Can your prior or new unit reissue old awards and certs that do not appear in IPERMS in order to fix ERB?

SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 05:42:12 -0400

Been a silent learner and user of Rallypoint, this is my first time asking a question

Ok, a small tidbit about myself:

I am a US Army Servicemember with 8 1/2 years worth of service, I entered in 2008 and completed my active service in 2011, from there I did a small stint in the National Guard and then finally the I.R.R ending in 2015, all discharging with an Honorable. From there, veteran life was pretty hard, so in 2019 I decided to come back into the Active Army, where my problem arose.

Upon entering AIT, and with the knowledge of being prior service, I actively swept through my IPERMS and other account and noticed that my NEW ERB was completely blank, all my certs, all my awards, my deployment and places I had been wiped except for a few mentions here in there. Luckily I still had copies of my first enlistment with a DD Form 214 a couple of Awards certs, and my OLD ERB verifying my accomplishments, the rest, that was not on my IPERMS, was sadly lost in a fire when my grandmother's house burned in 2014, and in order for my S1 to actively upload my awards, they will need the order numbers.

Talking to my old unit and my current one here at Bragg, I have gotten a million conflicting answers. Some stated that "Since it was from 2008-2015 your file is with the VA and not in the unit system anymore" which I have been actively calling and requiring documents, but sadly the ones they sent me were the same ones on my IPERMS besides MEDPROS. To hearing "That is just how the Army is, you will just have to re-acquire them" which I choose to not accept. My military record isn't as complexed as other soldiers, but it is my accomplishments and my history, that I would love to keep complete as I continue to grow in the Army.

My Questions are

1. What is the best tact to get through this situation?

2. Am I "SOL'd"? As stated before, I still have 8 years on my ERB and LES, my old documents verify my earlier career, it's just small things that make a big difference when getting accepted to Military Functions, that can hinder me. I am good with taking punches and getting back up, I just feel like there is something I can do, to not have to start all back over

3. Is there any truth that, my old or current unit, is able to just reissue the old awards and certification so they can be added to my ERB?

4. Has this happened to anyone else, I know paperwork is the biggest enemy of the US Military, so maybe advice on how to further prevent this issue, and help me help fellow lower enlisted that may have this issue down the line

I hope this give you all insight into answering my question, From 2008-2011, I have been just a fresh Private straight out of High School that barely knew The Soldiers Creed, let alone what a DA FORM 1506 and all of the things I know now, and this site has been an amazing teacher that hopes to help me become a fellow Noncommissed Officer.

Response by SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2020 5:57 AM

SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 05:57:11 -0400

EDIT: Also I am able to post my copy of my DD Form 214, and both my OLD and NEW ERBS if that helps

Response by Sgt Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2020 8:20 AM

Sgt Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 08:20:44 -0400

SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member Good questions that SFC Jason Boyd will be able to help with.

Response by MAJ Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2020 9:45 AM

MAJ Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 09:45:53 -0400

Even when transferring from active to NG or Reserve, the ERB tends to get cleared. I think it's because of the different systems used. It's not surprising to hear that upon reentry your ER was missing information.
The DD214 verifies that you have earned and been awarded items but it doesn't give the date earned. When I go in to edit ARB the system makes me put a date in order to save it to the Soldier's record brief. I could see how your current S1 would not be able or want to update your ERB without more information.
Like you, people PCS and ETS. The people that knew you have moved on. People at your old units don't know you and probably won't be interested in using their time to do research looking up awards from years ago - it's not a priority for them.
The VA is only going to have what was in your file before discharging. Were all your awards, orders, and DD214s in iPERMS?

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2020 10:09 AM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 10:09:07 -0400

I know I had a BN Commander sign a memo (after his. S1 NCOIC scrubbed my records and documented proof of eligibility) that stated that I was eligible to receive good conduct medal and ARCAMs that slipped through the system.

I'm not sure about awards like AAM, ARCOM and so forth. If you have the award document, it should be just a matter of having the ERB adjusted after your annual audit. (that's how it works in the Reserve)

Response by SFC Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2020 1:16 PM

SFC Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 13:16:05 -0400

Your old unit probably won’t have a record of your old awards because they just don’t keep records past a certain point. The Army Record Management System outlines how long to keep old records before they are destroyed. It’s just not possible to keep all records indefinitely.
As for your OMPF, try looking in your Reserve OMPF. Your old records should have transferred into there, but they never transfer into active OMPF. It’s located on HRC under the self service tab.

Response by SGM Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2020 5:08 PM

SGM Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 17:08:52 -0400

First of all, the ERB is a Record Brief, literally a brief of what is present in your record: (your OMPF in iPERMS). Everything on the brief has a source document in your record. The source document for an award is the award order or completed and signed DA 638 with an order number.
If the award is on a DD 214, that award needed to be in iPERMS or on the desk of the DD 214 clerk.
Unfortunately, a DD 214 is not a source document for awards, (neither the dates nor the order number are annotated) and there is absolutely no way a new or different unit can "recreate" a previous award that is missing.
For that same reason, an old ERB is not a source document for a new ERB.

You have some options to chase these down, if your previous Guard unit did in fact initiated a batch of these awards to iPERMs:
1. check out https://www.hrcapps.army.mil/portal/ and check your records under Guard and reserve/Retiree/Veteran. There is a slim chance some or all of them might be in there.
2. check with your previous Guard BDE S1 section, if they tracked awards on a SharePoint, they might still have the completed DA 638s archived.
3. check with the G1/J1 of your previous Guard state, there is a chance that some or all of those awards are still on their State iPERMS Store and Forward server in old batches that were never completed and released to record, or in a SharePoint archive.
If a document made it into a batch for iPERMS, it can be found in iPERMS, even if the batch was "deleted" or never released to record, the system will retain it for 99 years.

If no one ever initiated an iPERMS batch, and no one archived the 638s during the signature process, you are indeed SOL, and this is a teachable moment for you, and for you to teach your Soldiers:
1. always get every document into iPERMS, no matter how many times you have to ask or how many copies you have to provide. No one has a vested interest in your career except you. I rarely got anything permed by just emailing it once...
2. always keep your own copies on digits (redundancy: hard drive, thumb drive and cloud, like G Drive), and hard copies in a fire safe.
3. every year, check/update your iPERMS, then get your ERB updated as necessary.

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Response by SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Jun 4 at 2020 6:34 PM

SPC(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Thu, 04 Jun 2020 18:34:07 -0400

Uploaded are my records so you guys can get a better understanding, I have called the VA and that's how I got most of these, I have not tried the Reseve OMPF

Response by LTC Jason Mackay made Jun 5 at 2020 5:11 PM

LTC Jason Mackay — Fri, 05 Jun 2020 17:11:17 -0400

For any soldiers reading this, number one reason why you need to
(1) make sure you maintain an I love me book.
(2) ensure your documents are submitted to iPerms.
No one manages your career better than you.

For an award that came with permanent orders, the permanent orders should be retained by that HQ that issued the award. AAM at Battalion ARCOM at BDE. MSM at DIV.

Response by MAJ Ronnie Reams made Jan 27 at 2021 9:25 AM

MAJ Ronnie Reams — Wed, 27 Jan 2021 09:25:44 -0500

I do not know if AD troops can do this but retired troops can back late last century I sent an SF to a place in MD* in search of MUCs on a DD-215, and they sent a 215 with the MUCs and a GCM from my EM days. I thought this cool and later another 215 shows up with Civic Action Unit Citation and Cross of Gallantry Unit citation. So I thought this is swell, called the young man that did it, and he said they search for me by name and serial number on morning reports (DA-1), permanent orders, apparently they have them, and other stuff.

So even if not still around this is a one-stop shop for permanent records. In my case, I believe the 53rd Sig Bn is in CO somewhere and, of course, the 199th Inf BDE is the School BDE for what we fondly called the Benning School for Boys back in the day.

*It occurs to be it may be the National Archives.