You may be right, however, for us older folks it is quite a daunting project filled with confusing regulations, i.e. a bureaucratic nightmare. My birth cert needs to be reissued, but without a real ID I cannot prove anything. My DD214 is not good enough to prove I was in the mil without a valid birth cert, my SS card is no longer valid and will have to be reissued, and so on.
My mom went through this nightmare a decade ago and since her birth hospital burned down, she could not prove she was a citizen. So she could not fly out to visit me before she suddenly died.
There are likely millions of US citizens who will no longer be officially recognized as such and not permitted to fly or leave the country - I’m sure this list will grow until travel beyond the bounds of one’s home without papers is a criminal offense.
I am 67 and have the same documents you do/did. I’ve had copies of my DD214s, my birth cert, and SS card replaced over the last 10 years also.
I still think it’s an exercise worth doing. Especially if it will keep illegals and terrorists from melding into this society.
My m-i-l had the same problem.
Born at home, youngest of the children, nobody alive that was older and could vouch for her, all she had were church docs for baptism & marriage, and had gotten doc sec thru her husband ( back when church docs were OK to use), and her drivers license had expired (she had gotten that back when it was OK to use church docs to prove age).
Back before 9/11, it was rough being able to get her & her companion/attendant on the plane with us, to relocate them from NYC to L.A., but we found an airline that would deal w/ old people in their situation.
My husband rented an apartment on his credit & added her name to the lease so she could have a place to stay.
Trying to open a bank account where nobody knew her was interesting.
I talked to the bank manager & said “OK she’s getting her soc sec checks mailed to her in this town, now if she doesn’t have a bank account how will she be able to write a check and pay the rent?”
They let her open an account with her old d/l; she still had the funny 60’s hat from the picture & we brought it there to show it was her.