United States Government Accountability Office

GAO Report to the Ranking Democratic 

Member, Committee on Veterans’ 

Affairs, House of Representatives 

VETERANS’ 

DISABILITY 

BENEFITS 

VA Can Improve Its 

Procedures for 

Obtaining Military 

Service Records 

December 2006 

 

GAO-07-98 
What GAO Found

United States Government Accountability Office

Why GAO Did This Study

Highlights

Accountability Integrity Reliability

December 2006

VETERANS’ DISABILITY BENEFITS

VA Can Improve Its Procedures for 

Highlights of GAO-07-98, a report to Obtaining Military Service Records 

Ranking Democratic Member, Committee 

on Veterans’ Affairs, House of 

Representatives 

The Ranking Democratic Member, 

House Committee on Veterans’ 

Affairs, asked GAO to determine 

(1) whether VA’s internal 

assessments indicate its regional 

offices are complying with the

requirements of the Veterans 

Claims Assistance Act (VCAA) of 

2000 for obtaining military service

records for veterans’ disability

compensation claims and 

(2) whether VBA could improve its

procedures for obtaining military 

service records for claims involving 

post-traumatic stress disorder

(PTSD). 

What GAO Recommends

GAO recommends that VA take the

following actions. 

To ensure the quality of research 

done on behalf of regional offices 

by VBA’s records research unit at

the National Personnel Records 

Center, VBA should implement a 

systematic quality review program

to evaluate and measure the 

accuracy of the unit’s responses to

regional office research requests. 

To improve timeliness in deciding

PTSD claims, VBA should assess 

whether it could systematically 

utilize an electronic library of 

historical military records to 

identify veterans whose PTSD 

claims can be granted on the basis 

of information contained in such a

library, rather than submitting all 

research requests to DOD’s Joint

Services Records Research Center. 

VA concurred with our findings and

recommendations. 

The Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) internal assessments indicate its 

regional offices generally comply with VCAA’s requirements for obtaining 

military service records for veterans’ compensation claims. For example, of 

the decisions made by regional offices on compensation claims during the 

first half of fiscal year 2006, Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) quality 

reviewers found that less than 4 percent contained errors involving failure to 

obtain military service records. Similarly, of the appealed compensation 

cases decided by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals during November 2004-

January 2006, the board remanded less than 3 percent to VBA for rework due 

to deficiencies in obtaining military service records. However, VBA does not 

systematically evaluate the quality of research done on behalf of regional 

offices by a VBA unit at the National Personnel Records Center, where the 

service records of many veterans are stored. Regional offices rely on this 

unit to do thorough and reliable searches and analyses of records and 

provide accurate reports on the results. Without a systematic program for 

assessing the quality of this unit’s work, VBA does not know the extent to 

which the information that this unit provides to regional offices is reliable 

and accurate. 

VBA potentially could improve its procedures and reduce the time required 

to process some veterans’ claims for PTSD, which may result after a veteran 

participates in, or is exposed to, stressful events or experiences (stressors). 

Regional offices sometimes must turn to information contained in the 

military historical records of the Department of Defense (DOD) to verify the 

occurrence of claimed stressors. While regional offices are able to directly

access and search an electronic library of such records for many Marine 

Corps veterans, they must rely on DOD’s U.S. Army and Joint Services 

Records Research Center (JSRRC) to research such records for all other 

service branches. The JSRRC’s response time to regional office requests 

approaches an average of 1 year. However, by building on work already done 

by several regional offices to establish and use an electronic library of DOD 

military historical records for the other service branches, VBA may be able

to greatly reduce the time required to process many veterans’ PTSD claims. 

www.gao.gov/cgi-bin/getrpt?GAO-07-98.

To view the full product, including the scope 

and methodology, click on the link above. 

For more information, contact Robert E. 

Robertson (202) 512-7215 or 

robertsonr@gao.gov. 
Contents 

Letter 1

Results in Brief 2

Background 3

Internal Assessments Indicate General Compliance, but VBA Has 

Not Assessed the Quality of Its Research Performed at the 

National Personnel Records Center 4 

Potential Improvements in Procedures Could Reduce Time 

Required to Process PTSD Claims of Some Veterans 11 

Conclusions 14

Recommendations for Executive Action 14 

Agency Comments and Our Response 15 

Appendix I Scope and Methodology 16 

Appendix II Overview of Military Service Records 18 

Appendix III VA’s Disability Compensation Claims and Appeals 

Process 25 

Appendix IV Web Sites Listed in the PTSD Rating Job Aids 

Section of VBA’s Internal Network 26 

Appendix V Types of Records Researched by DOD’s U.S. Army 

and Joint Services Records Research Center 28 

Appendix VI Comments from the Department of Veterans Affairs 29 

Appendix VII GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 32 

Page i GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Tables 

Table 1: Decisions of Board of Veterans’ Appeals on Compensation 

Cases, November 2004–January 2006 6 

Table 2: Remand Reasons for 20,191 Issues That the Board 

Remanded Due to Regional Office Deficiencies, November 

2004–January 2006 7 

Table 3: Military Service Records of Individual Veterans 19 

Table 4: Dates When Service Branches Changed the Storage 

Disposition of Service Medical Records and Service 

Personnel Records 21 

Table 5: Web Sites Listed in the PTSD Rating Job Aids Section of 

VBA’s Internal Network 26 

Table 6: Types of Records Researched by DOD’s Joint Services 

Records Research Center 28 

Figure 

Figure 1: Reasons Regional Offices Cannot Always Find Service 

Records at Expected Locations 23 

Abbreviations 

DOD Department of Defense 

JSRRC Joint Services Records Research Center 

PIES Personnel Information Exchange System 

PTSD post-traumatic stress disorder 

STAR Systematic Technical Accuracy Review 

VA Department of Veterans Affairs 

VACOLS Veterans Appeals Control and Locator System 

VBA Veterans Benefits Administration 

VCAA Veterans Claims Assistance Act 

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Page ii GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548 

December 12, 2006 

The Honorable Lane Evans 

Ranking Democratic Member 

Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

House of Representatives 

Dear Mr. Evans: 

In fiscal year 2005, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) paid about 

$24.4 billion in cash benefits to approximately 2.6 million veterans to 

compensate them for disabling medical conditions connected to injuries or 

diseases they incurred or aggravated during active duty military service. 

During that year, VA made decisions on about 198,000 original disability 

compensation claims. Under the Veterans Claims Assistance Act (VCAA) 

of 2000, VA is assigned the duty to assist veterans in obtaining any records 

relevant to their claims, provided the veterans adequately identify such 

records so that VA is able to request them. In addition to military service 

records, relevant records can include, for example, records related to 

medical treatment provided by VA or private health care providers and 

disability decisions made by the Social Security Administration. When 

needed to make a decision, the act also requires VA to obtain a medical 

opinion or a current medical examination of the veteran. VA relies on the 

Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) and its 57 regional offices to meet 

the requirements of this law. Failure to comply with the requirements for 

obtaining relevant records could result in veterans not receiving benefits 

they deserve. You asked that we determine (1) whether VA’s internal 

assessments indicate regional offices are complying with the law’s 

requirements for obtaining military service records and (2) whether VBA 

could improve its procedures for obtaining military service records for 

claims involving post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). 

To address this request, we obtained and analyzed the federal regulations 

promulgated by VA to implement the duty-to-assist provisions of the 

Veterans Claims Assistance Act; VBA’s written procedures for obtaining 

military service records from appropriate custodians, such as the National

Personnel Records Center; VBA’s user manuals for automated systems 

that regional offices use to request military service records from certain 

custodians; VBA’s procedures for and data from its reviews of the quality 

of regional office decisions; and procedures of and data from the Board of

Veterans’ Appeals for its reviews of regional office decisions appealed by 

Page 1 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
veterans. In the process of collecting and analyzing such documents and 

data, we interviewed key officials of VBA and its regional offices, the 

board, veterans’ advocacy groups, and custodians of military service 

records. For more details on our scope and methodology, see appendix I.

We conducted our work during November 2005 to December 2006 in

accordance with generally accepted government auditing standards. 

VA’s internal assessments indicate that regional offices generally comply 

with the requirements of the Veterans Claims Assistance Act for obtaining 

veterans’ military service records. The VBA quality review unit has found 

that less than 4 percent of regional office compensation decisions contain 

errors involving regional offices’ failing to obtain military service records 

as required by the act. Similarly, data compiled by the Board of Veterans’ 

Appeals show that when the board remands appealed compensation cases

to VBA for rework, only about 3 percent of the reasons for such remands 

involved regional offices’ failing to comply with the law’s requirements for 

obtaining military service records. However, VBA does not systematically

evaluate the quality of research done on behalf of regional offices by a 

VBA unit at the National Personnel Records Center, where the service 

records of many veterans are stored. Although regional offices rely on the 

VBA unit at the National Personnel Records Center to do thorough and 

reliable searches and analyses of records and provide accurate reports on 

the results, VBA does not have a systematic program for assessing the 

quality of this VBA unit’s work and, therefore, does not know the extent to

which the information that this unit provides to regional offices is reliable 

and accurate. 

Results in Brief 

VBA potentially could improve its procedures and reduce the time 

required to process some veterans’ claims of PTSD. This disorder may 

result after a veteran participates in, or is exposed to, stressful events or 

experiences (stressors) occurring during combat, prisoner-of-war 

detainment, or noncombat events, such as plane crashes, sinking of ships, 

explosions, burn ward duty, and graves registration duty. When verifying

the occurrence of claimed stressors, regional offices sometimes cannot 

find needed evidence in the veteran’s own service records and must turn 

to information contained in the military historical records of the 

Department of Defense (DOD). While regional offices are able to directly 

access and search an electronic library of such records for many Marine 

Corps veterans, they must rely on a DOD research organization to research 

such records for all other service branches. The DOD research 

organization’s average response time to regional office requests 

approaches 1 year. However, VBA may be able to build on work already 

Page 2 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
done by several regional offices to establish an electronic library of DOD 

military historical records for the other service branches and greatly 

reduce the time required to process the PTSD claims of many veterans. 

We are recommending that the Secretary of the Department of Veterans 

Affairs direct the Under Secretary for Benefits to (1) implement a 

systematic quality review program of records research performed by the 

VBA unit at the National Personnel Records Center and (2) assess whether 

VBA could improve its timeliness in deciding PTSD claims by 

systematically utilizing an electronic library of historical military records 

to identify veterans whose PTSD claims can be granted. 

Veterans submit their disability compensation claims to 1 of VBA’s 

57 regional offices. These claims contain, on average, five disabling 

medical conditions that the veteran believes are service connected. For 

each claimed condition, VA must determine if credible evidence is 

available to support the veteran’s contention of service connection. VA 

grants service connection for an average of three of the five conditions 

claimed by a veteran. Key sources of evidence for determining service 

connection are veterans’ military service medical and personnel records. 

To determine service connection in some cases, VA also may need to 

obtain information from DOD historical military records for the units in 

which veterans served. 

Background 

VBA’s regional offices face a complex task in obtaining veterans’ military 

service records because (1) service records consist of numerous types of 

records that can originate from numerous sources within or outside DOD, 

(2) the process for collecting and storing service records has varied 

substantially for different groups of veterans over time, (3) service records 

cannot always be found at the expected storage locations, and (4) the 

service records of many veterans were destroyed by a fire in 1973 at the

National Personnel Records Center, a primary repository for service 

personnel and medical records. For detailed information on military 

service records, including the types and locations of the records and the 

process for collecting and storing them, see appendix II. 

Once a claim has all the necessary evidence, the regional office evaluates 

the claim and determines whether the claimant is eligible for benefits. If a

veteran disagrees with a regional office’s decision on any of the issues in 

his or her claim, the veteran may file an appeal with the Board of Veterans’

Appeals, requesting a more favorable decision. In many cases, the board 

finds it cannot make a final decision on a veteran’s appeal until VBA does 

Page 3 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
additional work on the case. In such cases, the board sends (remands) the 

case back to VBA to perform the necessary additional work. The 

additional work required for remands can include making initial or followup attempts to obtain relevant records in accordance with the

requirements of the Veterans Claims Assistance Act.1

 Under the act, if 

relevant records—such as military service records—are believed to be in

the custody of a federal agency, VBA’s regional offices must continue 

requesting the records until either the agency provides the records or the 

regional office is reasonably certain the records do not exist or that 

further efforts would be futile.2

 VA’s regulations state that the regional 

office cannot discontinue its efforts unless it has obtained a statement 

from the agency advising VA that the records either do not exist or are not 

in the agency’s possession. For detailed information on VA’s disability 

compensation claims and appeals process, see appendix III. 

VA’s internal assessments indicate that regional offices generally comply 

with the requirements of the Veterans Claims Assistance Act for obtaining 

veterans’ military service records. However, VBA does not have a system 

for assessing the reliability and accuracy of research done on behalf of 

regional offices by a VBA unit located at the National Personnel Records 

Center, where the service records of many veterans are stored. The VBA 

quality review unit that evaluates the accuracy of regional office decisions 

on compensation claims has found that that less than 4 percent of these 

decisions contain errors involving regional offices’ failing to obtain 

military service records as required by law. Similarly, of all the 

compensation appeals cases decided by the Board of Veterans’ Appeals 

during November 2004–January 2006, the board remanded less than 

3 percent of these cases to VBA for rework due to deficiencies in obtaining 

military service records. However, because VBA does not systematically 

evaluate the quality of the research done on behalf of regional offices by 

the VBA unit at the National Personnel Records Center, VBA does not 

know the extent to which the information that this unit provides to 

regional offices is reliable and accurate. 

Internal Assessments 

Indicate General 

Compliance, but VBA 

Has Not Assessed the 

Quality of Its 

Research Performed 

at the National 

Personnel Records 

Center 

 1

Additional work required in remand orders can also include (1) arranging for a medical 

examination or obtaining a medical opinion if needed to make a proper decision, 

(2) providing veterans with all notices required by VCAA to inform them of evidence 

needed to support their claims, and (3) providing proper due process.

2

While VCAA established requirements for VA in assisting veterans to obtain relevant 

records, it did not establish any requirements regarding the timeliness of VBA’s efforts to

obtain such records. 

Page 4 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
VBA Quality Reviews 

Show Regional Offices 

Generally Comply with 

Veterans Claims

Assistance Act 

Requirements for 

Obtaining Military Service 

Records 

VBA maintains a quality review program known as the Systematic 

Technical Accuracy Review (STAR) program. VBA selects random 

samples of each regional office’s compensation decisions and assesses the 

regional office’s accuracy in processing and deciding such cases. For each 

decision, the STAR quality review unit reviews the documentation 

contained in the regional office’s claim file to determine, among other 

things, whether the regional office complied with claims assistance act 

duty-to-assist requirements for obtaining relevant records, made correct 

service connection determinations for each claimed condition, and made 

correct disability rating evaluations for each condition determined to be 

service connected. An error in any of these decision elements has the 

potential to result in a different decision outcome. One of VBA’s fiscal year 

2007 performance goals is that 88 percent of compensation decisions 

should contain no errors that could affect decision outcomes, and the 

long-term strategic goal is 98 percent.

