[GreyFriar]

I recommend that folks interested in why this problem still exists read the article by Mr. Peter Sleeth, that he wrote in 2012 for ProPublica.com Please do not do an auto-matic criticism of ProPublica as with out its support Mr. Sleeth would not have been able to uncover the ongoing problem with RMDA not collecting Army unit records; I’m NOT talking about individual soldier personnel files and medical records, those are being preserved at a 99% rate.

https://www.propublica.org/article/army-says-war-records-gap-is-real-launches-recovery-effort

Unfortunately the Army did not carry through with forcing RMDA to collect the records, but told CMH to continue doing it and for units to send any records they may have saved to CMH. Please note that nearly all of those records are still classified and will remain so until CENTCOM and ARCENT declassify them. CMH does NOT have the authority to declassify any of the records it still maintains. Also it has transferred all of the records to RMDA for transfer to the National Archives and Records Administration.

[GreyFriar]

Link to questions that Mr. Sleeth was asked about his series of article on missing Army records:

https://www.propublica.org/getinvolved/item/how-did-scores-of-military-units-lose-combat-records-in-the-war-on-terror-a

Sleeth’s lead article on Nov 9, 2012:

https://www.propublica.org/article/lost-to-history-missing-war-records-complicate-benefit-claims-by-veterans

The 2009 CMH Conference of Army Historians presentation Mr. Sleeth sites in his article:

https://www.propublica.org/documents/item/403788-cah-2009-presentation#document/p17/a65657