To request your veteran’s service records now please click here: Research a vetearn
Knowing when to engage the help of an experienced military research specialist is important for folks who are wanting to learn more about a family member’s military service and battle participation during WWI, WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam. This post will give you some ideas about when it is a good idea for you to reach out to an expert, and also some pitfalls to watch out for when you are navigating the available hiring options for military records researchers. As the lead researcher for Golden Arrow Military Research, I have personally researched thousands of individual military veterans from a wide range of conflicts and service branches at the National Archives. I’ve spent every workday for nearly a decade, on-site at the National Archives learning the intricacies of the National Archives military records holdings and devising numerous complex and innovative military research procedures for piecing together the military service history of individual U.S. Military veterans from different conflicts. My background gives me a unique perspective on both the wide array of military personnel service records (official military personnel files or O.M.P.F.’s) and unit records which are available at the National Archives, as well as how you can use these records to tell the story of your soldier, airman, marine, or sailor. Let’s find out if hiring an expert military records researcher is right for you!
Can I just locate all of the records on the internet for free? I have heard and seen this question asked about a million times since I started my career in military records research. The answer to this question is: no, not if you are interested in more than just the superficial fragments of information which are really the only things available online. While the National Archives is slowly digitizing some holdings (or contracting the digitization of these records out to private groups like Ancestry or Family Search) these digitized holdings are mostly smaller collections such as the WWI award cards or other types of reference finding aids (such as indexing reels). While it is exciting to see some digitization taking place, even the process to digitize these incredibly small collections takes months to carry out. Since the millions upon millions of military personnel service records and unit records that are stored at the National Archives are mostly in fragile, paper format these records are going to need to be carefully and slowly digitized, page by page. Many of the digitized records on genealogy sites such as Ancestry and Family Search refer to as: ‘military service records’ fall under the category of reference finding aid material or can be readily accessed for free through online databases (without their monthly subscriptions fees). One example of this is the enlistment data you find on Ancestry which can be accessed freely at the online National Archives Archival Access Database. These databases simply show basic overviews on individual veterans such as date of birth, enlistment date, and the branch of service. This is great information for you to essentially begin your adventure in military research, but it is only a fragment of the wealth of information that can be found within the military service records of individuals which are maintained at the National Archives in paper or microfilm format. If you wish to carry out a truly exhaustive, in-depth research or individual military personnel service records or military unit records then you will either need to do it yourself in person at the archives or hire an expert military researcher in military personnel service records to help you with your military research project.
Doing it in person yourself at the National Archives. If you contact the National Archives and they tell you that they have a full, complete personnel service record on your veteran, and you can afford travel expenses in order to go handle and view the original records, photos, and artifacts of your military veteran’s service records in person-this can be a very rewarding experience. If you are simply viewing and duplicating a complete personnel service record the process should be relatively straightforward and simple. For the novice researcher, I do recommend making sure you know what you are doing for more complicated projects, especially for U.S. Army or AAF records that were lost in the 1973 fire (specifically morning reports and rosters research). There is the danger that when you carry out research at the National Archives yourself, and you do not have the proper experience or understanding of the organizational structure of the military during the period you are researching- that you will miss important details about your individual veteran’s military service. It is no fun to spend the money on travel to the National Archives, and on room and board and then have to go back and spend more money, later on, to have a military research expert go back and make sure nothing has been missed (this is also a danger when you hire an inexperienced researcher or fly by night online research company).
Knowing when it is time to hire an expert researcher in military personnel service records and military unit records. If you simply do not have the funds to travel to the archives yourself, or your military records research project is going to be very complicated, then it is probably time for you to think about hiring an expert researcher in military personnel service records. A private research expert can get you digital scans of the same records, including high-resolution scans of the photos and artifacts, often for the same price or less than going directly through the government ordering process. (Keep in mind that Archival records are not free. The government charges a fee to duplicate these records for you, usually around $70 per file) So, you may actually save a nice chunk of money and get better results if you use an expert researcher in military service records. Golden Arrow Research (the research company I work for) provides only high-resolution digital scans of O.M.P.F. military service personnel records allowing you to view the military personnel service records of your individual military veteran exactly as they appear in their original form. These military personnel service records (O.M.P.F.’s) are incredibly detailed and contain fascinating records on the military service of the individual as well as a treasure trove of records that are useful for genealogical research.
If you have already started conducting research yourself and you are hitting a wall because of the complexity of your military veteran’s service it is probably a good idea to contact an expert military research specialist to assist you in completing your project. Many folks can get a good distance on their own with researching military records but they still may find that they need some expert guidance to ensure they have covered all of the necessary ground for telling the story of their soldier’s military service. This is especially true for military service research of U.S. Army or AAF /Air Corps (what we today refer to as the U.S. Air Force) soldiers whose records were lost in the 1973 fire. The service histories of these individuals will need to be reconstructed in detail using alternate record groups at the National Archives. This is a very complex process that requires an on-site presence in the National Archives research room to carry out. I’ve personally devised a process (offered exclusively at Golden Arrow Research) that rebuilds the service history of individual Army and AAF/Air Force veterans whose records were lost in the 1973 fire. Neither of these unique, one-of-a-kind services is offered by any other company. I have spent nearly a decade, in person at the archives perfecting both of these procedures. The AAF/Air Force reconstruction process, in particular, is groundbreaking since, for the first time, it is now possible to uncover the precise combat missions that individual AAF and Air Force enlisted air crew members participated on-even if their service files were lost in the 1973 fire. Previously this type of research would only have been possible for AAF/Air Force pilots whose individual flight logs remain intact.
