As noted in VB 00102.001A, in order to qualify for SVB an individual must have served in the:

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  active military, naval or air service of the United States at any time during the period beginning on September 16, 1940 and ending on July 24, 1947; or

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  organized military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, while the forces were in the service of the U.S. Armed Forces pursuant to the military order of the President dated July 26, 1941, including among the military forces organized guerrilla forces under commanders appointed, designated, or subsequently recognized by the Commander in Chief, Southwest Pacific Area, or other competent authority in the U.S. Army. This military service must have been rendered at any time during the period beginning July 26, 1941 and ending on December 30, 1946.

The individual must have been discharged or released from the above military service under conditions other than dishonorable after service of 90 days or more, or because of a disability or injury incurred or aggravated in the line of active duty.

SSA does not verify military service (as explained in VB 00205.055) unless all the other requirements for qualification are met.

For SVB, SSA accepts, as evidence of military service, a “Certification of Military Service” issued by the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) in St. Louis or a letter issued by the Department of the Army, Philippine Army branch, at face value and without verification IF :

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  It contains the required information about the period of military service and the character of the discharge;

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  It is an original document (not a photocopy);

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  It has not been altered; and

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  In the case of the “Certification of Military Service”, the appearance of the document conforms with that in the exhibits of the documents shown in the Forms and Facsimiles section of the SVB Intranet site; and it contains a raised seal.

Verify the evidence as explained in VB 00205.050D. Do not make a determination on whether the individual meets the military service requirement for qualification until the verification has been completed.

Check the SSI claims folder, if readily available, for evidence of military service if the individual filed for SSI after August 1996 and his or her military service was developed for the purpose of SSI alien eligibility. If the file contains information showing that the military service was verified with the VA or the NPRC, no further development is necessary. Document the SVB file to this effect.

NOTE: A claims folder is considered to be readily available if it is in the FO taking the claim or if the FO taking the claim is able to determine which FO has the SSI claims file.

If the SSI folder is not in the office taking the SVB claim, ask in which office the SSI claim was filed. If known, call that office to secure the military service information. Document the SVB claims file to show what the review of the SSI file revealed.

If the SSI claims file is not readily available, proceed to verify the military service as explained in VB 00205.050D.2.

Examine the DRAMS file for information on military service.

To access the DRAMS file:

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  go to the SSA Main Menu, select A, Primary, and press enter;

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  select item 9, Master File Query Menu (MFQM), from the SSA Menu and press enter;

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  select item 16, Miscellaneous Menu (MISM) from the MFQM and press enter;

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  select DRAMS Query (DRMQ) from the MISM, enter the individual"s SSN and press enter.

If there is no data entry for the individual, the legend “DATA NOT PRESENT ON DRAMS FILE” will appear at the bottom of the MISM screen.

If there is a file for the individual, it will appear. The military service entry for the individual will include a:

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  one character proof code, and

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  beginning and ending date(s) in month and year format.

See SM 00349.075 for a further description of the military service data block.

Accept the DRAMS file as proof of military service for title VIII purposes if the:

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  proof code is “P”;

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  period of service (or aggregate of WW II periods) is at least 90 days; and

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  information in the file is in substantial agreement with evidence submitted by the individual.

The VA has provided SSA with an electronic file of individuals who have filed for VA benefits based on WW II military service. The file contains the:

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  individual’s name;

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  SSN;

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  service number;

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  character of service;

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  dates of service;

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  branch of service;

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  date of birth;

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  date of death; and

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  folder location.

The VA file has been converted to a database and can be accessed through the SVB Intranet site by selecting “Military Service Verification.” The file can be searched by SSN, name, VA service number and VA case number.

Do not assume that no record exists until a query has been made by each of the four identifiers: name, VA service number, VA case number and SSN.

COMMENT: This VA listing consists of information on Philippine World War II veterans that was extracted from the VA Beneficiary Identification and Record Locator System (BIRLS). Thus, the information on a BIRLS printout has the same value as that from the title VIII VA file.

See VB 00205.055 for information on checking these records.