STAR data from reviews of regional office decisions made during the first 

half of fiscal year 2006 showed that less than 4 percent of the cases 

reviewed contained any type of error related to the law’s requirements for 

developing evidence.

3

 Because military service records are only one 

component in the overall body of evidence that regional offices must 

develop, the percentage of cases with errors related to military service 

records would be even smaller than the 4 percent error rate. While the 

STAR database does not capture statistical data on specific types of errors 

in evidence development, it does contain quality reviewers’ narrative 

comments on the nature of errors found. A VBA analysis of these narrative 

comments showed that over half of all evidence development errors were 

due to regional offices not obtaining VA medical examinations or opinions 

when needed and using inadequate medical examinations. Thus, on the 

basis of STAR data, one would conclude that errors related to military 

service records account for less than half—or about 2 percent—of all 

evidence development errors. 

 3

See appendix I for discussion of the statistical reliability of STAR data. 

Page 5 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Decisions of Board of 

Veterans’ Appeals Show 

Regional Offices Generally 

Comply with Claims 

Assistance Act 

Requirements for 

Obtaining Military Service 

Records 

Since November 2004, when the Board of Veterans’ Appeals began 

tracking whether remands are the fault of regional offices, it has remanded 

relatively few cases—less than 3 percent—because of regional office 

deficiencies in obtaining military records.4

 For example, as of January 

2006, the board had made decisions on 41,517 compensation cases and had 

remanded at least one issue in 44 percent of these cases (see table 1).5

However, of the 41,517 cases, 25.6 percent contained issues that had been

remanded for reasons considered to be the fault of the regional office, and 

only 2.8 percent contained issues remanded specifically because of 

deficiencies in obtaining military service records. 

Table 1: Decisions of Board of Veterans’ Appeals on Compensation Cases, 

November 2004–January 2006 

Type of board decision 

Number 

of cases

Percentage

of total 

cases

Board decided compensation case 41,517 100.0

Board remanded at least one compensation issue in a case 18,287 44.0

Board remanded at least one issue in a case because regional 

office failed to meet requirements of law or regulations 

10,609 25.6

Board remanded at least one issue in case because regional 

office failed to meet VCAA requirements for obtaining military 

service records

1,147 2.8

Source: Board of Veterans’ Appeals. 

 4

To track the outcome of contested issues, VA uses a system known as the Veterans

Appeals Control and Locator System (VACOLS), which contains data identifying the 

reason(s) each contested issue was remanded to VBA and whether the need to remand the 

issue was the fault of the regional office. The board would consider the remand to be the

fault of the regional office if, for example, the regional office had failed to make initial or

follow-up attempts to obtain relevant records as required by VCAA, However, if the board 

remanded a case because a change in law occurred after the regional office had sent the

veteran’s appeal to the board and additional work was needed to comply with the new law, 

the board would not consider the remand to be the fault of the regional office. 

5

The board routinely reports the percentage of cases that it allowed, denied, and remanded. 

To compute the percentage of cases remanded versus those allowed, the board classifies 

cases as remands using a method that does not necessarily reflect all cases in which at 

least one issue is remanded. Under the board’s system, if the board allows any issue or part

of an appealed case, the board counts the entire case as an allowance, regardless of 

whether the board remanded any other issue in the case. 

Page 6 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
For each case decided by the appeals board, it also tracks the outcome of 

each contested issue in the case—for example, a veteran may have 

contested the denial of service connection for a specific medical condition 

and also may have asked for a higher disability rating on another condition 

for which the regional office granted service connection. The 

41,517 compensation cases decided by the board contained a total of 

88,156 contested issues, of which 39 percent (34,351) were remanded to 

VBA. However, of the total contested issues, 23 percent (20,191) were 

remanded for reasons considered to be the fault of the regional offices. 

For the 20,191 issues remanded because of regional office deficiencies, the 

board identified a total of 36,812 reasons for remanding these issues (see 

table 2). Of these remand reasons, only 7.6 percent were related to 

inadequacies in obtaining military service records (service medical 

records, 3.5 percent; service personnel records, 2.4 percent; and military 

unit historical records, 1.6 percent). The predominant reasons for remands 

were deficiencies in obtaining medical examinations or opinions and 

nonmilitary records and in providing proper due process. 

Table 2: Remand Reasons for 20,191 Issues That the Board Remanded Due to

Regional Office Deficiencies, November 2004–January 2006 

Remand reasons

Total

reasons

Percentage

of total

Board remanded issue because regional office failed to meet 

requirements for: 

• Providing proper notification 4,325 11.7

• Providing proper due process 7,456 20.3

• Obtaining medical exam or medical opinion 13,356 36.3

• Obtaining nonmilitary records 8,884 24.1

• Obtaining military service records 2,791 7.6

• Service medical records 1,305 3.5

• Service personnel records 894 2.4

• Military unit historical records 592 1.6

Total 36,812 100

Source: Board of Veterans’ Appeals. 

Focusing only on issues in which veterans asked the appeals board to 

grant service connection for a medical condition that the regional office 

had denied, the board identified about 12 percent of the reasons for 

remanding service connection issues as being related to inadequacies in 

obtaining military service records. 

Page 7 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
VBA Lacks Systematic 

Quality Review of 

Research Performed by the 

VBA Unit Located at the 

National Personnel 

Records Center 

To obtain service records stored at the National Personnel Records 

Center, regional offices submit requests to a VBA unit located at the 

center, asking the VBA unit to provide copies of service records and/or 

provide information contained in the records. This unit responded to such 

requests from regional offices for about 290,000 cases in calendar year 

2005. For certain types of compensations claims, such as herbicide 

exposure and PTSD claims, VBA’s written procedures instruct regional

offices not to request a copy of the veteran’s entire service personnel 

record, which can be voluminous. Instead, regional offices are supposed to 

rely on the VBA unit at the National Personnel Records Center to obtain 

the veteran’s files, perform a physical search of the files for relevant 

records, provide copies of only certain specified records, analyze certain 

types of records, and provide regional offices with narrative answers on 

the results of their research and analyses. Thus, regional offices rely on the 

VBA unit at the National Personnel Records Center to do thorough and 

complete searches of records, do reliable analyses of records, and provide 

accurate and clear narrative reports on the results. 

VBA, however, does not have a systematic quality review program that 

evaluates the accuracy of the work that the VBA unit at the National 

Personnel Records Center performs on behalf of the regional offices. Such 

a program is needed as part of an adequate system of internal management 

controls for VBA’s administration of the compensation program. An 

example of why the records research done by VBA employees at the 

National Personnel Records Center must be reliable is provided by 

disability claims based on exposure to herbicides in Vietnam. Under the 

Agent Orange Act of 1991, VA presumes that any veteran who had set foot 

on land in the Republic of Vietnam at any time during the Vietnam era 

(January 9, 1962, to May 7, 1975) was exposed to herbicides such as Agent 

Orange.6

 If any such veteran files a claim for certain specified diseases that

have been determined to be attributable to herbicide exposure, VA must 

presumptively grant service connection to the veteran for such diseases. If 

a veteran claims that he or she was officially stationed on land in Vietnam

during that period, the VBA unit at the National Personnel Records Center 

should be able to verify this fact by examining standard personnel forms in 

his or her service personnel file. However, if a veteran who was not 

 6

In August 2006, the U.S Court of Appeals for Veterans Claims ruled that veterans who 

served in the waters off Vietnam during January 9, 1962, to May 7, 1975, are entitled to 

disability benefits on the basis of presumption of service connection for diseases related to 

exposure to herbicides such as Agent Orange, regardless of whether they ever actually set

foot on land in Vietnam. See Haas v. Nicholson, 20 Vet. App. 257 (Aug. 16, 2006). 

Page 8 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
officially stationed on land in Vietnam claims that on some occasion he or

she did set foot on land in Vietnam during that period, VBA may encounter 

more difficulty obtaining the evidence needed to verify the veteran’s claim

because standard personnel forms would not document such occasions. 

In such cases, VBA procedures instruct regional offices not to ask for the

veteran’s entire service personnel file, but instead, the regional office must 

ask the VBA unit at the National Personnel Records Center to search the 

veteran’s personnel file for any evidence that might corroborate his or her 

claim of having set foot on land in Vietnam. One regional office that we 

visited provided an example of how the VBA unit at the National 

Personnel Records Center could overlook corroborating evidence 

contained in the file and cause a significant delay of benefits for a veteran.

In this particular case, an Air Force veteran claimed that he had been

assigned to an aircraft that had landed and spent a short time on the 

ground in Vietnam during the presumptive period. The VBA unit at the 

National Personnel Records Center did not provide the regional office 

with evidence supporting this claim, and the regional office ultimately 

denied the claim. However, the veteran appealed the decision to the Board

of Veterans’ Appeals, which remanded the case to the regional office and 

ordered the regional office to obtain and review the veteran’s entire 

personnel file. After obtaining the entire file from the National Personnel 

Records Center, the regional office found documents in the file that 

provided sufficient evidence to conclude that the veteran’s claim was 

credible. If the VBA unit at the National Personnel Records Center had 

found and reported this evidence to the regional office during the initial 

claims process, the veteran’s claim could have been granted without his 

having to go through the appeals process. 

Also, for many PTSD claims, regional offices potentially must rely on the 

VBA unit at the National Personnel Records Center to do thorough 

research of personnel records. PTSD results from personal exposure to 

traumatic events (stressors) that can occur during combat events; 

noncombat events—such as plane crashes, ships sinking, explosions, burn 

ward duty, or graves registration duty—and personal assault. For such 

claims, if evidence substantiates that a veteran engaged in a combat event, 

the veteran’s own testimony is sufficient to substantiate the occurrence of

a claimed stressor associated with that event. If engagement in combat is 

not substantiated, then the regional office must seek other evidence 

substantiating the occurrence of the stressor claimed by the veteran. 

Only for PTSD claims involving personal assault do VBA’s procedures 

instruct regional offices to request a copy of the entire personnel file from

Page 9 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
the National Personnel Records Center. Routinely requesting the entire file

for personal assault cases is permitted because such cases can involve

personal and sensitive incidents that sometimes are not officially reported. 

Therefore, the entire file needs to be examined for indications of changes 

in behavior or performance that may have been related to the alleged rape

or assault. For all other types of PTSD stressors claimed by veterans, the 

documents that regional offices may routinely request from the veterans’ 

service personnel files do not include performance reports or written 

justifications for awards and commendations. According to regional office

officials, however, these documents sometimes can contain evidence that

supports a veteran’s PTSD claim. As a result, the regional offices depend

on the VBA employees stationed at the National Personnel Records Center 

to read such documents and report any supporting evidence to the 

regional office. 

Officials of VBA’s Records Management Center—which oversees the work 

of the VBA unit at the National Personnel Records Center—informed us 

they are considering implementing a systematic program for reviewing the

quality of all types of research work performed by this unit. Although a 

quality review function is already in place, only one analyst has been 

responsible for reviewing a 3 percent random sample of each employee’s 

work products. Given the volume of work products and limited time 

because of other duties, the analyst told us he examined few actual service

record files to assess the accuracy of the work done by the employees. 

Instead, the analyst had resorted to using professional judgment to assess 

whether the content of the responses that employees provided to regional

offices appeared reasonable in light of the nature of the request to which 

they were responding. Only if the analyst thought the response content 

looked questionable did he actually obtain the service record files and 

examine the records to determine the accuracy of the response. For 

example, the analyst told us that in a recent month he had reviewed actual 

service record files for only 17 of the approximately 700 responses 

randomly selected for review. 

According to officials of the VA Records Management Center, they are 

considering establishing a team of three or four full-time quality review 

specialists that would report to the director of the VA Records 

Management Center. If implemented, this team would review the quality of

work done by VBA employees at the National Personnel Records Center 

and at the VA Records Management Center. The team would continue to

randomly select a 3 percent sample of each employee’s completed work 

products prepared in response to regional office requests. However, unlike 

the current review, to determine accuracy, the new team would be able to

Page 10 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
review the actual service record files for all responses selected for review. 

A quality review specialist position description has been developed, but at 

the time of our review, implementation milestones for the new system had 

not been established. 

VBA potentially could improve its procedures and reduce the time 

required to process some veterans’ PTSD claims. During fiscal years 

1999-2004, the number of veterans receiving compensation benefits 

because of PTSD increased by about 80 percent, from about 120,000 to 

almost 216,000.7

 VBA potentially could improve its procedures to reduce 

the time required to process some veterans’ PTSD claims. To verify the

occurrence of claimed stressors, regional offices sometimes cannot find 

needed evidence in the veteran’s personal service records and must turn to

information contained in the military historical records of DOD. While 

regional offices are able to directly access and search an electronic library 

of such records for many Marine Corps veterans, they must rely on a DOD 

research organization—the U.S. Army and Joint Services Records 

Research Center (JSRRC)—to research such records for all other service 

branches.8

 JSRRC’s average response time to regional office requests for 

such research approaches 1 year; by contrast, VBA’s average processing 

time strategic goal for claims involving disability compensation issues is 

125 days. The opportunity may exist for VBA to establish an electronic 

library of DOD military historical records for the other service branches 

and greatly reduce the time required to process the PTSD claims of many 

veterans. 

Potential 

Improvements in 

Procedures Could 

Reduce Time 

Required to Process 

PTSD Claims of Some 

Veterans

According to VBA’s procedures, if the regional office verifies that a PTSD 

claimant engaged in combat or was a prisoner of war, the claimant’s own 

personal testimony is sufficient evidence to verify the occurrence of a 

stressor associated with the combat or the prisoner-of-war experience.

Otherwise, the regional office must obtain other credible evidence to

 7

By contrast, during that period, the total number of veterans receiving disability 

compensation grew by about 12 percent. 

8

In rape and personal assault cases, because many incidents of personal trauma are not

officially reported, the regional office may need to seek evidence from other sources, such

as military law enforcement, rape crisis center, center for domestic abuse, counseling 

facility, health clinic, family members or roommates, faculty member, civilian police 

reports, medical reports of civilian physicians or caregivers who may have treated the

veteran immediately or sometime after the incident, chaplain or clergy, fellow service 

persons, and personal diaries or journals. 

Page 11 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
verify the claimed stressor. For Marine Corps veterans from the Vietnam 

era and the Korean conflict, the regional office can electronically view and 

search a set of compact discs provided by the Marine Corps University 

Archives. These discs contain Marine Corps historical records for the 

Vietnam era (1960-1975) and the Korean conflict. Officials of regional 

offices we visited estimated that, on average, they can perform these 

electronic searches of Marine Corps records in less than a day. If the

regional office cannot find the needed corroborative evidence on the 

compact disks, the regional office must ask the Marine Corps University 

Archives to search its records for any evidence corroborating the veteran’s

claim, and only if the Marine Corps University Archives cannot find 

corroboration may the regional office deny the veteran’s PTSD claim. 

By contrast, for veterans of armed service branches other than the Marine

Corps, DOD has not created an electronic historical library of records that 

regional offices can search when the veteran’s service medical or 

personnel records do not provide evidence to verify engagement in 

combat or to verify the claimed stressor. Instead, VBA’s procedures call 

for regional offices to ask JSRRC to conduct research of military historical 

records of the units in which veterans served in order to provide the

needed corroboration.9

 Many of the records that JSRRC may search are 

voluminous, are not stored electronically, and must be searched manually 

(see app. V for information on such records). After conducting its 

research, JSRRC provides the regional office a summary of its findings but 

does not evaluate evidence, render opinions, make conclusions, or decide

the merits of a claim. According to its Director, the center has 13 full-timeequivalent employees and a steady backlog of about 4,000 cases, of which 

about 85 percent come from VBA regional offices; the remaining requests 

are submitted by individual veterans and veterans service organizations. 

In our visit to VBA’s Oakland regional office, we learned that the regional

office recently had begun a local initiative in which the regional office had

designated three employees who—when other decision-making duties 

permit—search an electronic library of unclassified historical military 

records compiled by the Chicago regional office’s military records 

 9

If adequate evidence of engagement in combat cannot be obtained from primary sources 

such as the veteran’s service records, the Marine Corps University Archives, or the JSRRC, 

the regional office may also use secondary sources of evidence such as buddy statements, 

veteran’s military occupational specialty, contemporaneous letters and diaries, newspaper 

archives, and military or government Web sites approved by VBA (see listing of Web sites 

in app. IV). 

Page 12 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
specialist. According to the Chicago regional office’s military records 

specialist, several other regional offices also have been provided this 

electronic library. The Oakland regional office employees doing this 

research and the Chicago regional office military records specialist stated 

that they have been able to find sufficient evidence in the electronic 

library to grant service connection for a substantial portion of PTSD cases 

that otherwise would have required that the regional office ask the JSRRC 

to search for evidence corroborating the veteran’s claim. According to 

these officials, they can complete these searches within a few weeks after 

being asked to do the search. These regional offices now request searches

by JSRRC for PTSD cases only if sufficient evidence cannot be found in 

the electronic library to grant service connection. The Director of JSRRC 

told us that such research by regional offices could greatly reduce JSRRC’s 

backlog of research requests and reduce the average response time, 

assuming JSRRC’s staffing level remained constant. 

A related issue is that some veterans may not be willing to disclose to 

regional offices certain details needed to process their PTSD claims 

because the claimed stressful event occurred during classified operations. 

For example, to alleviate the possibility of such reluctance on the part of 

hundreds of thousands of veterans who had participated in classified 

atmospheric atomic testing and possibly been exposed to nuclear 

radiation, the Secretary of Defense issued a memorandum in 1996 

authorizing such veterans to divulge to VA the name and location of their 

command, duties performed, dates of service, and related information 

necessary to validate exposure to nuclear radiation. Similarly, in PTSD 

cases for which regional offices cannot find sufficient evidence in 

veterans’ service records to grant the claims, if the veterans, because of 

concerns about classified operation, will not provide the regional office 

with certain minimum details, the regional office will not be able to submit 

requests to JSRRC to search military historical records for corroborating 

evidence. We discussed the classified operations issue with the Director of 

JSRRC, who stated that he personally had talked with veterans who had 

directly contacted his organization and who maintained they could not 

divulge to him the details of their participation in classified operations. He 

said that after he explained to them that the entire JSRRC staff are DOD 

employees and have appropriate security clearances, the veterans were 

willing to provide him with the details needed to conduct searches of DOD 

records, including any pertinent classified records maintained by DOD. 

While the extent of the classified problem is unknown, the Director had no 

objections to regional offices advising veterans to directly contact JSRRC 

if they are unwilling to disclose sufficient details to the regional office to 

Page 13 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
process their claims because their disabilities allegedly were incurred 

during classified operations. 

VA is responsible for providing reasonable assurance that it is complying 

with applicable laws and regulations. While VA’s internal assessments

indicate that its regional offices generally comply with the requirements of 

the Veterans Claims Assistance Act for obtaining military service records, 

VA does not have a systematic quality review program for ensuring the 

reliability and accuracy of records research done on behalf of regional 

offices by the VBA unit located at the National Personnel Records Center. 

As a result, VA cannot reasonably ensure the quality of the research on 

which regional offices rely to assist many veterans in obtaining service 

records relevant to their compensation claims. 

PTSD claims have been a growing portion of the claims processed by 

regional offices. Many present challenges in obtaining the evidence needed

to process them, resulting in veterans having to wait for long periods for 

their claims to be decided. VBA’s establishment of a claims-processing 

timeliness performance goal demonstrates that high-quality service should

result not only in correct decisions, but also decisions rendered in a 

reasonable length of time. The experience of several regional offices 

suggests that VBA could improve its timeliness in deciding the PTSD 

claims of many veterans nationwide if VBA systematically utilized an 

electronic library of historical military records such as the one compiled 

by the Chicago regional office. The average time for the Joint Services 

Records Research Center to respond to such requests is about 1 year; by 

contrast, officials in some regional offices have found that using the online 

library compiled by the Chicago regional office enabled them to find 

sufficient evidence in a matter a few weeks to grant the PTSD claims of 

many veterans. 

We recommend that the Secretary of the Department of Veterans Affairs 

direct the Under Secretary for Benefits to take the following actions. 

• To adequately ensure the quality of the records research done on 

behalf of regional offices by the VBA unit at the National Personnel 

Records Center, VBA should move forward in implementing a 

systematic quality review program that evaluates and measures the 

accuracy of the unit’s responses to all types of regional office research 

requests. 

Conclusions 

Recommendations for 

Executive Action 

Page 14 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
• To improve its timeliness in deciding PTSD claims, VBA should assess 

whether it could systematically utilize an electronic library of historical 

military records, such as the one compiled by the Chicago regional 

office, to identify veterans whose PTSD claims can be granted on the 

basis of information contained in such a library, rather than submitting 

all research requests to the Joint Services Records Research Center. 

In its written comments on a draft of this report (see app. VI), VA agreed 

with our findings and concurred with our recommendations. VA stated it 

had increased the number of VBA quality reviewers at the National 

Personnel Records Center in order to better ensure the quality of 

responses provided to regional offices. VA also noted that VBA will 

determine the feasibility of regional offices’ using other databases to 

research cases in order to reduce the number of cases sent to the JSRRC. 

We believe these are positive steps toward ensuring the quality of the 

records research done by the VBA unit at the National Personnel Records 

Center and improving timeliness. 

Agency Comments 

and Our Response 

As agreed with your office, unless you publicly announce it contents 

earlier, we plan no further distribution until 30 days after the date of this 

report. At that time, we will send copies of this report to the Secretary of 

Veterans Affairs, appropriate congressional committees, and other 

interested parties. The report will also be available at GAO’s Web site at 

http://www.gao.gov. 

If you or your staff have any questions regarding this report, please call me 

at (202) 512-7215. Contact points for our Offices of Congressional 

Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last page of this report. 

Other contacts and staff acknowledgments are listed in appendix VI. 

