How do I find Records for a friend/relative who was in the Army?

Contact the National Personnel Records Center at:

Civilian Records Facility
111 Winnebago Street
St. Louis, Missouri 63118-4199

Military Records Facility
9700 Page Avenue
St. Louis Missouri 63132-5100

Phone: (800) 318-5298

At minimum, please include the service member's complete name, social security number and/or serial number, and the requester's return address. Website is: http://www.archives.gov/st-louis/military-personnel/

How do I join the Army?

Thank you for your interest in joining the United States Army. I trust you will find it to be an exciting and rewarding career prospect. If you are interested in the current activities of the army, let me encourage you to check out the Army's website at http://www.army.mil. Our website at http://www.goarmy.com is an excellent place to find out about basic training, read the profiles of real soldiers, and even visit a chat room to talk with Army personnel.

Can non-U.S. citizens join the Army?

Enlistment into any branch of the U.S. military, by citizens of countries other than the United States is limited to those foreign nationals who are legally residing in the United States and possess a Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services Alien Registration Card (INS Form I-151/551 - commonly known as a "Green Card"). Applicants must be between 17 and 35; meet the mental, moral, and physical standards for enlistment; and must speak, read and write English fluently.

The U.S. military branches cannot assist foreign nationals in obtaining admittance into the United States. Questions concerning immigration to the United States should be asked of the U.S. Embassy. Only after immigration procedures are completed and an applicant is legally residing in the United States may an application for enlistment be accepted.

The U.S. Government agency which is responsible for immigration and naturalization is the Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services within the Department of Homeland Security.

Check out the General Qualifications section at: http://www.goarmy.com/careers-and-jobs/enlisted-soldier.html

I am interested in finding out about the missions and personnel in the Department of Defense. Where can I get that information?

The mission of the Department of Defense is to provide the military forces needed to deter war and to protect the security of our country. The Department of Defense is a Cabinet-level organization. Reporting to DoD are the three military departments (Army, Navy and Air Force) and 14 defense agencies. The four armed services are subordinate to their military departments. The Marine Corps is a second armed service in the Department of the Navy. The military departments are responsible for recruiting, training and equipping their forces, but operational control of those forces is assigned to one of the unified combatant commands. For more information, refer to the Defense Almanac website at: http://www.defenselink.mil/pubs/almanac/ For more information about the Army, refer to the Army Homepage at: http://www.army.mil/

I am interested in the background and history of an Army unit. How do I get this information?

Center for Military History
Military History Institute
Center for Army Lesson Learned
Combat Studies Institute Historical Services
World War One
World War Two
Civil War

I need to verify if someone is a member of the military. What Department should I contact?

The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act website has a request form to obtain this information:  https://www.dmdc.osd.mil/appj/scra/scraHome.do

How can I find the address of a specific present or former member of the U.S. Armed Forces?

Requests for military addresses should be sent to the respective service of the individual whose address is being sought. Military regulations and the Privacy Act of 1974 do not permit the military departments to provide email addresses, home addresses or telephone numbers of service personnel. Moreover, regulations do not permit random dissemination of listings of names and addresses of service personnel. These regulations have been established to protect individual service men and women from commercial exploitation and to respect their right of privacy.

Because of the large volume of requests that each service locator receives, please allow four weeks processing time for written requests. The following information is needed for all requests for locator services: Give as much identifying information as possible about the person you wish to locate such as full name, rank, last duty assignment/last known military address, service number, and Social Security number.

The locator service is free to immediate family members and government officials. Other family members, civilian friends, businesses and others must pay $3.50. The check or money order must be made out to the U.S. Treasury. It is not refundable. The United States Army will help you locate individuals on active duty only, not retirees.

The Army World Wide Locator address is:

Commander U.S. Army Enlisted Records & Evaluation Center 
ATTN: Locator 
8899 East 56th Street 
Fort Benjamin Harrison, IN 46249-5301

I was born overseas at a military installation. How do I obtain my birth certificate?

Department of State application for consular report of birth abroad of a citizen of the United States of America: https://travel.state.gov/content/passports/en/abroad/events-and-records/birth/replace-or-amend-consular-report-of-birth-abroad.html

Am I being scammed?

This article may help clarify some of the tricks social media scammers try to use to take advantage of people: https://www.army.mil/article/61432/

  • Soldiers and their loved ones are not charged money so that the Soldier can go on leave.
  • Soldiers are not charged money for secure communications or leave.
  • Soldiers do not need permission to get married.
  • Soldiers do not have to pay for early retirement.
  • Soldiers have medical insurance, which pays for their medical costs when treated at civilian health care facilities worldwide – family and friends do not need to pay their medical expenses.
  • Military aircraft are not used to transport Privately Owned Vehicles.
  • Army financial offices are not used to help Soldiers buy or sell items of any kind.
  • Soldiers deployed to Combat Zones do not need to solicit money from the public to feed or house their troops.
  • Deployed Soldiers do not find large unclaimed sums of money and need your help to get that money out of the country.

Anyone who tells you one of the above-listed conditions/circumstances is true is likely posing as a Soldier and trying to steal money from you.

We would urge you to immediately cease all contact with this individual.

For more information on avoiding online scams and to report this crime, please see the following sites: