Emails to Military Recruiters - Is a record kept?

[DaniellaDavis]

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If I sent important documentation to a recruiter and they deleted the email, is there a way to stop retrieve it? Does the military still keep the emails?

 

[dwb8p]

Consider it a permanent record, or at least discoverable for 10-15 years.

 

[deleted480308]

This is an odd question, but how long do military recruiters keep their emails? For instance, if I've been emailing back and forth with a recruiter, does that recruiter keep my email correspondence? If he/she deletes my emails, can the military still pull the records and see our conversations, since the recruiter's email is a government email?
Nothing bad has happened, just want to know for future reference. When I get into the military, I want to know if they have a system of storing messages/records, and that stuff just isn't deleted.

don't lie and it doesn't matter

 

[DrMetal]

Nothing bad has happened, just want to know for future reference. When I get into the military, I want to know if they have a system of storing messages/records, and that stuff just isn't deleted.

Last time I gave anything like this some thought, there were restraining orders involved. Change your SDN handle, if that's any part of your real name. Be smart, be victorious.

 

[DaniellaDavis]

Last time I gave anything like this some thought, there were restraining orders involved. Change your SDN handle, if that's any part of your real name. Be smart, be victorious.

I think many people went to the worse-case scenario with my post lol. I haven't done anything inappropriate, and neither has one of my recruiters, but thanks for all the concern! I changed the original post to reflect that. Basically, I am trying to apply for another branch since I was medically disqualified from one of them (navy). This was many months ago, and my recruiter says they no longer have documentation (non-medical related) that I sent them. I was surprised because I thought the military would keep everything. It's not too big of a deal, I just didn't want to go fishing for all the documents that I previously gathered and I'm dumb because I didn't keep my own records. Lesson learned for next time I guess

 

[HighPriest]

I think many people went to the worse-case scenario with my post lol. I haven't done anything inappropriate, and neither has one of my recruiters, but thanks for all the concern! I changed the original post to reflect that. Basically, I am trying to apply for another branch since I was medically disqualified from one of them (navy). This was many months ago, and my recruiter says they no longer have documentation (non-medical related) that I sent them. I was surprised because I thought the military would keep everything. It's not too big of a deal, I just didn't want to go fishing for all the documents that I previously gathered and I'm dumb because I didn't keep my own records. Lesson learned for next time I guess

You poor person. Let this be the first of many, many, many, many, many times that the military has lost important paperwork that you literally just gave them. And let this be a lesson that losing documentation is basically SOP for the entire DOD. Let me list some of the things they lost within a week of my providing them:

1 - Credentialing paperwork
2 - Medical waivers
3 - leave requests
4 - medical records (mine and my patient's)
5 - all of my discharge paperwork

I could go on and on and on. You'll learn that you actually need to expect that anything you hand to anyone in a uniform is already lost, you just haven't realized it yet.

 

[TheTruckGuy]

If your package actually went all the way through the application process, then the documents should be stored at your regional recruiting command. I had the same issue with my recruiter. I submitted all my stuff to a chief in May, and then she turned over in August to a LT. The LT said I had to start all over from the beginning and not only resubmit all the documents, but redo them with new dates, new everything. I was pissed because I knew it would take time and I wanted to get in on a limited number of HSCP, not HPSP. He also told me this several weeks after telling me he's going through everything.

I end up running into another recruiter back closer to my college who says everything should be stored with the main recruiting command. He calls them, gets them to pull all the documents and put them on a CD, and sends it to my new LT recruiter. LT is like "cool," we're still going to redo most of these just to be sure they're done right.

Ended up missing out on HSCP.

So, long story short, if he deleted an e-mail, it's probably gone. Someone in IT could probably go searching for it, but they're not going to do that for you. It may still be in his e-mail and he's just too lazy to look. Or, if it was submitted to the regional command, then they may very well have it, he just doesn't feel like getting it for you. Or maybe it's all gone.

 

[TheTruckGuy]

You'll learn that you actually need to expect that anything you hand to anyone in a uniform is already lost, you just haven't realized it yet.

When I get handed paperwork from sailors/marines I always ask if they have a copy or scanned it on their phone. If not, I make them do it. Because I know I'm pretty good about not losing stuff, but that corpsman I ask to place the paper in the medical record may get busy and put it somewhere they're not supposed to and forget about it.

Good lesson in general. Always have backups.

 

[DaniellaDavis]

If your package actually went all the way through the application process, then the documents should be stored at your regional recruiting command. I had the same issue with my recruiter. I submitted all my stuff to a chief in May, and then she turned over in August to a LT. The LT said I had to start all over from the beginning and not only resubmit all the documents, but redo them with new dates, new everything. I was pissed because I knew it would take time and I wanted to get in on a limited number of HSCP, not HPSP. He also told me this several weeks after telling me he's going through everything.

I end up running into another recruiter back closer to my college who says everything should be stored with the main recruiting command. He calls them, gets them to pull all the documents and put them on a CD, and sends it to my new LT recruiter. LT is like "cool," we're still going to redo most of these just to be sure they're done right.

Ended up missing out on HSCP.

So, long story short, if he deleted an e-mail, it's probably gone. Someone in IT could probably go searching for it, but they're not going to do that for you. It may still be in his e-mail and he's just too lazy to look. Or, if it was submitted to the regional command, then they may very well have it, he just doesn't feel like getting it for you. Or maybe it's all gone.

Damn, that really, really sucks. I'm sorry you had to go through all this 🙁 I actually had a similar situation occur with my recruiter. My recruiter changed, and even though my previous one promised nothing would have to be redone, I ended up having to fill out a bunch of paperwork again, and send them stuff I had already sent.

 

[armytrainingsir]

Look in your sent mail folder on your computer.

 

[TheEarDoc]

I keep copies of everything. Guess what usually happens anyways? You end up filling out said paperwork again anyways regardless if you have the completed copy in hand. Welcome to the military folks. Be ready to fill out the same form multiple times for no reason, get the same shot even though you have proof of having it previously, etc..

Don't try and be logical. Just accept it. Fill out the form. Turn and cough. Drive on.