New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs

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Request Military Records

The New Jersey Department of Military and Veterans Affairs maintains and archives many military records of current and former members of the New Jersey Army and Air National Guard in accordance with N.J.S.A. 38A:3-6(e).

Additionally, the Department maintains and archives numerous discharge records of former Service Members of Active Duty and Reserve Army, Navy, Marines and Air Force who were residents of the State of New Jersey upon discharge from the military.

  • A copy of a Service Member’s discharge records are normally sent to the State that the Service Member called home on the day after his/her discharge. The State from where a Service Member was born, trained and/or discharged from does not guarantee that the Department would have these records.
  • Please note that the Department did not start receiving these discharge records until after 1995 or later.
  • If your records do not meet the above criteria, we advise you to visit the National Personnel Records Center website for your records request.

Current and former Service Members of their military or their next of kin may request from the Department copies of their military records.

  • Next of kin are defined as the unremarried surviving spouse, father, mother, son, daughter, brother and sister only of the Service Member.
  • Next of kin must provide proof of death (such as a copy of the death certificate; newspaper article (obituary) or death notice; coroner’s report of death; funeral director’s signed statement of death; or verdict of coroner’s jury).

For military funerals, the funeral director may act as the next of kin.

All other requests must provide a power of attorney or the Service Member’s written authorization.

Archival records are open to the public. These are records of Service Members who were discharged, retired or died in service 62 or more years ago.

  • The Privacy Act of 1974 does not apply to archival records, therefore, written authorization from the Service Member or next of kin is not required.
  • However, in order to protect the privacy of the Service Member, his/her family and third parties named in the records, the personal privacy exemption under the Freedom of Information Act (5 U.S.C. 552 (b)(6)) and the New Jersey Open Public Records Act (N.J.S.A. 47:1A-1.1 et seq.) may still apply and preclude the release of some information.

To request military records, please fill out a Standard Form 180 (SF-180). Certain identifying information is necessary to determine the location of a Service Member’s record of military service. Please try to answer each item on the SF-180 to the best of your ability.

If you do not have and/or cannot obtain the information for an item, please mark it as “NA”, meaning the information is “not available”. Include as much of the requested information as possible. Incomplete information may delay the Department’s response time.

You must sign the SF-180. If you want to digitally sign the SF-180, please follow these instructions.

Once completed, you may submit the form electronically to the Department’s Office of Records and Archives at robert.greco@dmava.nj.gov.

You may also fax it to the Office of Records and Archives at (609) 530-7193 or mail it to the following address:

NJ Department Of Military and Veterans Affairs Attn: IASD-ASB-RALV PO Box 340 Trenton, NJ 08625-0340