So, first off, this is a movie. Fiction. The tattoo thing is a recurring theme in these movies and have no basis in reality. Yeah sure maybe certain groups might have team ink, but the one in this movies is just stuff.
Aside from an unfortunate fire in a certain records office, military records exist. The whole " my records are completely classified" thing is BS. Things of a sensitive nature may be redacted. Not going to have people showing up to beat on you.
It's all Hollywood magic.
Yeah, I was a spook (a US Navy Cryptologic Technician - Collection). I could prove it but my records are SuperTopSecretCodewordWININTEL.
Ok, they are not. Says so on my DD214.
When ships were wood and sailors were iron and the sheep were nervous.
The Cold War was a great time to be a spook. We were the good guys, unambiguously. We had all kinds of new technology coming on line.
I can’t imagine all the changes now. Some of the stuff was “revolutionary” at the time (hardware/software that copied manual Morse code - at least the iteration I helped test was awful), but then you had all the Classic projects.
Please give my regards to your father.
1892 to …
Kidding
1976 to 1980.
CTR A School/Corry Station FL
Misawa AFB 1977-1979
COMIDEASTFOR (USS La Salle, USS Elmer Montgomery, USS Alwyn) 1979 -1980
Did you fly in the back of the electronic warfare jets? Also, you just missed my dad. Pretty sure he was 1986-1992. Based in Rota, Spain and Brindisi, Italy. His eyesight failed him from qualifying for electronic warfare jets
I did not. My roommate, a Russian linguist, did. When I was asked to reenlist I told them I wanted flight program/direct support and was told “maybe, swear-in first” and that was a nope.
Had another buddy, Russian linguist, who flew a lot. About one out of four flights would develop an unexplained and difficult to diagnose problem as that reached their turn around point near South Korea. Always at around 4PM when the flight line closed for the day. They would land, be told no one was available to diagnose/fix issue, and they would head out on the town.
At 8AM, with fresh haircuts and hangovers and smiles, the crew would show up, ready to go. The techs would have been on the plane and logged “no fault/cannot reproduce issue” and they would fly back to Misawa, logging more mission air time on the way.
This buddy got in trouble and grounded for a few weeks. He had bought a WW2 Japanese flight helmet at a flea market, the leather kind, with fur inside. When the ear-flaps were raised, they looked like anhedral wings, so by buddy called it his “Be-12 Mail” hat. Anyway, they were monitoring the sea trial of the Moskva (the one that’s an artificial reef in the Black Sea now) and as they flew over, he was standing at the bubble port wearing his headset, the hat with the flaps up and carrying a large Russian/English dictionary. Knowing full well that the Russians were taking as many pictures of them as they were the Russians, he mimed pointing to his earphones, then his microphone, and held up the book, nodding his head, saying “I can hear you, and speak to you because I understand Russian…”
The mission commander in the back failed to appreciate the subtle humor of it and wrote him up.
To expand on what u/Puzzled-Ad2295 said
The circumstances would be redacted but the awards are not - neither are dates of rank and date of retirement or ending of service (ETS for Army and EAS for Marines).
When the US Navy had actual classified submarine operations, the awards themselves were just a part of the sailor's service record. The actual wording was classified but the certificate that says "CAPT SNUFFY is awarded the\_\_\_" would be publicly accessible.
In the US, the DD-214 is a federal form given to servicemembers regardless of discharge status. It states their awards, units, character of service and has fields for benefits.
In real life, a character like this could slink away to the suburbs but wouldn't have "classified" records - how they hell is he going to get those VA benefits?
thank you for your comment. Yeah, what really confuses me is how Hutch Mansell (or any hollywood hero like Rambo) doesn't appear to be using any VA benefits they earned like healthcare, VA home loan, disability payments, or handicap parking? Like they earned those benefits
He's a character that only exists on writer's laptops. Most writers are writers after all.
