Records finder

Pick the conditions you are claiming and the records you already have. This lists the pages where those words were found, with the words around each one, so you know where to read first.

Your files stay on this device. They are read here, in your browser. Nothing is uploaded. No file name, text or result is sent anywhere or saved to your account or this browser, and it is all gone when you close or reload this page. The site counts page visits, as on every page, and never anything about your files.

A hit is not proof of service connection. No hit does not mean the evidence is not there. Scans miss words. Read the records yourself, or with an accredited VSO.

1. What to look for

Add a word or phrase of your own

2. Your files

PDFs, text files, and PNG or JPG photos. Service treatment records, a VA Blue Button download, private medical records. Up to 10 files of 25 MB each. A scan has to be read with text recognition, which is slow, so only its first 100 pages are read.

Choose files

Your index

Choose a condition or add a word to look for, then choose your files.

Why the records from your service matter

Service connection means the facts, shown by evidence, establish that an injury or disease was incurred coincident with service, or was made worse by it (38 CFR 3.303(a)). The reviewer looks at your service records and at all the pertinent medical and lay evidence on file. A sick-call note from years ago was written at the time, by someone else, for your care and not for a claim. That is why it counts for so much.

Your entrance exam matters too. VA considers you sound when you entered service, except for what the exam recorded (38 CFR 3.304(b)). And VA has a duty to help get relevant records. It keeps asking a federal custodian, such as the service branch, until it concludes the records do not exist, and it makes at least an initial and a follow-up request to private providers, who need enough detail from you to find the records (38 CFR 3.159(c)). Knowing which page says what lets you point to it.

What to look for

Sick-call visits and complaints, with the date and the clinic.
The entrance and separation exams, and the medical history forms you filled in at each.
Limited-duty profiles, referrals, and any test ordered.
Symptoms in everyday words, such as ringing in the ears or trouble sleeping, not only the diagnosis.
Private records after service that say when a problem began.

How to use the index with a claim

Search, then open each page it lists in your original file. Read it yourself.
Write down the date, the clinic, and what the page says in its own words.
Add terms in everyday words, since a record may say "snoring" and never "sleep apnea".
Print the index or save the CSV so you can find those pages again.
Take it to an accredited representative if you want a second reader. The index is a finding aid for you. What carries weight is the record itself.

A worked example

Suppose someone tracks tinnitus and sleep apnea and adds a 212 page service treatment records file. The index lists two tinnitus hits: page 87, "reports ringing in ears after range qualification", and page 140. They open page 87 in the original and note its date and clinic. Sleep apnea shows no hits, so they add "snoring" and "tired during the day" as terms and find one page. The sleep study that gave the diagnosis is in a private record from years later, which is where a diagnosis usually lives. The index gave them a place to start. Whether any page shows a link to service is for VA to decide.

What a hit means, and what no hit means

A hit is not proof of service connection. It only means a word appears on that page. The page may be about something else, or about a family member. A hit can also be a denial or a negative mention, such as "denies headaches" or "no history of PTSD", so read the snippet. No hit does not mean the evidence is not there. Scans miss words, handwriting is not read, and some PDFs store their text in a way this tool cannot see. Read the records yourself, or with an accredited representative.

READY214 is not a claims representative and does not give legal or medical advice. It is not affiliated with the VA or DoD. You can also request your service records from VA.gov.