# How does US military keep records if there is a name change? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 28, 2023, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689 "2023-05-28T03:21:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2023, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689/1 "2023-05-28T03:21:37Z")
Some background - I requested information about someone’s military service from the National Archives. The information I received back indicates he was on active duty for a little less than two months. This is inconsistent with some other information I have - but I know there was a name change and am wondering if the records are kept using whichever name was correct at the time or if all the records will be merged and kept under the new name. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2023, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689/2 "2023-05-28T12:58:05Z")
AFAIK, recordkeeping at a centralized level is managed by Service Number (which is the servicemember’s Social Security Number if they joined after 1974), not by name. The name _should_ have led to the Service Number, which should have yielded all records associated with the subject. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689/3 "2023-05-29T02:10:22Z")
When were the records from? Lots of records from before 1973 are lost or incomplete. > **[National Personnel Records Center fire](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Personnel_Records_Center_fire)** > > The National Personnel Records Center fire of 1973, also known as the 1973 National Archives fire, was a fire that occurred at the Military Personnel Records Center in the St. Louis suburb of Overland, Missouri, from July 12–16, 1973. > The fire destroyed some 16 million to 18 million official military personnel records. The NPRC, the custodian of U.S. military service records, is part of the National Personnel Records Center, an agency of the National Archives and Records Administration of the Ge... ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689/4 "2023-05-29T02:28:40Z")
According to the letter he was on active duty from March 1982 to May 1982. I actually knew about the fire because they mention it right on the website where you can request records. > [@gnoitall](#): > > The name _should_ have led to the Service Number, which should have yielded all records associated with the subject. I thought there would be a single record but I wasn’t 100% sure. It seems that I would have gotten all the records and therefore he was actually on active duty for a little less than two months. Why that would even mentioned in someone’s obituary is a mystery I will never solve. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689/5 "2023-05-29T04:32:42Z")
If someone was active duty for that short of a time then they washed out or were injured during initial training. In general Initial Entry Training (Basic Training, Boot Camp) lasts around two months then there is advanced training to learn your specific job. The exact amount of time to become qualified in a military job depends on the branch and the job. ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 4:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689/6 "2023-05-29T04:57:09Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > This is inconsistent with some other information I have …what other information do you have? > [@Loach](#): > > In general Initial Entry Training (Basic Training, Boot Camp) lasts around two months then there is advanced training to learn your specific job. Not every job has advanced training though, right? One possibility is this person was a reservist. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689/7 "2023-05-29T05:19:47Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > > [@doreen](#): > > > > This is inconsistent with some other information I have > > …what other information do you have? > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > In general Initial Entry Training (Basic Training, Boot Camp) lasts around two months then there is advanced training to learn your specific job. > > Not every job has advanced training though, right? One possibility is this person was a reservist. A Reservist doing what? If you are in the Reserves you need to have a MOS. ETA: Basic Training is just that, the basic training everyone needs to be in the military. Everyone needs to have advanced training to know their job. There isn’t just a job called “soldier.” In the Army the Infantry combines basic and advanced training but it takes about 15 weeks to get through. The answer could get more complicated explaining IET, AIT and OSUT but let’s just leave it at you need more than two months to be qualified to do anything in the military. That goes for active, guard or reserves. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689/8 "2023-05-29T12:11:22Z")
Even though his service was so short, maybe it was still important to him, personally. Or to whichever of his family members it was who wrote the obituary. Maybe he (or his family member) genuinely wanted a lifelong military career, and had to change plans when he was discharged due to injury. > [@Loach](#): > > There isn’t just a job called “soldier.” Isn’t “rifleman” pretty much “just soldier”, though? ---
**Author:** ![ASL\_v2.0](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asl_v2.0/32/3525_2.png) [@ASL\_v2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASL_v2.0)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689/9 "2023-05-29T13:37:54Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > There isn’t just a job called “soldier.” In the Navy, we have, or at least had, unrated personnel. That is, one could be an _undesignated seaman_ (or, more plainly, we quite literally had a job just called “seaman”). Perhaps I missed the part where **doreen** said their relative had been in the Army? ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689/10 "2023-05-29T14:23:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Even though his service was so short, maybe it was still important to him, personally. Or to whichever of his family members it was who wrote the obituary. Maybe he (or his family member) genuinely wanted a lifelong military career, and had to change plans when he was discharged due to injury. > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > There isn’t just a job called “soldier.” > > Isn’t “rifleman” pretty much “just soldier”, though? Just rifleman is a generic term not a military occupation. Marines have Infantry Rifleman MOS 0311. They go to infantry school after Boot Camp for another few months. The Army has Army Infantryman MOS 11B. They have a combined Basic Training and AIT that takes about 4 months. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689/11 "2023-05-29T14:33:46Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > > [@Loach](#): > > > > There isn’t just a job called “soldier.” > > In the Navy, we have, or at least had, unrated personnel. That is, one could be an _undesignated seaman_ (or, more plainly, we quite literally had a job just called “seaman”). Perhaps I missed the part where **doreen** said their relative had been in the Army? Do they have that in the Reserves? I can see a need for people to do the scut work on a ship but it seems like a complete waste in the Reserves. They do still have undesignated seaman but it appears they are trying to reform the program. If there were reserve time for this person it was still show up in the records just under a different designation. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689/12 "2023-05-29T14:33:49Z")
> [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > Perhaps I missed the part where **doreen** said their relative had been in the Army? I didn’t mention it, but according to the letter he was in the Regular Army. And if he had been in the Reserve, the letter would have given the dates of service in the Reserve, not just the dates for the initial training. > [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > …what other information do you have? Really just the obituary and the specific way it was written - the way it said he proudly served in the Army before “eventually” working someplace else sounds like someone who retired from the Army and then worked somewhere else. It doesn’t really even sound like someone who was in the Army four years and then worked elsewhere for another thirty-five years but definitely not like someone who didn’t finish Basic Training for whatever reason. Which is why I was wondering if there might be records under another name, since I do know there was a name change at some point. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2023, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-us-military-keep-records-if-there-is-a-name-change/984689/13 "2023-05-29T14:37:11Z")
> [@doreen](#): > > > [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > > > Perhaps I missed the part where **doreen** said their relative had been in the Army? > > I didn’t mention it, but according to the letter he was in the Regular Army. And if he had been in the Reserve, the letter would have given the dates of service in the Reserve, not just the dates for the initial training. > > > [@ASL\_v2.0](#): > > > > …what other information do you have? > > Really just the obituary and the specific way it was written - the way it said he proudly served in the Army before “eventually” working someplace else sounds like someone who retired from the Army and then worked somewhere else. It doesn’t really even sound like someone who was in the Army four years and then worked elsewhere for another thirty-five years but definitely not like someone who didn’t finish Basic Training for whatever reason. Which is why I was wondering if there might be records under another name, since I do know there was a name change at some point. That’s correct. If there were other guard or reserve time it would also be in the records just not under Title 10. I have about 7 years of Title 10 time but if you look up my records it’s not going to ignore the other 20 years of National Guard.