and medical records for discharged and deceased veterans across all branches.⁴ The online request route is eVetRecs, which VA.gov also links to directly.⁵

Prefer paper? Download Standard Form 180 (Request Pertaining to Military Records) and mail or fax it to the NPRC at 1 Archives Drive, St. Louis, MO 63138, or fax 314-801-9195. Include your full name as used during service, service number or Social Security number, branch, and dates of service. Date and place of birth help as well, especially without a service number.⁶

Give the NPRC at least 10 days to receive and begin processing your request before checking status.⁷ Actual processing can stretch considerably longer depending on the complexity and current backlog.

Veterans can request their own records at any time. For deceased veterans, next-of-kin have the same access rights. The NPRC defines next-of-kin as the un-remarried widow or widower, son, daughter, father, mother, brother, or sister of the veteran, and requires proof of death such as a death certificate, funeral home letter, or published obituary.⁴

If Your Records May Have Been Destroyed in the 1973 Fire

On July 12, 1973, a fire at the NPRC destroyed approximately 16 to 18 million Official Military Personnel Files. The hardest-hit records were Army personnel discharged between November 1, 1912, and January 1, 1964, and Air Force personnel with surnames from Hubbard through Z who were discharged between September 25, 1947, and January 1, 1964.⁸

No duplicates existed for most of these files. If your service falls in these ranges and the NPRC can’t locate your record, it may simply be gone. The NPRC does attempt to reconstruct records using alternative sources, and the VA has a process specifically for veterans whose records were affected who need to file disability compensation claims.⁹ Pull together anything you have: old orders, award certificates, unit photographs, discharge papers your state adjutant general may have retained, and any correspondence referencing your awards. That personal documentation becomes the evidence for reconstruction.

Fix Missing or Wrong Awards

When your DD-214 or OMPF shows missing awards or other inaccuracies, corrections go through the Board for Correction of Military Records for your branch. The Army uses the ABCMR, the Navy and Marine Corps use the Board for Correction of Naval Records (BCNR), and the Air Force and Space Force use the AFBCMR.¹⁰ These boards operate under 10 U.S.C. § 1552, which authorizes the Secretary of each military department to correct any record when necessary to fix an error or injustice.¹¹

You apply using DD Form 149 (Application for Correction of Military Records), submitted to the appropriate board. The form is available at VA offices, through veterans’ service organizations, and from the DoD Forms Management Program website. There’s a three-year window from the date you discover the error, but the board can waive that deadline if it finds doing so serves the interest of justice.¹⁰

What to Include With Your Application

Don’t assume your military record already has what you need. The ABCMR applicant’s guide specifically warns applicants to provide copies of all relevant military records in their possession, because not every document and order ends up in the official file. Include copies of orders, award certificates, performance documents, training records, and pay records that reflect the award. For Purple Heart requests, you need a record of medical treatment by medical personnel created as an official record at the time of the wound or injury.¹²

How Long the Correction Takes

BCMR cases are slow. Boards review applications through panels of civilian employees, and the administrative process is not quick. Timelines vary, but cases commonly take a year or more, and complex applications can run to several years. Keep copies of everything you submit.

One procedural detail worth knowing: NARA no longer creates the DD Form 215 (the correction addendum to the DD-214) itself. Under Department of Defense guidance (DODI 1336.01), the DD Form 215 is now created and transmitted electronically by the DoD.¹⁰ Approved corrections still produce an official update to your DD-214; the document just originates from the military department rather than the NPRC.

Request the Physical Medals

Once your record accurately reflects your awards, you can request the medals themselves. Under 10 U.S.C. § 1135, each service branch must replace military decorations on a one-time basis and without charge, either to the original recipient or to the immediate next-of-kin of a deceased recipient.¹³

Where you send the request depends on branch and separation date. Army veterans who left service before October 1, 2002, send requests to the NPRC. Those who separated after that date submit requests to U.S. Army Human Resources Command at Fort Knox, using either a letter or Standard Form 180.¹⁴ For other branches, the NPRC generally handles replacement medal requests, online or by mail.¹⁵ Include a copy of your DD-214 or other separation paperwork to prove entitlement. The NPRC and service branches verify awards against your OMPF before issuing replacements.

For medals beyond the one-time government replacement, you can purchase them from private vendors. The Institute of Heraldry (TIOH) certifies commercial manufacturers authorized to produce military insignia and medals to official heraldic standards.¹⁶

1
National Archives. DD Form 214 Discharge Papers and Separation Documents
2
National Archives. How to Read a DD Form 214 Block by Block
3
milConnect. Defense Personnel Records Information Retrieval System (DPRIS)
4
National Archives. Access to Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF) – Veterans and Next-of-Kin
5
Veterans Affairs. Request Your Military Service Records (Including DD214)
6
National Archives. Request Military Personnel Records Using Standard Form 180
7
National Archives. Check the Status of a Request for Military Service Records
8
National Archives. The 1973 Fire, National Personnel Records Center
9
Veterans Affairs. Reconstruct Military Records Destroyed in NPRC Fire
10
National Archives. Correcting Military Service Records
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1552 – Correction of Military Records
12
U.S. Army. Applicant’s Guide to Applying to the Army Board for Correction of Military Records
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1135 – Replacement of Military Decorations
14
U.S. Army Human Resources Command. How to Request Replacement Medals
15
National Archives. Replace Veterans’ Medals, Awards, and Decorations
16
The Institute of Heraldry. TIOH Certified Manufacturers