Comment by Towaway69
As a person, not a Veteran, I totally agree. This data should not be public domain. Definitely only accessible to family members (if at all).
Having obtained my father’s military records, I can definitely say that I’m glad these weren’t online, searchable. Via those records I learnt much concerning my father and I’m glad I obtained them.
To get those records, I had to prove I was his son, that my father was indeed deceased and that he hadn’t said/written anything to prevent me from having his records. That should be the minimum (IMHO) for obtaining such records. This wasn’t in the USA though.
The military uses the gun of the taxman to force us to pay for them. If they're going to put me in a tiny cage for not paying up while they're galavanting around the world drone striking brown people and us citizens the least I can get out of it is the records.