Mental Health Records Not In Military Medical Records/service Training Records?

[USMC_03]

Hey everyone,

Just had a few questions regarding the mention of mental health records in my Service Treatment Records/Military Medical Records. From what I have found, when you separate from active duty they no longer put any mention of receiving mental health treatment in the records they send to the VA. I gathered that from the following information posted:

This is from a VA regarding in-service treatment records:

The Department of Defense does not maintain in-service mental health treatment records with traditional service treatment records (STRs). The military or civilian treating facility maintains those mental health records. The records are typically destroyed after five years from the end of the year in which the case is closed (see M21-1MR, III.iii.2.A.1.a). Unlike clinical records from military hospitals, civilian facility records cannot be ordered from the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC) through the Personnel Information Exchange System (PIES).

This is the definition of a service treatment records according to VA:

Service treatment records (STRs) are the military health records for each Veteran and typically include

physical examinations, including entrance and discharge physical examinations, as needed
the Veteran’s medical history
all dental examinations and records
clinical record cover sheets and summaries
entries from outpatient medical and dental treatments
physical profiles
medical board proceedings, and
prescriptions for eyeglasses and orthopedic footwear.

and then it states this:

Important: The STRs do not include

inpatient treatment records (clinicals)
finance records
mental health records, or
the Military Personnel Record Jacket (MPRJ), which may contain physical profiles and medical board proceedings.

So in a hypothetical situation, when I EAS in 2014 and don't mention any psych problems on my final physical, don't plan to file a VA claim, and somehow lose my in-service treatment records, then after 5 years all of them will be destroyed? I'm just trying to gauge a worst case scenario here, thanks for the help.

[free_spirit_etc]

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