Anyone ever found old paperwork about a family member's military service?

I recently came across some old paperwork about my late father, and it turns out he actually enlisted and got an honorable discharge. It was a bit surprising since he never mentioned it in detail. Anyone else find something similar?

Yeah, I had a similar thing happen! My grandpa never talked about his service, but we found his discharge papers after he passed.

Pippin said:
Yeah, I had a similar thing happen! My grandpa never talked about his service, but we found his discharge papers after he passed.

That’s wild, right? It’s like a whole other side of them you never knew about. Did you ever dig into the reason for his discharge?

Pippin said:
Yeah, I had a similar thing happen! My grandpa never talked about his service, but we found his discharge papers after he passed.

Same here with my uncle! Found out he had medical reasons too, like flat feet or something.

Was the discharge due to a medical thing? Sometimes they let you go for minor health stuff that’s not exactly a disability.

Frankie said:
Was the discharge due to a medical thing? Sometimes they let you go for minor health stuff that’s not exactly a disability.

Yeah, I think it was something like that! He was discharged pretty quickly, so it was probably some minor condition.

Frankie said:
Was the discharge due to a medical thing? Sometimes they let you go for minor health stuff that’s not exactly a disability.

They do that for stuff like sleepwalking or flat feet—stuff that affects service but not regular life.

If you want more info, you can try the National Personnel Records Center. They keep records for military stuff.

Morgan said:
If you want more info, you can try the National Personnel Records Center. They keep records for military stuff.

Oh, thanks! Didn’t know I could request stuff as next of kin. Might look into it!

Morgan said:
If you want more info, you can try the National Personnel Records Center. They keep records for military stuff.

Yeah, just fill out a form on the National Archives website. It’s pretty simple if you have basic info.

Old military documents can be super interesting! Did the paperwork say why he was discharged?

Laurel said:
Old military documents can be super interesting! Did the paperwork say why he was discharged?

Sort of—it mentioned a code and a letter from the Air Force, but I don’t really know what it all means.

Laurel said:
Old military documents can be super interesting! Did the paperwork say why he was discharged?

You might be able to find out more by contacting the Air Force Historical Research Agency. They might still have old records.

Interesting find! I’ve read they sometimes discharge people for physical issues that don’t qualify as disabilities, like a certain designation code.

Briar said:
Interesting find! I’ve read they sometimes discharge people for physical issues that don’t qualify as disabilities, like a certain designation code.

Yeah, I saw something like that. A Separation Designation Number (SDN) I think?

Briar said:
Interesting find! I’ve read they sometimes discharge people for physical issues that don’t qualify as disabilities, like a certain designation code.

Exactly, that’s the code. The numbers mean different things like medical or other suitability issues.