Louise Galbraith, veterans affairs director for Crawford County, and County Recorder Sara Meseck are advising veterans to not pay for services they can receive for free at the courthouse.

They said as early as 2022 and likely before, third-party companies have been advertising that they can locate and file military discharge papers for a cost.

But those services are performed locally for free.

Veterans can file their DD214 (for active military) and NG22 (for National Guard) and Reserve military discharge papers for free, and the Veterans Affairs Office and recorders office can help search for lost discharge papers.

“Everybody needs to file their discharge papers with the recorder’s office, just because when you need them, they’re on file,” said Galbraith. “If you lose yours, you can see Sara or me, and we can give you a certified copy.”

“It’s important for veterans to file their discharge papers in the county they live in,” said Meseck. “If you move, file it again in the county you moved to. The records will be on file forever in the recorder’s office.”

Just prior to this interview, Galbraith searched online and found a third-party company that was charging veterans to file their discharge papers. The price was $89.95.

“They’re going to do the same thing that we do for free,” Galbraith said.

“Third-party companies are trying to charge veterans to file their discharge papers for them when it is a free service, and all they have to do is bring their copy to us,” said Meseck.

Galbraith added that some third-party companies pitch the benefit that the veteran doesn’t have to stand in line.

“They don’t have to stand in line if they come to our offices. Or they can call me or Sara, and we’ll help them,” Galbraith said. “Sara can do the certified copy. I can scan and send an encrypted email copy or send it by mail. We’re very accommodating.

“If it’s a next of kin, we can do the same thing when they prove they are the next of kin, because the discharge papers are protected,” she added. “If the veteran is still living, we don’t typically give a copy to the next of kin unless the veteran is in a nursing home or a similar situation that prevents them from coming in.”

Military discharge papers are issued to the service member when they are discharged.

Meseck pointed out that some veterans have multiple discharge papers.

“They should have all of them recorded,” she said. “It just depends on how many branches of the service they were in or how many times they were deployed.”

Galbraith explained that years ago, a veteran would get a discharge paper every time their term of service was up.

“Now they’re just doing one at discharge,” she said, “but National Guard veterans will receive a discharge paper for every time they were deployed because they switched from the Guard to active duty. And they will also have a discharge paper for basic training.”

Galbraith said it is important for veterans to file their discharge papers as it provides proof of service to file a claim with Veterans Affairs or to claim retirement benefits.

It is also important when a veteran passes away so the family can get military funeral benefits for their loved one.

The last example can be time sensitive.

“We’ve had a few incidents that were kind of close, but we were able to find the discharge papers,” said Galbraith. “That’s why we want people to file their discharge papers right away. Even if they think they will never use them for anything, they will eventually. It all comes around.”

Another example of when discharge papers are needed is for college scholarships that require proof of service.

“We’ve had families come in and need a copy of their father’s or grandfather’s DD214 because the grandchild can get a college scholarship,” Galbraith said.

Yet another example is when a veteran is going to assisted living or a nursing home and the children live in another state or an Iowa county that is a distance away, and they need the DD214 for VA benefits or other purposes.

“Or dad moves out of the state and the children don’t know they can just call me. If the veteran lived in Crawford County their whole life, we’re probably going to have the discharge papers and we can get a copy to them,” said Galbraith.

She said if people go online, they may not want to take the time to order a copy through the National Personnel Records Center and decide they would rather pay a third-party company to do that work for them.

“When in reality all they have to do is call Louise or my office and we can help them for free,” said Meseck.

Another way the Veterans Affairs office and recorder’s office can help is when military discharge papers have never been filed and they are lost.

“About 90% of the time I can get a copy of the discharge paper the same day by calling the state depository,” said Galbraith. “If you are from a surrounding state, they all have those depositories that work with us. If we have to, we can go to the personnel records center and that can take maybe a week at the most, and they send those digitally now.”

She added that one of the third-party companies advertises that they can get the discharge papers digitally.

“They send it digitally to everyone. That is not a perk of the company,” Galbraith said.

Veterans who aren’t certain that their discharge papers are filed with the county are encouraged to call the VA office or recorders office or come in.

“If it is, that’s great. If it’s not, then let’s get a copy and get it recorded before you need it,” said Galbraith.

The number for the veterans affairs office is 712-263-2720, and the number for the recorder's office is 712-263-3643.

Story Ads 1

Following are some perks to have discharge papers filed in the county of residence.

Proof of service to qualify for the military tax credit at the assessor’s office
Proof of service to get the veterans designation on a driver’s license
Proof of service to qualify for discounted hunting and fishing licenses through the Department of Natural Resources

“The veterans who typically have not filed their discharge papers are veterans who served in a peacetime period because there was no ‘county’ reason at the time, but several years ago a change was made to the military tax exemption; if a veteran served in peacetime and served 18 consecutive months, they qualify for the military tax exemption,” Galbraith said.

She added that individuals who often seek help from the county veterans affairs office need the papers for a monetary benefit.

“And if they use a third-party company, they’re spending money trying to get a DD214 that they could get for free,” said Galbraith. “We don’t want them to pay anything to get that.”

“It’s frustrating because you don’t want those third-party companies to take advantage of veterans,” said Meseck.

“The only thing we take for pay is a smile,” said Galbraith.

“When they ask how much they have to pay for their copy, our answer is ‘you already paid for it with your service,’” said Meseck. “We’re happy to help family members or veterans themselves.”

Follow us on Facebook for the latest news and updates