NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION
National Personnel Records Center
St. Louis, Missouri 63132-5100

SUBJECT: Applications or requests for action by the Discharge Review Boards and the Boards for Correction of Military or Naval Records

1. Purpose. This memorandum provides instructions for disposing of applications and requests for review of discharges and for correction of military and naval records.

2. Cancellation. NPRC Memorandum 1865.79B is canceled.

3. Reason for cancellation. This memorandum has been updated to reflect a change in the processing of Army requests in conjunction with the new Army Review Boards Agency Support Division (ARBA) St. Louis; and to update NPRC organizational elements and correspondence symbols.

4. Applicability. The provisions of this memorandum are applicable to personnel of the correspondence sections of the military reference branches, the Records Reconstruction Branch, and the Mail and Data Input Section (NRPMO-M), Military Operations Branch.

5. Instructions. The instructions for processing these requests and applications are contained in the attachment to the memorandum.

6. Forms. This memorandum provides for the use of the following forms:

NA Form 13008, Loan or Transfer of Records
NA Form 13051, Transmittal
NA Form 13107, Request for Discharge Review
DD Form 149, Application for Correction of Military or Naval Records
DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge From Active Duty
DD Form 215, Correction to DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty
DD Form 293, Application for Review of Discharge or Separation from the Armed Forces of the United
   States
DAS Form 54, Request for Official Military Personnel Folders
AF Form 1226, Record of Court-Martial Convictions and Time Lost
SF Form 88, Report of Medical Examination
SF Form 89, Report of Medical History
 

DAVID L. PETREE
Director

1. Background.

     a. Establishment and functions of boards.

(1) Discharge Review Boards. These boards were established in each military department (and in the Coast Guard when it is not operating as a service in the Navy) under the provisions of the Servicemen's Readjustment Act of 1944 (Public Law 78-346). Each board reviews, upon its own motion or on receipt of a valid application, type and nature of discharge or dismissal, except for:

    (a) Discharges or dismissals resulting from sentence of a general court-martial.

    (b) Discharges or dismissals by reason of alienage in cases of Army World War I servicemen.

   (2) Boards for Correction of Military or Naval Records. These boards were established in each military department under the provisions of the Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946. They consider applications for correction of discharges or dismissals resulting from sentences of general courts-martial, and for correction of Army World War I discharges from the draft. They determine the existence of errors or injustices and make recommendations to the Secretary of the department concerned. Correction Boards also consider cases which have been previously reviewed by the Discharge Review Boards, or when the statute of limitations has expired for that board.

(1) DD Form 149, Application for Correction of Military or Naval Record.

     Try: here if above link broken.

(2) DD Form 293, Application for Review of Discharge or Separation from the Armed Forces of the United States.

     Try: here if above link broken.

(3) Letter.

(1) Discharge Review Boards. To obtain an initial review, request must be submitted on DD Form 293 and received in the service department form within 15 years after discharge. (The DD Form 149 must be used if it has been more than 15 years since discharge). Review board applications must be signed by the veteran, or if deceased, by the surviving spouse, next-of-kin, or legal representative. If the veteran is mentally incompetent, his/her next-of-kin or legal guardian must sign the request and submit proof of the mental incompetency.

(2) Boards for Correction of Military or Naval Records. To obtain a review by these boards, request must be submitted on DD Form 149. The claimant, his/her heirs, or legal representative must file an application for correction of a record within three years after discovery of alleged error or injustice. The board may excuse failure to file within three years after discovery if it finds it to be in the interest of justice.

     a. Administrative corrections not requiring board action. The mail analyst and technician processing these requests MUST ENSURE that the forms listed above pertain to discharge review or correction of records that can only be accomplished by board action. DD Forms 149 and DD Forms 293 which are used for other purposes, as well as letter requests, are coded to the appropriate level of difficulty and processed according to content. The following information helps determine whether an application received in NPRC is a true board case or a case that can be completed by NPRC personnel. NPRC will correct, in most cases, typographical errors for the items listed below by issuing a DD Form 215, Correction to DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active duty, if the correct information is documented in the record, or if acceptable documentation is presented (a birth certificate or social security card, for example). See latest revision of NPRC 1865.87, Correction to DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty (and predecessor forms), for further guidance.

(1) Name change (provided the name was not changed after separation).

(2) Date and place of birth.

(3) Dates of military service.

(4) Dates of foreign service.

(5) Grade, leave, separation data.

(6) Service number/social security number.

(7) Most awards.

