Posted on Mar 18, 2015
How do you keep your copies of important military records - personnel, medical, etc?
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After the fire which destroyed Army records in St Louis, MO many years ago I started to keep paper copies of my records [before PCs, smart phones, etc.] and I encouraged my soldiers to do likewise. I was able to correct my pay, DD214, medical records, and retirement points once I transferred to the Reserves primarily because I was able to show my copies of orders, LES, and other "official" records to justify my case. I also was able to assist some of my soldiers based on helping them with their records and occasionally testifying on their behalf. I expect many current leaders do likewise. I started scanning in my paper copies and storing them on my hard drive and backup DVDs. Later I started downloading and sometimes uploading to Army Knowledge Online [AKO] and more recently providing copies to the VA. I hope all service members keep copies of their important records and am curious how much leadership effort is focused on personal records and how service members store them.
Records
Medical
Troops
Airmen
Sailors
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 6
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Re-posting this in response to the original question, I clicked the wrong box.
Personally I do not trust the cloud. I have worked with computers since 1976 and computers fail to often, are hacked to easily. Think about this, you store your information in the cloud, where is it? it will reside on any number of computers around the world. If the company fails that is holding your part of the cloud what happens to your information? What happens to your information if the company holding your part of the cloud is in a country that does not prosecute hackers? For that matter could a criminal organization establish a "legitimate" company to host cloud storage?
Personally I store all of our information in three places. First off all our information is scanned into or written in a PDF format (most programs will either save as a PDF or you can print to a PDF file) then stored. My wife and I both have data sticks that contain the most current information. These sticks are encrypted with 256 bit encryption. Our son has a copy on a data stick (that information may be a couple of weeks behind. Then we have the information in two different bank safety deposit boxes (these get swapped with the ones we carry when we visit the banks, usually once a month for each bank. Our Son and Daughter-in-law have keys and access to those boxes. Well that is four places and I did not include the copy we keep in the safe here at the house.
All of our military records are scanned. All the health records from the military along with copies of our records from the doctors that we use now (we ask for copies once every six months or so.) As well as any hospital stays. Our banking records for the past ?? years and tax returns for about 30 years. Copies of our trust and wills are scanned as well. Also I have been adding scanned copies of vehicle titles, receipts of major purchases. Copies of business licenses, FFL licenses and other government docs. List of serial numbers of important items. Finally (I think) copies of titles and mortgage docs for the house and other property. I'm probably missing something.
Some people may think that this is excessive. I did this because 11 years ago I was diagnosed with cancer and was given just months to live. Needles to say I beat it. However, it hit me hard that there were things that I thought everyone knew and yet when we talked about it I found out that my family did not understand where some of our property was or how we owned it. At that point I started this endeavor. As I did it I found out that I had forgotten a lot of details and also we found out that I wasn't aware of my wife's inheritance and the relationships there. Just food for thought.
By the way I use Adobe Acrobat Professional and an OKI Multifunction printer that has a scanner with a document feeder that will scan both sides. Still the time it took to scan all the documents took several months (part time) to organize and scan. Each major heading has its own folder and files inside.
This is probably more than you wanted to know, but maybe someone can use this information.
Personally I do not trust the cloud. I have worked with computers since 1976 and computers fail to often, are hacked to easily. Think about this, you store your information in the cloud, where is it? it will reside on any number of computers around the world. If the company fails that is holding your part of the cloud what happens to your information? What happens to your information if the company holding your part of the cloud is in a country that does not prosecute hackers? For that matter could a criminal organization establish a "legitimate" company to host cloud storage?
Personally I store all of our information in three places. First off all our information is scanned into or written in a PDF format (most programs will either save as a PDF or you can print to a PDF file) then stored. My wife and I both have data sticks that contain the most current information. These sticks are encrypted with 256 bit encryption. Our son has a copy on a data stick (that information may be a couple of weeks behind. Then we have the information in two different bank safety deposit boxes (these get swapped with the ones we carry when we visit the banks, usually once a month for each bank. Our Son and Daughter-in-law have keys and access to those boxes. Well that is four places and I did not include the copy we keep in the safe here at the house.
All of our military records are scanned. All the health records from the military along with copies of our records from the doctors that we use now (we ask for copies once every six months or so.) As well as any hospital stays. Our banking records for the past ?? years and tax returns for about 30 years. Copies of our trust and wills are scanned as well. Also I have been adding scanned copies of vehicle titles, receipts of major purchases. Copies of business licenses, FFL licenses and other government docs. List of serial numbers of important items. Finally (I think) copies of titles and mortgage docs for the house and other property. I'm probably missing something.
Some people may think that this is excessive. I did this because 11 years ago I was diagnosed with cancer and was given just months to live. Needles to say I beat it. However, it hit me hard that there were things that I thought everyone knew and yet when we talked about it I found out that my family did not understand where some of our property was or how we owned it. At that point I started this endeavor. As I did it I found out that I had forgotten a lot of details and also we found out that I wasn't aware of my wife's inheritance and the relationships there. Just food for thought.
By the way I use Adobe Acrobat Professional and an OKI Multifunction printer that has a scanner with a document feeder that will scan both sides. Still the time it took to scan all the documents took several months (part time) to organize and scan. Each major heading has its own folder and files inside.
This is probably more than you wanted to know, but maybe someone can use this information.
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LTC Stephen F.
Thanks for sharing your experience Michael. I too have used PDF format and appreciate that (1) it is generally backward compatible with previous versions and (2) the Adobe Reader is free.
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Sir, I called them a coouple a years ago, to check on my grandfathers bothers records. I was told that of YOU press the ISSUE, the ENTIRE BLGE did not burn!!! a lot of the records are STILL THERE!!! they are in as they have been, you have to pressfor them.
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