- If a Veteran Service Center or Agency is handling the claim, that office should recall the veteran's official service record from the National Personnel Records Center (Military Personnel Records), 9700 Page Avenue, St. Louis MO 63132-5100.

- If the Veteran himself/herself is handling the claim, he or she should write to the Personnel Records Center about obtaining a copy of the service record, using the form.

- This will verify his/her military service. The statement of service, contained in the service record, will specify periods of assignment to particular ships or units. A discharge certificate, or DD Form 214, does not do this. While a DD 214 may cite service in a ship, it does not show when that service took place.

- Once the service record is received, the claim, with a copy of the service record and the veteran's description of incidents relating to stressors, should be forwarded to the U.S. Armed Services Center for Research of Unit Records (USASCRUR), 7798 Cissna Road, Suite 101, Springfield VA 22150, for processing. That agency has assigned a case worker to research claims in appropriate record repositories.

- For USASCRUR to locate pertinent documentation, veterans must be very specific about dates and/or places of incidents, and about the incidents themselves. USASCRUR and the record repositories do not have large research staffs, and cannot undertake extensive searches in response to any single inquiry.

4 November 1997