Robert E. Robertson 

Director, Education, Workforce, 

and Income Security Issues 

Page 15 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

To identify Veterans Benefits Administration (VBA) procedures for 

obtaining relevant military service records, we obtained and analyzed 

Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) regulations governing the processing

of compensation claims; VBA’s written procedures, user guide for the 

automated system for requesting military records, training materials, and 

other VBA instructions for directing regional offices’ efforts in obtaining 

military records; locally written procedures and guides developed by 

regional offices to direct their employees in obtaining military records; and 

information electronically available to regional offices through VBA’s 

internal network. 

To gain an operational context for the information obtained from these 

sources and to obtain stakeholders’ views on the effectiveness of VBA’s 

procedures for obtaining relevant military service records, we interviewed 

officials of VA’s Board of Veterans’ Appeals and Office of Inspector 

General; VBA’s Compensation and Pension Service, Office of Field 

Operations, Appeals Management Center, Records Management Center, 

VA Liaison Office at the National Personnel Records Center, and regional 

offices located in Atlanta, Georgia, Baltimore, Maryland, Oakland, 

California, and St. Petersburg, Florida; custodians of military records and 

organizations that research military records on behalf of VBA’s regional 

offices, including Department of Defense (DOD) U.S. Army and Joint 

Services Records Research Center, Defense Threat Reduction Agency, 

DOD Joint Requirements and Integration Office, and National Personnel 

Records Center, which is operated by the National Archives and Records 

Administration; and veterans’ advocacy groups, including Disabled 

American Veterans, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Paralyzed 

Veterans of America, AMVETS, National Veterans Legal Services Program, 

and state and county veterans service agencies. 

As part of our review of the results of VA’s internal assessments of 

regional offices’ compliance with Veterans Claims Assistance Act 

requirements for obtaining military service records, we assessed the 

reliability of fiscal year 2006 data compiled by VBA from its Systematic 

Technical Accuracy Review (STAR) program for regional office decisions 

involving compensation issues. In earlier GAO work on STAR data 

reported for fiscal year 2004, we reported that regional offices had failed 

to send any case files to the STAR unit for hundreds of cases randomly 

selected for quality review, which meant the possibility existed that if the 

STAR unit had actually been able to review the files for these cases, the 

Page 16 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix I: Scope and Methodology 

accuracy scores for some individual regional offices could have been 

lower than those reported for fiscal year 2004.1

 Subsequently, the STAR 

unit began tracking the receipt of cases randomly selected for review. For 

our current work, we followed up with the STAR unit to determine the 

extent to which regional offices now send to the STAR unit all cases 

selected for quality review. We obtained data from the STAR unit and 

concluded that the numbers of cases requested, received, and reviewed for 

the first half of fiscal year 2006 provided nationwide data that were 

sufficiently reliable for our reporting purposes. Even so, the STAR unit did 

not receive about 6 percent of the cases selected for review during the first 

half of fiscal year 2006; therefore, because the STAR unit might have found 

additional VCAA development errors if it had had the opportunity to 

review these cases, the percentage of cases actually containing Veterans 

Claims Assistance Act (VCAA) development errors may have been larger 

than indicated by the fiscal year 2006 data reported by the STAR unit. 

Also, as part of our review of VA’s internal assessments of regional offices’ 

compliance with VCAA requirements for obtaining military service 

records, we assessed the reliability of data recorded in the Veterans 

Appeals Control and Locator System (VACOLS) by the Board of Veterans’ 

Appeals on the results of its reviews of veterans’ appeals on compensation 

decisions made by regional offices. We obtained data as of January 31, 

2006, on all compensation cases decided by the board since November 1, 

2004, when the board began recording in VACOLS whether its remands of 

decisions to VBA for rework were due to regional office deficiencies. To 

assess the reliability of the VACOLS data, we interviewed knowledgeable 

board officials, performed electronic testing of pertinent VACOLS data 

elements, and reviewed existing information about the data and the 

system that produced them. We determined that the data were sufficiently 

reliable for the purposes of this report. We analyzed these data to create 

summary statistics on the disposition of compensation cases and issues 

decided by the board. 

 1

GAO, Veterans’ Benefits: Further Changes in VBA’s Field Office Structure Could Help

Improve Disability Claims Processing, GAO-06-149 (Washington, D.C.: Dec. 9, 2005). 

Page 17 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
A

Rec

ppendix II: Overview of Military Service 

ords 

Page 18 GAO-07-98

Appendix II: Overview of Military Service 

Records 

VBA’s regional offices face a complex task in obtaining veterans’ military 

service records because (1) service records consist of numerous types of 

records that can originate from numerous sources within or outside DOD, 

(2) the process for collecting and storing service records has varied 

substantially for different groups of veterans over time, (3) service records 

cannot always be found at the expected storage locations, and (4) the 

service records of many veterans were destroyed by a fire in 1973 at the

National Personnel Records Center, a primary repository for service 

personnel and medical records. 

The cumulative service medical records and service personnel records of 

individual service members contain numerous types of records that can 

originate in varying organizations and geographic locations of DOD’s 

activities as service members migrate from assignment to assignment 

during their military service (see table 3). 

Service Records Are 

Numerous and Can 

Originate from 

Numerous Sources 

 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix II: Overview of Military Service 

Records 

Table 3: Military Service Records of Individual Veterans 

Category Type of record

Medical records • Physical examination reports, including entrance and discharge 

exam reports 

• Medical history

• Dental examinations and records 

• Inpatient clinical record cover sheets and summaries 

• Entries from outpatient medical and dental treatments 

• Physical profiles

• Medical Evaluation Board proceedings in DOD’s disability 

evaluation process 

• Prescriptions for eyeglasses 

• Prescriptions for orthopedic footwear 

Personnel records • Entry 

• Training 

• Education 

• Performance 

• Discipline 

• Decorations and awards 

• Assignments 

• Duties 

• Casualty status 

• Separation or retirement from the military 

• Certain health records (usually limited to entrance/separation

physical exam reports but may include physical profiles and

medical evaluation board proceedings) 

Source: VA. 

Historically, when service members separated from active duty, all DOD 

service branches forwarded all service medical records and service 

personnel records to the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis, 

Missouri. However, beginning in the early 1990s, separation point military 

installations began sending service medical records to VA’s Records 

Management Center, also located in St. Louis. The timing of this 

changeover varied among service branches, but as of May 1998, all 

branches had begun sending service medical records to the VA Records 

Management Center for service members who are discharged from active 

duty and have no remaining military reserve or National Guard obligation 

Process for Collecting 

and Storing Service 

Records Varies 

Substantially for 

Different Groups of 

Veterans

Page 19 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix II: Overview of Military Service 

Records 

(see table 4, col. 2).1 Also, in 1996, the Navy became the first DOD service 

branch to store service personnel records electronically in optically 

imaged files, which permitted the Navy to discontinue sending these 

records to the National Personnel Records Center. As of November 2005, 

all DOD service branches were storing service personnel records 

electronically and had discontinued sending such records to the National 

Personnel Records Center (see table 4, col. 3). 

 1

The Coast Guard began sending service medical records to the VA Records Management

Center in May 1998. 

