What Selective Service documents exist from the Vietnam era and how can researchers access them?

1. What specific Selective Service documents survive from the Vietnam era

Surviving Vietnam-era materials include draft registration cards and registration indexes (the same basic card series maintained for WWII through Vietnam-era registrants), classification histories like SSS Form 102 which can record classification, appeal dates, physical exam results and remarks, and the Vietnam “lottery” lists and tabular order-of-call results used after 1969 ^{[1] [6] [3]}. The public record also contains broader archival collections relating to Vietnam service—unit reports, casualty lists, and databases in the National Archives’ AAD system—that complement individual draft files when reconstructing a draftee’s experience ^{[7] [8]}.

2. Who holds the records and why Selective Service no longer controls them

For men born before 1960, custody, storage and retrieval of Selective Service records rest with the National Archives (including the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis), meaning the Selective Service System itself cannot access or provide those pre-1960 records ^{[2] [5]}. The division is explicit in government guidance: NARA has sole responsibility for ownership and retrieval of those holdings, reflecting routine archival transfer of records once they become permanent historical holdings ^[2].

3. How to find digitized indexes and online databases first

A large body of draft-era cards has been scanned and indexed: the complete WWII-era (1940–1947) registration card series has been digitized and made available via Ancestry, and selected Vietnam-era electronic records appear in the National Archives’ Access to Archival Databases (AAD) and National Archives Catalog ^{[1] [8]}. Researchers should search AAD and the National Archives Catalog for Vietnam-era datasets (casualties, awards, POW/MIA files) and check genealogical aggregators like Ancestry for transcribed registration cards or BIRLS-like indexes that can shortcut identifying an individual ^{[4] [9] [1]}.

4. How to request physical or certified copies and what to expect

To obtain copies of WWII-through–Vietnam-era Selective Service records (men born April 28, 1877 to March 28, 1957, and generally those born before 1960), researchers must complete the appropriate Selective Service Request Form and/or submit requests to the National Personnel Records Center in St. Louis or the National Archives location holding the series; the Archives charges fees under its schedule and many holdings are not online so requests can take time ^{[1] [4] [5]}. Some files—such as classification histories—are available for ordering for a fee and may contain detailed administrative notes useful to genealogists and scholars ^[6].

5. Caveats, privacy, and research strategies

Not all Vietnam-era materials are publicly available online: many veterans’ personnel files and medical records remain non-digitized and may have access controls; military personnel records become archival only after a statutory retention period and Searchable AAD content is selective rather than comprehensive ^{[4] [10]}. Additionally, registration requirements and custodial boundaries changed over time (e.g., registration was suspended for some cohorts in the late 1950s and resumed in 1980), so researchers must confirm birthdates and legal registration windows to know which repository holds a person’s file ^{[1] [2] [3]}. Best practice is to begin with online indexes (Ancestry, AAD, National Archives Catalog), gather identifying details (full name, birth date, home county/state at time of registration), then submit formal requests to NARA/NPRC when necessary, budgeting for fees and processing delays ^{[1] [4] [8]}.