Controlling research question

Establish identity and the pre-service baseline without projecting later military status backward.

Core records to preserve

Birth and citizenship records; school and transcript records; recruiting materials; entrance examinations; waivers and screening records.

Chronology and evidence testing

• Record the event date separately from the date a document was created.
• Identify the person, component, unit, duty status, location, and issuing office where they matter.
• Separate a record’s express statement from inference, family recollection, or a later summary.
• Preserve conflicts rather than silently harmonizing them; record negative searches by repository, query, dates, and coverage.

Key evidence pathways

• Personnel Files & OMPF
• Accession & Entry Records
• Photographs & Personal Papers
• Source Catalog & Preservation

Related navigation guides

• Start Here Identify Your Status Component And Objective
• Build Your Military Life File
• Forms Deadlines Evidence

Authority and effective-date discipline

This Life Record chapter organizes chronology and evidence. It does not by itself state current eligibility, entitlement, deadline, or legal effect. For a rule-dependent question, identify the governing statute, regulation, departmental instruction, program guidance, or decision effective on the relevant date and use the linked Navigation Guide for the current pathway.

Preservation standard

Keep the best available source copy unchanged. Store edited, OCR, transcription, annotation, or working versions separately. Record creator, date/covered period, repository, exact locator, provenance, proposition supported, express limitations, and derivative lineage.

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