Page 20 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix II: Overview of Military Service 

Records 

Table 4: Dates When Service Branches Changed the Storage Disposition of Service 

Medical Records and Service Personnel Records 

(1) 

Service branch

(2) 

Date when service branch began

sending service medical records to

the VA Records Management Center 

rather than to the National 

Personnel Records Center

 a

(3) 

Active duty release date 

of veterans for whom 

service branch stores 

service personnel 

records electronically as 

optically imaged filesb

Army October 16, 1992 October 1, 2002

Navy January 31, 1994 January 1, 1996 

Air Force May 1, 1994 (active duty only)

June 1, 1994(reserves/National Guard) 

November 2005

Marine Corps May 1, 1994 January 1, 1998 

Source: VA and DOD.

a

Although the service medical records sent to the VA Records Management Center include military

inpatient clinical record cover sheets and summaries, these records do not include detailed clinical 

records, such as daily treatment records and nurses’ notes. Military medical facilities maintain these 

detailed clinical records until a preset period of inactivity has elapsed and then forward such records 

directly to the National Personnel Records Center. Civilian medical facilities that treat active duty

service members do not forward any medical or mental health records for storage and destroy such 

records after a period of inactivity. 

b

Each service branch also electronically stores service personnel records as optically imaged files for 

veterans who were released from active duty before the date in column 3 but whose reserve 

obligations did not expire until after this date. 

When service members have military reserve or National Guard 

obligations remaining at the time of their release from active duty, the 

service branches may not route their service records in the same way that 

they route the records of those who do not have such an obligation when

released from active duty. For service members who still have reserve or 

guard obligations at the time of their release, the disposition of their 

service records varies depending on their service branch, whether their 

obligation is a reserve versus guard obligation, and whether or not they are 

assigned to an active unit at the time of release from active duty. 

VA and DOD jointly initiated a Benefits Delivery at Discharge program that 

enables service members still on active duty to file disability compensation 

claims within 6 months before separating from active military duty. Under 

this program, VBA arranges for a physical examination of the claimant, 

and the service branch provides a VBA liaison with a copy of the 

claimant’s service medical records. The liaison sends these records to one 

of the two VBA regional offices (Winston-Salem and Salt Lake City) that 

process all claims filed under this program. The regional office prepares a 

Page 21 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix II: Overview of Military Service 

Records 

rating decision prior to the claimant’s discharge from active duty, and after 

the claimant’s discharge, the service branch sends the regional office a 

copy of the claimant’s DD Form 214 (Report of Release from Active 

Military Service), and the regional office immediately authorizes benefits. 

As of April 2005, 141 military installations worldwide were participating in

the Benefits Delivery at Discharge program, and in fiscal year 2004, and

VBA processed 39,000 claims under this program. Additionally, if a service 

member not participating in this program submits a VA disability claim 

form to his or her service branch before separating from active duty, the 

service branch retains the claim form until the individual separates from 

active duty and then forwards his or her claim form, DD Form 214, and 

service medical records to the regional office having jurisdiction over the 

individual’s permanent address. 

To request veterans’ service records, regional offices rely primarily on a 

VBA system known as the Personnel Information Exchange System 

(PIES). This system provides regional offices with a menu of record 

request codes, each of which is defined in terms of the types of service 

records and/or information being requested by the regional office. On 

behalf of the regional offices that input such requests into the PIES 

system, the VA Records Management Center prints and mails requests to 

custodians of records maintained in paper form, and the PIES system 

electronically routes requests to custodians of service personnel records 

maintained in optically imaged files. However, for a variety of reasons, the

custodians whom regional offices expect to be in possession of requested 

records cannot always provide the records (see fig. 1). 

Veterans’ Service 

Records Cannot 

Always Be Found at 

Expected Storage 

Locations 

Page 22 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix II: Overview of Military Service 

Records 

Figure 1: Reasons Regional Offices Cannot Always Find Service Records at 

Expected Locations

·

·

·

·

·

Military hospitals sometimes do not forward inpatient clinical record cover sheets

and summaries to the veteran’s separation point installation.

The last ship to which a Navy veteran was assigned may fail to forward medical 

records to the veteran’s separation point installation.

Separation point installations may not forward the veteran’s records or may 

forward them to the wrong location, such as sending service medical records to 

the National Personnel Records Center rather than to the VA Records

Management Center.

Service records sometimes are in the possession of the veteran.

When veterans’ reserve or guard obligations expire, their units sometimes fail to 

forward their records to the appropriate location.

Source: VA.

The service records of many older veterans were destroyed by a fire in 

1973 at the National Personnel Records Center. The fire destroyed the 

records of approximately 80 percent (16 million to 18 million) of the Army 

veterans who served during November 1912 through January 1, 1960, and 

the records of 75 percent of the Air Force veterans with surnames 

Hubbard through Z who were discharged between September 25, 1947, 

and January 1, 1964, and were not in a retired or reserve status at the time 

of the fire. For some of these veterans, the National Personnel Records 

Center has resources that can help reconstruct some of their service 

medical information. For example, the center has Army morning (sick) 

reports for November 1912 to December 1974 and Air Force morning 

reports for September 1947 to June 1966. Also, in 1988, the National 

Personnel Records Center obtained magnetic tapes containing limited 

information extracted by the Surgeon General’s Office from about 

10 million hospital admission records for veterans admitted to military 

hospitals during 1942-1945 and 1950-1954. 

Fire in 1973 

Destroyed the Military 

Service Records of 

Many Veterans 

Another alternative is for VA to ask the veteran’s service branch to search 

sick logs, morning reports, and records of military organizations, hospitals, 

and infirmaries. Other alternative sources for medical information can 

include statements from service medical personnel; buddy certificates or 

affidavits; state or local police accident reports; employment physical 

examinations; medical evidence from hospitals, clinics, and private 

physicians that may have treated the veteran during or soon after 

Page 23 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix II: Overview of Military Service 

Records 

separation; letters written by the veteran during service; photographs 

taken during service; pharmacy prescription records; and insurance 

examinations. 

Page 24 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix

Claims

 III: VA’s Disability Compensation

 and Appeals Process 

Page 25 GAO-07-98

Appendix III: VA’s Disability Compensation 

Claims and Appeals Process 

Regional office 

establishes claim in 

VBA’s data system

Veteran submits

claim to a VBA 

regional office

Regional office 

obtains evidence for 

claim

Regional office 

determines service 

connection for each 

claimed condition 

and does disability 

rating for each 

service-connected 

condition

Regional office 

notifies veteran of 

decision outcome

If veteran disagrees

with regional office 

decision, he or she 

sends notice of 

disagreement to 

regional office on 

contested issues

Veteran files formal 

appeal if regional 

office cannot resolve 

contested issues

Regional office 

transfers formal 

appeal to Board of 

Veterans’ Appeals

Board grants requested 

benefits either at or below 

the maximum benefit 

available under the law

Board denies the benefits

requested by the veteran

Board remands contested 

issue to VBA for more work 

on the issue

Veteran appeals to the U.S. 

Court of Appeals for 

Veterans Claims

VBA obtains more evidence 

but denies the requested 

benefits and resubmits the 

contested issue to the 

board for a final decision

VBA obtains more evidence 

and grants requested 

benefits

For each contested 

issue, board makes

one of three 

decisions, as shown 

below

Source: Prepared by GAO using information from VBA and the Board of Veterans’ Appeals. 

(or) (or)

(or)

 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix IV: Web Sites Listed in the PTSD

Rating Job Aids Section of VBA’s Internal 

Network 

Table 5: Web Sites Listed in the PTSD Rating Job Aids Section of VBA’s Internal Network

U.S. Air Force Site 

Air Force Historical Research Agency http://www.au.af.mil/au/afhra/

Air Force Historical Studies Office https://www.airforcehistory.hq.af.mil/

U.S. Army 

Korean War history page http://korea50.army.mil/history/factsheets/index.shtml

1st Infantry Division Web site http://www.1id.army.mil/

Center of Military History http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/default.htm

Army Engineers Vietnam Studies, 

1965-1970 

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/books/Vietnam/Engineers/index.htm

Human Resources Command, Military 

Awards Branch

https://www.hrc.army.mil/indexflash.asp

Military History Institute, Army War 

College, Carlisle Barracks, MHI Digital 

Library Chronological List 

http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/

http://carlisle-www.army.mil/usamhi/dl/chron.htm

Unit Citation and Campaign Participation 

Credit Register (January 1960- 

September 1987) 

Regional offices can access an electronic copy of Army Pamphlet 672-3 stored on VBA’s

internal network. 

