There are other issues that may make the location of your record difficult and possibly add delay to your record’s retrieval: If you had a Service/Serial Number as your military ID, rather than your Social Security Number, and did not provide it, this will sometimes delay our retrieval of your record. Social Security Numbers began their use as military ID only in the late 1960s to early 1970s. If you had a Service/Serial Number as your military ID, generally there is no cross-reference from your Social Security Number. A Service/Serial Number becomes particularly important when your surname is not uncommon. A Service/Serial Number number will greatly increase the likelihood of a successful record retrieval. The NPRC, the single largest records repository, suffered a catastrophic fire in 1973. For more on the fire, visit: http://dd214.us/nprc_73fire.html. If your record was affected by the fire, additional time will most likely be required to locate your record, if it can be found at all. If your record cannot be found, NPRC will attempt to do a reconstruction of your record based on other available sources – all of which will add time to your record’s retrieval. If your record is at NPRC, a physical record facility (generally pre-1995 separations), if you’ve placed a prior order with that facility, the retrieval of your record will most likely be delayed. Your record is then pulled off the shelf making it inaccessible to us until its return. After the NPRC has finished with the chart, it will be placed in a re-shelving area where it may languish another week or two before we can access it. Again, for records at NPRC, a government agency may have requested the chart. If the you have filed a VA claim, for example, the chart may have been pulled. Again, we can’t access the record until it is re-shelved. The information provided to us by you may have been incomplete and/or incorrect. Remember, each request is unique. The facility delays available at the chart above are averages and based on our experience with each facility. In Summary All things being equal, we guarantee that no one can get you your record faster!