National Personnel Records Center

Official Military Personnel Files (OMPF), Non-Archival Holdings

What is the difference between Federal and Archival Records?

OMPF, Federal (non-archival) Holdings

Branch of Service	Official Military Personnel Files, Non-Archival Holdings*	Access - for Veterans and Next-of-Kin	Access - for General Public
Air Force	Officers and Enlisted with discharge dates thru September 30, 2004	Veterans and Next-of-Kin	NOT the Veteran or Next-of-Kin?
Army	Officers and Enlisted with discharge dates thru September 30, 2002	Veterans and Next-of-Kin	NOT the Veteran or Next-of-Kin?
Navy	Officers and Enlisted with discharge dates thru December 31, 1994	Veterans and Next-of-Kin	NOT the Veteran or Next-of-Kin?
Marine Corps	Officers and Enlisted with discharge dates thru December 31, 1998	Veterans and Next-of-Kin	NOT the Veteran or Next-of-Kin?
Coast Guard	Officers and Enlisted with discharge dates thru September 30, 2006	Veterans and Next-of-Kin	NOT the Veteran or Next-of-Kin?

* Military personnel records are open to the public 62 years after the service member's separation from the military. (To calculate this, take the current year and subtract 62.) Records of any veteran who separated from the military 62 (or more) years ago can be ordered by anyone for a copying fee. See Access to Military Records by the General Public for more details.

For OMPFs with separation dates after the years listed in the above, click Location of Military Service Records, Official Military Personnel Files (OMPFs) and Health and Medical Records.

Please Note: On July 12, 1973, a disastrous fire at the NPRC destroyed approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files. The records affected:

Branch	Personnel and Period Affected	Estimated Loss
Army	Personnel discharged November 1, 1912 to January 1, 1960	80%
Air Force	Personnel discharged September 25, 1947 to January 1, 1964 (with names alphabetically after Hubbard, James E.)	75%

See 1973 Fire for more information on the records affected and the alternate sources used to reconstruct basic service information.

Older military personnel records, generally prior to WWI depending on the service branch (see Records Location Table), are on file at the National Archives and Records Administration, Old Military and Civil Records Branch (NWCTB), Washington, DC 20408. See Requesting Copies of Older Military Service Records for more information.

Active Military, Inactive Reserves or National Guard personnel records are not maintained by the NPRC. Click Location of Military Service Records, Official Military Personnel Files (OMPFs) and Health and Medical Records for additional information.

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