MLR-02 · MILITARY LIFE RECORD
Entry & Oath
MLR-02: Enlistment or commission, oath, accession, service obligation, legal status, initial duties, rights, and restrictions.
Controlling research question
What were the actual terms, date, component, and legal status of entry?
Core records to preserve
Enlistment contract or appointment; oath; accession documents; initial orders; service obligation; waivers and entry correspondence.
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
- Orders, Assignments & Travel
- Source Catalog & Preservation
Related navigation guides
- Start Here Identify Your Status Component And Objective
- Ids Deers Cac Usid And Eligibility Records
- Accounts Portals
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.