3. Instructions for disposing of applications for board action. Except as indicated in par. 2, above, DD Forms 293 and DD Forms 149 are processed as follows:

     a. Army (excluding Army Air Corps). All Army board applications (DD Form 293 and DD Form 149) are handled by the Army Review Boards Agency (ARBA), SFMR-RBR-SL, Room 4185, Building 100. Mail and Data Input Section personnel (NRPMO-M) forward applications received in NPRC without action to the ARBA for processing. When needed, ARBA requests related records from the appropriate search section via the on-line Registry File terminal, or in cases requiring an expedited search, by submitting DAS Form 54, Request for Official Military Personnel Folders, containing the registry number. When ARBA needs a BIRLS check, it will be obtained through AR-PERSCOM's Entitlements Division.

     b. Air Force (including Army Air Corps).

(1) DD Forms 293, Application for Review of Discharge. These forms are coded by NRPMO-M personnel and forwarded to the appropriate search and file section to pull the record. Upon receipt in the correspondence section, the technician processing the request refers the application and record to AFPC, Randolph AFB, TX, using NA Form 13008. The copies of NA Form 13008 are filed in the appropriate search and file section. NOTE: Do not notify the requester of the referral to Randolph AFB.

If it is found that the record already has been forwarded to the Boards, or to another location, do not hold the application awaiting return of the records; forward it immediately and advise Randolph AFB of the location of the charged-out record.

(2) Documentation required for discharge review applications when master personnel records are not available. Department of the Air Force has indicated that as much as possible of the following documentation should be supplied when master personnel records no longer are available. If one or more of the items listed below were recovered from the fire, or were obtained from outside sources (the applicant himself/herself), the documentation should be forwarded to Randolph AFB.

   DD Form 214, Certificate of Release or Discharge from Active Duty, with any DD Form 215,
   Correction to DD Form 214

   Discharge Orders

   Facts and Circumstances

   Discharge Correspondence

   AF Form 1226, Record of Court-Martial Convictions and Time Lost

   Standard Form 88, Report of Medical Examination

   Standard Form 89, Report of Medical History

   Correspondence indicating applicants' willingness to submit evidence in their possession

   Evidence of efforts to obtain information/documentation from outside sources

(3) DD Form 149, Application for Correction of Military or Naval Records. When applications for board action are received in NPRC directly from the requester, NRPMO-M personnel will forward these forms to AFPC, Randolph AFB, TX, SAF/MIBR, using NA Form 13051, Transmittal. Place a check in the block titled AMissent to this Center."

4. Instructions for disposing of letter requests pertaining to discharge review and correction of records. Except as indicated in par. a, below, all letter requests pertaining to discharge review or correction of records should be processed by mailroom personnel, coded for correspondence action, and routed to the appropriate search and file section.

a. Status of a pending board application. Letters requesting the status of a pending discharge review or correction board application may be sent to ARBA (for Army service) or to the service department offices processing the board applications (for Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps, and Coast Guard service).

     b. Change of reenlistment code. If a request to change a reenlistment (RE) code is received in letter form, correspondence technicians forward the request and record using NA Form 13008, Loan and Transfer of Records, to the service address listed below:
 
 

NOTE: For letters requesting change of RE Codes pertaining to Navy service, forward DD Form 149 to the veteran requesting he/she submit an application.

     c. Letter requests for discharge review. Correspondence technicians use NA Form 13107, Request for Discharge Review, as the transmittal for DD Form 293 or DD Form 149, as appropriate, based on the veteran's discharge date. Check the block advising requester to complete and submit application to the appropriate address shown on the form. Other blocks may be checked, if necessary. Always check the first block in addition to any others that may be appropriate. If records show case was reviewed previously, AFTER A THOROUGH EXAMINATION OF THE RECORDS, check the box as shown below on NA Form 13107.

     The records show your case was reviewed previously. We understand the Boards will grant further
     review only if additional evidence not previously considered can be produced. To enable the Board to
     determine whether a rehearing is warranted, be sure to describe in detail the evidence being
     submitted with your application.

If copies of records are also requested, send copies of the veteran's separation document(s), facts and circumstances, records of courts-martials or non-judiciary punishment, discharge package (letters of notification, commander's report and recommendation for discharge), etc.

     d. Letter requests for amendment or correction of records. For letters involving amendments (changing substantive information contained in the records), correspondence technicians follow procedures in the latest version of NPRC 1864.102, Privacy Act implementation in NPRC reference service operations. If there is evidence that the service department has previously responded to the request for amendment of the record, send the requester a DD Form 149. If any doubt exists concerning whether to send the application to the requester, consult the supervisor.