TexasCHLforum.com

LarryH wrote:If you google "DD-214", you'll find a link to the web sites where you can request a new DD-214. There's a different site for each branch of service.

Seems it only took a couple of weeks when I requested mine last year.

Interesting... I figured it would be a lot more of a pain to do it...

According to the Wiki article on it, it is not possible to get a replacement "Member 4" copy of it though... I guess that was what I received all those years ago, but at the time, I really didn't pay much attention to it...

Interestingly, when I was injured in a motorcycle accident a short time after getting out, the paramedics shipped me off to the VA hospital automatically... I was unconscious, they saw my dog tags, and figured that the VA was a good place for me, I guess... Best I remember, they never asked to see my DD-214 either... They had my SSN from my dog tags, so I guess that was all they really needed...

It's been around 30 years since I got out. I might have been able to find my DD214 during the first 5 years after I got out, but there's been too many moves since then to even think of finding it. I don't even bother with it... Last time I had a Texas CHL, I just sent in the full amount. I guess there's probably a way to get a replacement DD214, but I figure I would probably end up losing it also...

Hopefully, there is a way for them to verify it... With scanners and image editors these days, I suspect it would be just a bit too easy for someone to get a bit creative and either create a new one from someone else's or modify their type of discharge in case their discharge wasn't quite CHL kosher. Of course, if they caught him doing that, I'm pretty sure he would be screwed.

If I remember correctly, Louisiana actually requires anyone who has served in the military to have received an "honorable discharge". "General under honorable conditions" is not acceptable apparently. I'm not sure that I agree with that though... One could argue that anyone who did not receive a "dishonorable" still at least tried to do his duty and serve his country -- that's more than you can say about most people these days. I knew some guys when I was in who ended up getting out with lesser discharge -- although none with a "dishonorable" one. Sometimes, it was because they were caught with some weed in the barracks. One guy I knew got caught coming on base and there were some seeds in the carpet of his car. I suspect that he got screwed over though since I never even saw him smoke a cigarette, much less weed. Personally, I was just a beer drinker and other than one incident where I left a couple of cans on the outside window ledge one night to keep them cold, I never got in trouble for it.