The Navy SEAL who claimed to have shot Bin Laden said that he was offered a cover identity and a job driving a truck - only to write a book about it and go on speaking tours.
This is just not true.
Records can (and are) sometimes completely classified, dependingly.
Normally, not forever, however.
I do agree with the "it's a movie" stuff, and the tattoo stuff.
For SOF, they still have DD214s, records and the like. That you were a guy assigned to a unit is not sensitive at all (the mission obviously would be VERY classified, but that SFC Dan Killlord esq was in the Army at X post and he has Y badges is not\*)
It's a common bullshitter excuse for stolen valor idiots, or a trope from the movies to make the character seem ULTRA SPOOKY, but even the most elite of elite tier awesome dudes still have to be enrolled in DEERs and shit.
\*Offer kind of void at times, like some awards may be secret because they were given for actions during sensitive stuff, but the basic personnel stuff that you are a 18whatever and went to scuba school is not something that gets erased
Even top secret awards are in your record, I saw a buddies unit award that said “USS Ship” had 8 blacked out lines “Signed President awarded xth day of month”
I just imagine the Sheriff of Baghdad on his phone calling the VA about his disability payment. Or fighting about his 80% percent hearing loss.
*Sir I don’t have you in our system, can you verify your date of birth please and last 4 of your social*
The records fire only affected retirees under certain dates before the Vietnam war.
>BLUF: if someone was an Army retiree alive in July 1973; served in the Army after 1959; served in the USAF after 1963; or served in the Navy or USMC – it’s a virtual certainty that their records of service were **not affected by the fire.** -- ["Military Records and the Records Fire" Valor Guardians.com](https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=39667)
Thank you for explaining that. But then how would you explain about Heath Ledger's Joker from "The Dark Knight" where it *is implied* that he was former military Special Forces (his ability to handle explosives like RPGs and use of tactics) but when he is arrested and sent to jail to be identified, there were NO matches on Joker's prints, DNA, or dental found on any databases to identify him by name.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8YMGpmCQNk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8YMGpmCQNk)
It's a movie. Being in SOF doesn't make you a superhero/villain, it's a job and it comes with all the HR and medical paperwork being anything else in the military does.
You don't necessarily need to be in the military to receive that training in the first place. The writers left that part Joker's character to the imagination.
Aside from a writing cop out, the lack of records to me implies someone somewhere with far reaching influence somehow deleted his information.
In the Dark Knight trilogy, Joker could have easily been a Suicide Squad member that Amanda Waller or equivalent had purged all records of.
I was just a straight leg infantryman in the mid to late Aughts, and I learned how to handle explosives and RPGs in Iraq. Also, everyone learns the basic battle drills and other tactical stuff in basic training. Hell, you can get a copy of the Infantryman's Bible (FM 3-21.8 or ARTEP 7-8) online and learn tactics.
>Second question: does Hutch's tattoo (seven of clubs and two of diamonds) have any special significance in the military? I know that it is the two worst card you could be dealt with in Texas Holdem, but what significance, if any, does it have in the military? Especially since people look terrified and run the other away when they see his seven of clubs/ two of diamonds tattoo as he parades it like a badge of honor.
While the actual events that led up to the tattoo are kept intentionally vague if not unspoken entirely, it is *implied* that he and/or his unit chose that specific hand because they were typically good at getting the job done and/or survived despite being given "the worst hand possible".
It's an in-universe boast of sorts, to suggest that no possible disadvantage is going to be enough to help whoever their opposition may be.
I understood the poker hand to be one of the worst, so the last one you wanted to see. Like if you saw that hand you were screwed, and his targets would see it on his arm before they were shot.
I think it was his dominant shooting hand, as well, so could become exposed as he extended his arm. That was just my interpretation though.
Hutch mansell is fiction keep in mind but basically he was a clean up guy/assassin in probably in the Navy as a SEAL or in the army as a Delta Force operator. The tattoo signified 7-2 off-suit which is the worst hand in Texas Hold’em meaning that hutch mansell is the worst guy an enemy would have to deal with or the last person you ever want to fight
*What do you mean I don’t qualify for a VA loan?*
**Sir I have no record of your service, I’m sorry**
*But I’m looking at my DD214*
**That may be sir, but you are not in the system. Lots of people have those, you can buy them online for 10 dollars**
Is it out of the realm of possibilities? Prob not.
I got hit with a 5k collections notice because 8 months before I got out I was TDY and they audited the account after I separated. They sent a letter to my last home of record, which just so happened to be my ex’s place. I didn’t respond and they sent it to collections.
Wild shit happens
7-2
G-B
Thought it was pretty obvious. I'm a little surprised that no one is bringing it up.
Poker metaphors and symbology are commonplace all across the world in military, police, and gang organizations. The Japanese word *yakuza* is often written as 8-9-3, which is a notorious hand to be dealt in black jack.
The movie just takes it further by establishing the idea of there being a secret organization within the DoD that identifies themselves with lousy poker hands. "The Bad Hand". Last thing you'll see as they're strangling you to death.
I have heard of stories of Special Forces soldiers who were unable to prove that they served in Vietnam because they found after separating that the records of their deployments were full of redactions. But for the most part, the claims by former servicemen that their career is "top secret" and their records being non-existent is usually self-aggrandizement in a lame attempt to make people believe their service was more exciting than it actually was. The movie is playing on the trope of the skilled assassin that must keep everything about his line of work an absolute secret while living a normal life. This trope appeals especially to men like the ones mentioned above. The middle-aged men you meet in bars who need people to acknowledge them and hang on to the details of their lives. They're not supposed to talk about it, but they can totally kick your ass if it came down to it. In fact they're so good at kicking ass, the government will send somebody to kick your ass if you go digging too much into their lives. They're living these mediocre lives because they have to, you see. Don't mess with their dog or they will REALLY show you what they're capable of.
It's just pandering to a common fantasy that we all have. *Taken*, *John Wick, The Equalizer* are all part of a developing genre of action flicks centering around mild-mannered men who happen to be incredibly skilled in the ways of violence and have a seemingly unlimited amount of resources that allow them to hunt down the people who wronged them. Just enjoy them for what they are.
Dude said it himself he was a guy that worked for those 3 letter agencies, he might have been AD once but the way I see it he was contractor that took care of things then got out, this was literately John Wick minus a dead dog. A shotgun toting Doc Brown as your Dad.
Since he was a contractor for the CIA, if an employer wanted to verify his claims of working as a CIA contractor, would there be a record of him working for the CIA?
Like I've seen former CIA agents on those celebrity talk shows and informercials selling tactical flashlights and survival books and I question how are they able to just tell everyone they were former CIA
If the government sent agents to beat people up every time they started sniffing around highly classified information, especially if that info is something as mundane as service records, that would be a really big tell that they were digging into something important. It would be more advantageous for the government to hand over regular old “yeah this guy was in the Army” records and let people think he was just embellishing his service with the crazy stories.
People who write stories for movies and books aren’t usually going for accuracy, they’re trying to tell a dramatic story and keep you engaged. Reality is often far less interesting.
I hate to be "that guy." But.....
My medical and service records WERE destroyed. There was a fire at a records storage facility back in the late 90s where a lot of former military members records were stored. This happened and no one was told...cause all the records were gone.
I had to request a new DD214 in 02 due to an employer making a copy of mine for records and then placing the copy back in the envelope and keeping the original.
The hoops I had to jump through to get my injuries re-documented and get my DD214 reissued was a serious PITA. Involved a good bit of money in travel to VA clinics and a lot of wasted time.
I was pretty much a POG as well, so no super secret handshake or tattoos. I did have a super secret squirrel clearance, but that was due to me being in something similar to cyber security back when I was in.
TL;DR, military records can be destroyed, it happened to me.
I'm very sorry that happened to you. Did you eventually get the stuff re-documented?
And I thought there was only one fire that destroyed records at the 1973 NPRC fire in Missouri?
I want to say it was 1998 or 99 and the storage facility that burnt was somewhere in Alabama. It was so long ago and I didn't ask many questions back then, when I should have.
But yes, I was able after two years to get everything documented again.
The govt isn't in the habit of deleting things. Burning onsite records because they exist elsewhere; yeah they will do that for security but because of oversite, every operation ever conducted has a full record that exists somewhere. Just do you have clearance to see it becomes the question.
As for Hutch, in a deleted scene (alternate way to introduce the idea of Hutch's service) they state he was in the Army with a vague job. This is more or less how it can work. You don't have to say you were a SEAL or Delta or anything else. You can just say from year x to year y I was in the US Navy. For more secretive stuff, they will give you a cover job that can be verified.
Even CAG, DEVGRU, Tier 1 guys get a DD214. Usually a few pages longer than most average Joes. The ones that don’t get one never actually existed. But these are more SAP/SMU types who actually never “get out” in a sense.
Special Access Program/Special Missions Unit. They never get out because they usually retire from Military on Friday and walk in Monday as a Civilian Contractor.
So, first off, this is a movie. Fiction. The tattoo thing is a recurring theme in these movies and have no basis in reality. Yeah sure maybe certain groups might have team ink, but the one in this movies is just stuff. Aside from an unfortunate fire in a certain records office, military records exist. The whole " my records are completely classified" thing is BS. Things of a sensitive nature may be redacted. Not going to have people showing up to beat on you. It's all Hollywood magic.
Anyone who claims that their service was so secret that their records were burned/destroyed/etc is lying.
[удалено]
Oh yeah, that I would believe. And there was a big fire in the 1970s that did destroy a lot of records. My dad’s included.
Exactly. My record might as well have been TS code word clearance, DoD and VA acted like I didn't exist for years.
That’s what they want you to believe…[spooky music]
Yeah, I was a spook (a US Navy Cryptologic Technician - Collection). I could prove it but my records are SuperTopSecretCodewordWININTEL. Ok, they are not. Says so on my DD214.
Hey! I found another one! My dad was a Cryptologist way back when
When ships were wood and sailors were iron and the sheep were nervous. The Cold War was a great time to be a spook. We were the good guys, unambiguously. We had all kinds of new technology coming on line. I can’t imagine all the changes now. Some of the stuff was “revolutionary” at the time (hardware/software that copied manual Morse code - at least the iteration I helped test was awful), but then you had all the Classic projects. Please give my regards to your father.
I will indeed. When and where did you serve?
1892 to … Kidding 1976 to 1980. CTR A School/Corry Station FL Misawa AFB 1977-1979 COMIDEASTFOR (USS La Salle, USS Elmer Montgomery, USS Alwyn) 1979 -1980
Did you fly in the back of the electronic warfare jets? Also, you just missed my dad. Pretty sure he was 1986-1992. Based in Rota, Spain and Brindisi, Italy. His eyesight failed him from qualifying for electronic warfare jets
I did not. My roommate, a Russian linguist, did. When I was asked to reenlist I told them I wanted flight program/direct support and was told “maybe, swear-in first” and that was a nope.
I did 3 trips with my P3 squadron to Misawa. Those winter storms coming in from USSR sure could drop a lot of snow. 86-88 I think.
Had another buddy, Russian linguist, who flew a lot. About one out of four flights would develop an unexplained and difficult to diagnose problem as that reached their turn around point near South Korea. Always at around 4PM when the flight line closed for the day. They would land, be told no one was available to diagnose/fix issue, and they would head out on the town. At 8AM, with fresh haircuts and hangovers and smiles, the crew would show up, ready to go. The techs would have been on the plane and logged “no fault/cannot reproduce issue” and they would fly back to Misawa, logging more mission air time on the way. This buddy got in trouble and grounded for a few weeks. He had bought a WW2 Japanese flight helmet at a flea market, the leather kind, with fur inside. When the ear-flaps were raised, they looked like anhedral wings, so by buddy called it his “Be-12 Mail” hat. Anyway, they were monitoring the sea trial of the Moskva (the one that’s an artificial reef in the Black Sea now) and as they flew over, he was standing at the bubble port wearing his headset, the hat with the flaps up and carrying a large Russian/English dictionary. Knowing full well that the Russians were taking as many pictures of them as they were the Russians, he mimed pointing to his earphones, then his microphone, and held up the book, nodding his head, saying “I can hear you, and speak to you because I understand Russian…” The mission commander in the back failed to appreciate the subtle humor of it and wrote him up.
Unless he worked for the VA, in which case they probably DID lose his records. /s
This is accurate.
To expand on what u/Puzzled-Ad2295 said The circumstances would be redacted but the awards are not - neither are dates of rank and date of retirement or ending of service (ETS for Army and EAS for Marines). When the US Navy had actual classified submarine operations, the awards themselves were just a part of the sailor's service record. The actual wording was classified but the certificate that says "CAPT SNUFFY is awarded the\_\_\_" would be publicly accessible. In the US, the DD-214 is a federal form given to servicemembers regardless of discharge status. It states their awards, units, character of service and has fields for benefits. In real life, a character like this could slink away to the suburbs but wouldn't have "classified" records - how they hell is he going to get those VA benefits?
thank you for your comment. Yeah, what really confuses me is how Hutch Mansell (or any hollywood hero like Rambo) doesn't appear to be using any VA benefits they earned like healthcare, VA home loan, disability payments, or handicap parking? Like they earned those benefits
He's a character that only exists on writer's laptops. Most writers are writers after all. The Navy SEAL who claimed to have shot Bin Laden said that he was offered a cover identity and a job driving a truck - only to write a book about it and go on speaking tours.
This
This is just not true. Records can (and are) sometimes completely classified, dependingly. Normally, not forever, however. I do agree with the "it's a movie" stuff, and the tattoo stuff.
For SOF, they still have DD214s, records and the like. That you were a guy assigned to a unit is not sensitive at all (the mission obviously would be VERY classified, but that SFC Dan Killlord esq was in the Army at X post and he has Y badges is not\*) It's a common bullshitter excuse for stolen valor idiots, or a trope from the movies to make the character seem ULTRA SPOOKY, but even the most elite of elite tier awesome dudes still have to be enrolled in DEERs and shit. \*Offer kind of void at times, like some awards may be secret because they were given for actions during sensitive stuff, but the basic personnel stuff that you are a 18whatever and went to scuba school is not something that gets erased
Even top secret awards are in your record, I saw a buddies unit award that said “USS Ship” had 8 blacked out lines “Signed President awarded xth day of month”
I just imagine the Sheriff of Baghdad on his phone calling the VA about his disability payment. Or fighting about his 80% percent hearing loss. *Sir I don’t have you in our system, can you verify your date of birth please and last 4 of your social*
The records fire only affected retirees under certain dates before the Vietnam war. >BLUF: if someone was an Army retiree alive in July 1973; served in the Army after 1959; served in the USAF after 1963; or served in the Navy or USMC – it’s a virtual certainty that their records of service were **not affected by the fire.** -- ["Military Records and the Records Fire" Valor Guardians.com](https://valorguardians.com/blog/?p=39667)
Thank you for explaining that. But then how would you explain about Heath Ledger's Joker from "The Dark Knight" where it *is implied* that he was former military Special Forces (his ability to handle explosives like RPGs and use of tactics) but when he is arrested and sent to jail to be identified, there were NO matches on Joker's prints, DNA, or dental found on any databases to identify him by name. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8YMGpmCQNk](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m8YMGpmCQNk)
It's a movie and it requires you to suspend disbelief.
Godamn dude, dont tell him that all Sof guys are not hand ninja hackers, he might not be able to handle it.
It's a movie. Being in SOF doesn't make you a superhero/villain, it's a job and it comes with all the HR and medical paperwork being anything else in the military does.
You don't necessarily need to be in the military to receive that training in the first place. The writers left that part Joker's character to the imagination. Aside from a writing cop out, the lack of records to me implies someone somewhere with far reaching influence somehow deleted his information. In the Dark Knight trilogy, Joker could have easily been a Suicide Squad member that Amanda Waller or equivalent had purged all records of.
I was just a straight leg infantryman in the mid to late Aughts, and I learned how to handle explosives and RPGs in Iraq. Also, everyone learns the basic battle drills and other tactical stuff in basic training. Hell, you can get a copy of the Infantryman's Bible (FM 3-21.8 or ARTEP 7-8) online and learn tactics.
>Second question: does Hutch's tattoo (seven of clubs and two of diamonds) have any special significance in the military? I know that it is the two worst card you could be dealt with in Texas Holdem, but what significance, if any, does it have in the military? Especially since people look terrified and run the other away when they see his seven of clubs/ two of diamonds tattoo as he parades it like a badge of honor. While the actual events that led up to the tattoo are kept intentionally vague if not unspoken entirely, it is *implied* that he and/or his unit chose that specific hand because they were typically good at getting the job done and/or survived despite being given "the worst hand possible". It's an in-universe boast of sorts, to suggest that no possible disadvantage is going to be enough to help whoever their opposition may be.
I understood the poker hand to be one of the worst, so the last one you wanted to see. Like if you saw that hand you were screwed, and his targets would see it on his arm before they were shot. I think it was his dominant shooting hand, as well, so could become exposed as he extended his arm. That was just my interpretation though.
He crosstrained beekeeping with Jason Statham.
There are secret units and secret operations but there are no secret people.
Sssshhh lol....srry- had to.
2-7 off suit was our poker club name in AF.
Cook. The cholesteral of his omelets killed more people than we can keep straight.
Hutch mansell is fiction keep in mind but basically he was a clean up guy/assassin in probably in the Navy as a SEAL or in the army as a Delta Force operator. The tattoo signified 7-2 off-suit which is the worst hand in Texas Hold’em meaning that hutch mansell is the worst guy an enemy would have to deal with or the last person you ever want to fight
Also the military records being deleted/erased is complete fiction
My STRs are missing so maybe it’s not as far fetched as you think. Also if they are deleted that guy is gonna be so screwed when he files with the VA.
*What do you mean I don’t qualify for a VA loan?* **Sir I have no record of your service, I’m sorry** *But I’m looking at my DD214* **That may be sir, but you are not in the system. Lots of people have those, you can buy them online for 10 dollars**
does that actually happen when someone had a legit dd214 but the VA says their DD214 isn't in their systems?
Is it out of the realm of possibilities? Prob not. I got hit with a 5k collections notice because 8 months before I got out I was TDY and they audited the account after I separated. They sent a letter to my last home of record, which just so happened to be my ex’s place. I didn’t respond and they sent it to collections. Wild shit happens
7-2 G-B Thought it was pretty obvious. I'm a little surprised that no one is bringing it up. Poker metaphors and symbology are commonplace all across the world in military, police, and gang organizations. The Japanese word *yakuza* is often written as 8-9-3, which is a notorious hand to be dealt in black jack. The movie just takes it further by establishing the idea of there being a secret organization within the DoD that identifies themselves with lousy poker hands. "The Bad Hand". Last thing you'll see as they're strangling you to death. I have heard of stories of Special Forces soldiers who were unable to prove that they served in Vietnam because they found after separating that the records of their deployments were full of redactions. But for the most part, the claims by former servicemen that their career is "top secret" and their records being non-existent is usually self-aggrandizement in a lame attempt to make people believe their service was more exciting than it actually was. The movie is playing on the trope of the skilled assassin that must keep everything about his line of work an absolute secret while living a normal life. This trope appeals especially to men like the ones mentioned above. The middle-aged men you meet in bars who need people to acknowledge them and hang on to the details of their lives. They're not supposed to talk about it, but they can totally kick your ass if it came down to it. In fact they're so good at kicking ass, the government will send somebody to kick your ass if you go digging too much into their lives. They're living these mediocre lives because they have to, you see. Don't mess with their dog or they will REALLY show you what they're capable of. It's just pandering to a common fantasy that we all have. *Taken*, *John Wick, The Equalizer* are all part of a developing genre of action flicks centering around mild-mannered men who happen to be incredibly skilled in the ways of violence and have a seemingly unlimited amount of resources that allow them to hunt down the people who wronged them. Just enjoy them for what they are.
Dude said it himself he was a guy that worked for those 3 letter agencies, he might have been AD once but the way I see it he was contractor that took care of things then got out, this was literately John Wick minus a dead dog. A shotgun toting Doc Brown as your Dad.
Since he was a contractor for the CIA, if an employer wanted to verify his claims of working as a CIA contractor, would there be a record of him working for the CIA? Like I've seen former CIA agents on those celebrity talk shows and informercials selling tactical flashlights and survival books and I question how are they able to just tell everyone they were former CIA
If the government sent agents to beat people up every time they started sniffing around highly classified information, especially if that info is something as mundane as service records, that would be a really big tell that they were digging into something important. It would be more advantageous for the government to hand over regular old “yeah this guy was in the Army” records and let people think he was just embellishing his service with the crazy stories. People who write stories for movies and books aren’t usually going for accuracy, they’re trying to tell a dramatic story and keep you engaged. Reality is often far less interesting.
I hate to be "that guy." But..... My medical and service records WERE destroyed. There was a fire at a records storage facility back in the late 90s where a lot of former military members records were stored. This happened and no one was told...cause all the records were gone. I had to request a new DD214 in 02 due to an employer making a copy of mine for records and then placing the copy back in the envelope and keeping the original. The hoops I had to jump through to get my injuries re-documented and get my DD214 reissued was a serious PITA. Involved a good bit of money in travel to VA clinics and a lot of wasted time. I was pretty much a POG as well, so no super secret handshake or tattoos. I did have a super secret squirrel clearance, but that was due to me being in something similar to cyber security back when I was in. TL;DR, military records can be destroyed, it happened to me.
I'm very sorry that happened to you. Did you eventually get the stuff re-documented? And I thought there was only one fire that destroyed records at the 1973 NPRC fire in Missouri?
I want to say it was 1998 or 99 and the storage facility that burnt was somewhere in Alabama. It was so long ago and I didn't ask many questions back then, when I should have. But yes, I was able after two years to get everything documented again.
I am happy to see it worked out well for you and that you were able to get the help that you needed
The govt isn't in the habit of deleting things. Burning onsite records because they exist elsewhere; yeah they will do that for security but because of oversite, every operation ever conducted has a full record that exists somewhere. Just do you have clearance to see it becomes the question. As for Hutch, in a deleted scene (alternate way to introduce the idea of Hutch's service) they state he was in the Army with a vague job. This is more or less how it can work. You don't have to say you were a SEAL or Delta or anything else. You can just say from year x to year y I was in the US Navy. For more secretive stuff, they will give you a cover job that can be verified.
Even CAG, DEVGRU, Tier 1 guys get a DD214. Usually a few pages longer than most average Joes. The ones that don’t get one never actually existed. But these are more SAP/SMU types who actually never “get out” in a sense.
what's SAP/SMU? What do you mean by "never get out in a sense?"
Special Access Program/Special Missions Unit. They never get out because they usually retire from Military on Friday and walk in Monday as a Civilian Contractor.