Military Record Specialist (MRS) PIES Coordinator FDC Program Coordinator Homeless Veteran Outreach Coordinator (HVOC), or a member of regional office (RO) management. 4 The MRS, PIES Coordinator, FDC Program Coordinator, HVOC, or member of RO management an e-mail, tagged with High Importance, to the appropriate mailbox identified in the table below. Important: The RO MRS corporate mailbox address must be included in the carbon copy (Cc) field of all e-mail requests to the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Records Management Center (RMC) to ensure prompt and accurate responses. 5 Associate a copy of the follow-up request e-mail with the claims folder. Reference: For more information about the RO MRS corporate mailbox, see M21-1, Part III, Subpart iii, 2.I.3.d. b. Priority Processing of Requests for Records Held by NPRC in Other Circumstances Priority handling of requests for records at NPRC is occasionally necessary other circumstances. Specific RO personnel may submit priority PIES requests after obtaining authorization from the VA Liaison Officer (VALO) by sending an e-mail tagged with High Importance containing the Veteran’s identification information required to request records. The following individuals must use the table below to request authorization from the VALO to submit a PIES request that requires priority handling MRS PIES Coordinator HVOC, and member of RO management. Circumstance Mailbox of VALO emergency admission of a Veteran to a hospital claim involving military sexual trauma (MST), or VAVBASTL/RMC/LNO
Reference: For more information about PIES overall status codes and branch-of-service status codes, see M21-1, Part III, Subpart iii, 2.D.4 and 5 b. Following Up on PIES Requests for Records Held by the National Guard or Reserves When a request for service records presumed to be held by a National Guard or Reserve unit has been submitted to PIES address code 7, users may determine the status of the request by viewing the PIES status codes. Request the records from the Veteran when the branch-of-service status code is PL (Pending - submit development letter to Veteran), which indicates that 60 days have lapsed with no indication of the location of the records. No additional action should be taken in PIES as the RO will be notified if the records are located at a later date. Note: Request that the locally designated MRS send a follow-up email to the VAVBASTL/RMC/NG&RESERVES mailbox if an internal message has been displayed for more than 30 days. References: For more information about PIES overall status codes and branch-of-service status codes, see M21-1, Part III, Subpart iii, 2.D.4 and 5, and requesting service records held by National Guard or Reserves, see M21-1, Part III, Subpart iii, 2.B. c. Following up on CG STRs Follow the table below when a Coast Guard (CG) service member service treatment records (STRs) are not received within 45 days from the interface between VBMS and Healthcare Artifacts and Image Management Solution (HAIMS). If the CG service member separated/retired from the ... Then submit a request for the STRs using the ... CG and did not serve with the CG Reserves 099 request code in PIES in the 099 request code state The STRs have not been received from HAIMS within 45 days. Please contact the CG Central Cell to locate the STRs and upload the STRs into HAIMS CG Reserves RV1 request code in PIES, and self-address PIES request address code 7 under the CG tab.
Records Through DPRIS individual branches of service are available only through the Defense Personnel Records Information Retrieval System (DPRIS): Army – October 1, 1994 Navy – January 1, 1995 Air Force – October 1, 2004, and Marine – January 1, 1999. Note: The dates above are subject to change as service departments continue to convert older, paper records into electronic images. DPRIS pulls electronic copies of service personnel records from image repositories based on information (such as the Veteran’s name, Social Security number (SSN), and branch of service) a user enters when submitting a request for records through this system. Any erroneous information a user enters may prevent DPRIS from locating the records he/she requests. Reference: For information about using DPRIS, see the . h. Providing Specific Information in Requests Requests submitted to the Joint Services Records Research Center (JSRRC) for verification of in-service stressors or exposures are submitted through DPRIS. Military records are organized by units, and further organized by date. Therefore, JSRRC must know the unit designation down to the lowest possible level and most specific date(s) of the incidents. To assist JSRRC in conducting optimal research, in addition to the required 60-day research window include the Veteran's complete tour dates related to the unit of assignment when the incident/exposure occurred, and use the table below to provide complete unit designation information. If the Veteran served in the … Then provide … Army full unit designation to the company level. Example: HHC, 1st Brigade, 2d Armored Division. Navy full unit designation and hull numbers for ships. Example: USS Franklin D. Roosevelt (CVA-42). Reminder: Some of the ships/units have similar names. Air Force squadron and designations, at a minimum.
Requests for Army Records is unencrypted, users must not include personally identifiable information in the subject line of the e-mail.) The e-mail to HRC must contain the following information Veteran’s full name Veteran’s dates of service last four numbers of the Veteran’s SSN, and a description of the specific records the user is seeking. k. Following Up on DPRIS Requests to the JSRRC Although JSRRC researches Federal records to respond to VA’s requests, VA does not recognize JSRRC as a Federal records custodian for the purpose of this section. Accordingly, the response periods for initial and follow-up requests that are referenced in M21-1, Part III, Subpart iii, 1.C.2.b do not apply to requests VA submits to JSRRC. Note: The RO MRS may e-mail follow-up requests to VAVBAWAS/CO/JSRRC every 60 days. Reference: For more information about submitting requests for corroboration of an in-service stressor to JSRRC, see M21-1, Part IV, Subpart ii, 1.D.3. 3. General Information on the Position of MRS Introduction This topic contains general information on the position of MRS, including assignment of and qualifications for an MRS duties of an MRS RMC responsibility for maintaining a list of MRSs, and electronic mailboxes for MRSs. Change Date January 26, 2016