Veterans: Protecting Your DD214 - Discharge Papers
I am in the process of applying for VA benefits for my dad and one thing they wanted attached to the application was either the original DD214 (discharge paperwork) or a certified copy.
The VA Officer recommended that I not send in the original since it could get lost and we would be really out of luck. Instead, I went to the City-County Building (our government offices) and went to the Recorders office and they recorded dad’s DD214 and gave me 2 certified copies for free.
They will be sending me the information for dad’s DD214 being recorded and as I understand, now that it is recorded, if I lose the original I can get a certified copy from the recorders office.
I did not even know about this. But now that I do, I would definitely recommend that any veteran take their DD214 to their local recorders office and have it recorded. As I have written about previously, your DD214 is gold and you DO NOT want to lose it! To see my first post on this, click on “veterans” in the categories list, either at the top of this post, or in the categories list on the right.
There are many benefits that a veteran can get, but they all depend on having the DD214 to prove that you were in the service.
So while you still have it, go get it recorded!
