By January 2010, the Navy plans to switch entirely to an electronic record-keeping system, eliminating the current paper-based system.
In order to assist in this effort, the Navy is encouraging more than 130,000 sailors to create a self-service account to view and update their Electronic Service Record. The first steps were taken to introduce and switch over to the ESR in 2006. ESRs will allow sailors to view and even update certain parts of their service record online.
Sailors should keep in mind, though, that the accuracy of the records is still dependent on the sailor’s diligence. Ensure your information is 100 percent correct when editing your ESR.
For more information, visit Navy Personnel Command’s Web site.
(Based on an Armed Forces Network-South radio report by Petty Officer Jessica Robertson)
For those with a fairly common name, who have a gap in their data due to non-public assignments, billets, or etc., change vital data via a civilian court (marriage, victim of identity theft), or just plain don’t trust computers: it’s usually a good idea to get a number of print-outs of your ESR, have a notary public verify each (if they’re not official copies), and send them off return receipt to your family & etc. for safe keeping.
Speaking from personal experience, if you get stuck in a glitch or mix up, and don’t have a hard copy back up record, you’ll waste a lot of time and energy getting the problem fixed.
Alexander, great point. Always a good idea to copy, print out and save at least a few copies of your important documents. Another recommendation, I always scan and save my documents to a CD. Just another idea. Again, thanks for your comment. V/r, Lt. Jennifer Cragg