U.S. Coast Guard

Coast Guard Historian’s Office http://www.uscg.mil/hq/g-cp/history/collect.html

Coast Guard Web site http://www.uscg.mil/USCG.shtm

U.S. Marine Corps 

Database Search for Combat Action 

Ribbon 

https://lnweb1.manpower.usmc.mil/manpower/mm/mmma/AwardsVerification.nsf/search

History and Museums Division http://hqinet001.hqmc.usmc.mil/HD/Home_Page.htm

Marines Web site http://www.usmc.mil/marinelink/mcn2000.nsf/frontpagenews

U.S. Navy 

Navy, Naval Historical Center http://www.history.navy.mil/

Navy Hospital Corps and Dental 

Technician History Page 

http://navymedicine.med.navy.mil/bumed/index.cfm?docid=10324

Navy Service and Campaign Medals http://www.history.navy.mil/medals/index.html

Navy Web site http://www.navy.mil/

Department of Defense

Office of the Special Assistant for Gulf 

War Illness, Gulflink 

http://www.gulflink.osd.mil/

Official U.S. Military Casualty Information http://www.dior.whs.mil/mmid/casualty/castoptest.htm

POW/Missing Personnel Office http://www.dtic.mil/dpmo/

Appendix IV: Web Sites Listed in the PTSD 

Rating Job Aids Section of VBA’s Internal 

Network 

Page 26 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix IV: Web Sites Listed in the PTSD

Rating Job Aids Section of VBA’s Internal 

Network 

Other Site

Dictionary of American Naval Fighting 

Ships, DANFS Online 

http://www.hazegray.org/danfs/

John C. Thorn, Links to Military Web Sites http://www.thorn.pair.com/thorn/links/military.html

National Archives, Online Veterans and 

Military Documents 

http://www.archives.gov/veterans/research/online.html

National Center for PTSD http://www.ncptsd.va.gov/index.html

National Transportation Safety Board 

Aircraft Accidents 

http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/query.asp

No-Quarter.Org, Vietnam Casualty Search

Page 

http://www.no-quarter.org/

VBA Denver Regional Office, Military 

Awards, Decorations, Campaigns 

http://vbaw.vba.va.gov/ro/west/denvr/awards.htm

Vietnam Project/Virtual Vietnam Archive http://www.vietnam.ttu.edu/vietnamarchive/index.htm

Source: VBA. 

Note: In an introductory note regarding the Web sites listed above, the PTSD Rating Job Aids Section

in VBA’s internal network states that the information found at these Web sites—as well as any other 

government Web sites (.gov or .mil)—may be used to verify stressors and the claimant’s involvement 

in the stressful event. The note also states that while many nongovernment Web sites may contain 

additional supporting documentation, information from those Web sites—including any links to 

nongovernment Web sites found within the approved sites listed above—cannot serve as the sole 

basis for verification. 

Page 27 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix V: Types of Records Researched by

DOD’s U.S. Army and Joint Services Records Appendix V Research Center : Types of Records Researched by 

DOD’s U.S. Army and Joint Services Records 

Research Center 

Table 6: Types of Records Researched by DOD’s Joint Services Records Research Center 

Army Daily journals: These daily logs of a unit’s activities record names, locations, times, and specific incidents and 

operations. These are the most useful records for verifying stressors, but because they are so voluminous, it is imperative 

that the regional office provide a specific date span, preferably 7 days or less. 

Operational reports–lessons learned:These are quarterly reports documenting a unit’s major operations and activities

and often include unit locations, strengths, operations and results of operations, casualties, statistical reports, and 

recommendations for improvement. 

Unit and organizational histories: These documents describe the general activities of Army units for a particular period

of time—normally 6 months or 1 year. The quality of these histories varies greatly from unit to unit and may contain 

everything from extremely detailed descriptions of battles to changes in command and flag-raising ceremonies. 

Morning reports DA Form 1: Morning reports contain a daily accounting of personnel actions at the company level. 

More specifically, they list the transfer, arrival, and departure of individual service members. They also contain the name

and status of service members wounded in action, killed in action, and missing in action. The Army ceased using morning 

reports in 1974. 

Casualty records: Casualty records contain information on the type of casualty, location, type of attack, cause and type

of injury, and possible prognosis. They also contain the service member’s unit, rank, military occupational specialty, date 

of casualty, date of report, name of individual making the report, witnesses, and place of treatment. These records are 

arranged alphabetically by last name. In order to research effectively, complete last names are required; complete last 

and first names are preferred. In order to identify the correct individual, service numbers and Social Security numbers 

may be required. 

Air Force Quarterly historical reports: Quarterly historical reports are divided into functional areas such as supply, aircraft 

maintenance, civil engineering, and personnel. Major units maintain these records. The information maintained is largely

useless for the purpose of verifying specific stressful events. This makes it imperative that Air Force veterans provide 

detailed descriptions of their claimed stressors. 

Other records: Morning reports have not been maintained by the Air Force since 1964. The Air Force Military Personnel 

Center, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, maintains Air Force casualty information. The Air Force does not publish 

combat after-action reports, daily journals, situation reports, or operations reports–lessons learned. 

Navy Deck logs and ship histories: Deck logs record all unusual or significant enemy action. The Officer of the Deck records

the information at a minimum of once each 4 hours. Deck logs are the only ship logs sent to the Naval Historical Center 

for archiving. A deck log is a daily chronology of certain events specified in Office of the Chief of Naval Operations 

Instruction 3100.7 (OPNAVINST 3100.7). Deck logs are bulky, voluminous documents that track a ship's location and 

movements daily. In cases of deaths and injuries suffered on board, the log should contain the simple fact of the death or 

injury and note whether medical treatment was given, but it does not specify the treatment or contain reports on medical

matters, such as sick bay visits or injuries not suffered on board ship. 

Navy shore station histories and ship histories – These documents are a compilation of significant events for the year. 

Muster rolls - These rolls record assignments of individuals to and from ships and stations. 

Other records – The Navy Military Personnel Command maintains a centralized listing of all Navy combat casualties. 

Other Navy records include war diaries. The Navy does not publish combat after-action reports, daily journals, and 

situation reports of operations reports–lessons learned. 

Source: VBA. 

Page 28 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix VI: Comments from the Department Appendix VI: Comments from the of Veterans Affairs 

Department of Veterans Affairs 

Page 29 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix VI: Comments from the Department 

of Veterans Affairs 

Page 30 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix VI: Comments from the Department 

of Veterans Affairs 

Page 31 GAO-07-98 Veterans' Disability Benefits
Appendix VII: 

A

GAO Contact and Staff 

cknowledgments 

Page 32 GAO-07-98

Appendix VII: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments 

Robert E. Robertson, Director, (202) 512-7215 

The following individuals made important contributions to the report: 

Irene Chu, Assistant Director; Marta Chaffee; Martin Scire; Ira Spears; 

Vanessa Taylor; and Walter Vance. 

 Veterans' Disability Benefits

GAO Contact 

Staff 

Acknowledgments 

(130430) 
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