What military personnel service records can an expert researcher in military personnel service records locate for me? I have written extensively on this site about the many useful records available at the National Archives for learning about the military service of individual military veterans. You can browse the articles on this site that contain examples of these specific military service records. Click on the link below to access articles and examples of military service records. Here is a list of many (but by no means all) of the records that an expert in military personnel service records research can help you to obtain:
Marine Corps personnel service records (USMC OMPF), Navy personnel service records(USN OMPF), Coast Guard personnel service records(USCG OMPF), Army personnel service records (Army OMPF), AAF/Air Force personnel service records, Army WWI, WWII, Korean War, and Vietnam individual deceased personnel files, burial files and mortuary files, military after the action (AAR) or command reports, lessons learned, military operations reports and unit journals, Navy ship deck logs, and Naval ship combat action reports, Army and Air Force company morning reports, unit rosters, as well as pre-20th century service records and pension files (Civil War service records for example), Air Force award cards, medal citations, general orders, official personnel folders for civilians working under the military, and much more. When you have connected with an expert military researcher who understands these records and the many other records available for military research at the National Archives you will be well on your way to unraveling the mysteries surrounding the service of your military veteran.
How to determine whether a researcher is a good fit for your project. There are a wide variety of research companies, and individuals offering research service on the internet. Make sure that you connect with an individual or company who specializes in the specific area you need to research. You can generally get a feel for whether a researcher knows what they are doing by browsing their website or discussing their procedures for working with military records at the archives. With so many options available online it can be difficult to decide who you should hire to carry out your military research project. All military researchers are not created equal. Here are a few suggestions for narrowing the field:
First, before you commit to hiring a researcher, ask them whether they will be personally on-site at the archives working on your research project. You want someone who is physically present with hands-on experience at the National Archives who can roll with the punches during the course of your research project. In my experience, the research of individuals at the archives is never as simple as photocopying a few pages. Successful research at the National Archives requires the ability to adjust course when, for example, a veteran is transferred from one unit to another. You would need someone who knows how to follow the veteran to that next unit in order to continue to trace his steps through the war. That can only be accomplished by someone physically at the research center. You would not hire a car mechanic living in France to fix an automobile sitting in a garage in Michigan. You need your mechanic on-site at the garage where they can see your vehicle, diagnose the problem and then get the job done. The same thing applies to research at the National Archives. Make sure your expert military researcher can actually put their hands on the military service records you are paying them to research.
Secondly, find out how long your researcher has been working on-site at the National Archives, personally carrying out research in military service records. You want to make sure that you are not falling into the trap of paying for what I call ‘on the job training’ when you hire a military records researcher to help you with military service records research at the National Archives. It takes many, many years of experience to navigate the military record holdings of the archives and to learn how to utilize those records to tell the story of individual soldiers. If you hire someone without the years of experience needed to carry out your specific military research project you run the risk of having to go back and have someone with experience do it over again. It is always best to get it done right the first time.
Third, Come to an agreement with your prospective expert researcher on the cost. Some researchers have set fees for working on specific record groups, while others charge by the hour. I’ve seen researchers who charge as low as $15 per hour and others who charge as much as $100 per hour or more. Typically, folks who have a greater experience level tend to charge more per hour because you are getting more bang for your buck. One thing to watch out for is someone who charges an extremely low hourly rate but who has very little experience in military records research. When all is said and done you might end up paying more simply because it takes twice five, or even ten times longer to complete a very simple project if the researcher you decide to hire does not know what they are doing. This might seem like an exaggeration. It most certainly is not…so make sure that you proceed with caution.
Lastly, I should also note that the National Archives does have a list of researchers for hire on their website. One option is to peruse that researcher list and contact multiple researchers until you find someone who is still doing research at the archives, or who specializes in the area of the specific military records you need to be researched.
Who should I hire to help me with my military records research? In my view, the best place to go for military records research, without question, is Golden Arrow Research. I know from experience the standard of excellence that is upheld at this military research firm. After nearly a decade of engaging in specialized military records research at the National Archives-their level of expertise cannot be matched. The folks working on the Golden Arrow Research team include staff who previously worked for the National Archives research center, ex-Department of Defense military-research contractors, and military historians. The unrivaled knowledge of the National Archives holdings, U.S. military history, and the decades of combined experience in researching military records ensures that the quality of research and attention to detail far exceeds what any other research company can offer you. The team of military research specialists at Golden Arrow Research is physically on-site at the National Archives research rooms where they perform research in person, every day.
How can I contact an expert researcher in military unit and personnel service records? If you would like to inquire about a military research project with Golden Arrow research you can reach them through their website here: Research a military veteran
Or fill out the form below to request a free consultation about your proposed research project:
