Filed under What Is Really Free Online? A Method Guide
Where should you start looking?
Common myths include that all service records are online, that a single site holds every service, and that a free search that finds nothing proves a person did not serve. Each myth fails on the same point: holdings differ by service, date and digitisation.
Check the filters in the order the record itself uses them: the catalogue structure, not your own curiosity, decides what a search can find. Begin with the filters the catalogue itself uses, because a search that fights the catalogue structure will return noise however carefully it is worded. A single record can be wrong on a detail, so a match needs more than one agreement, and a disagreement needs a note, not a deletion.
Dead ends to expect here
Each dead end here is a normal research outcome, not a personal failure, and each one points to a next check rather than to a conclusion. If a unit record is missing for the exact week you need, the neighbouring weeks, and the higher formation record for that week, may still fix place and date.
- A record that is not digitised at all.
- An index that covers only part of a series.
- A transcription error that hides the right entry.
- A free site that stops where the record itself begins.
Working through it in order
If a step produces nothing, record that nothing. A documented negative result is part of the research, and it stops the same step being repeated blindly. Treat each step as a test with a possible negative result. A step that can only confirm is not a test, and a research plan made of confirmations is a story, not a timeline.
- Start from the official holder catalogue or site for the record you need.
- Note whether what is free is an index, a transcription, or a digitised copy.
- Check a transcription against the digitised copy or the catalogue entry before relying on it.
- Plan paid steps, such as copy orders, only after the free finding aids have fixed the reference.
How do you read what you find?
A promotion, a transfer or a posting that looks sudden usually has an earlier entry behind it. Work backwards from the surprise, one dated entry at a time. If the record uses initials instead of full names, match on the full set of filters, not on initials plus surname, because initials alone match too many people.
A name entered in a different hand, or in different ink, may have been added later, for a later purpose. Ask when an entry was made, not only what it says. Do not let the most dramatic entry in a file set the story. The routine entries, postings, pay, movements, are what hold a timeline together.
Where to go next from here
If this record answered your question, stop and note the reference. The next record should start from a new question, not from momentum. The next step is usually a record that answers one specific thing: a date, a unit, a place, or a name, rather than a whole new area of research.
Check the holder current guidance before any next step that involves a request, a copy, or a visit. Guidance changes, and a step planned on old guidance wastes a session. Let the gaps stay visible. A timeline with visible gaps invites the next record; a timeline with hidden gaps misleads the next reader.
Primary sources for this guide
Everything here is kept general and tied to official holders, so check the current position with the holder for your own case. The guide is educational information only: it is not personal professional advice, it is not a lookup service, and it settles nothing about any one person's service.