The Basics
Honorably discharged Veterans of all United States Armed Forces, including the Air Force, Army, Navy, Marines and Coast Guard as well as the Air Force Reserve, Army Reserve, Navy Reserve, Marine Corps Reserve, Coast Guard Reserve and National Guard.
Approved Veterans can shop the online exchanges, including ShopMyExchange.com! Shopping with the Exchange online gives you access to exclusive military pricing and offers, tax-free shopping and more. This is a lifelong benefit that will be extended to all who discharge honorably from service.
The Department of Defense announced this benefit in January 2017; it became effective on Nov. 11, 2017.
Online with any of the military exchanges. This benefit does not grant installation access.
To recognize and honor your service, make your life better and improve the overall military community. Expanding online shopping privileges strengthens funding of military Quality-of-Life programs including Army Child Development Centers, Youth Programs and Fitness Centers, Air Force Outdoor Recreation programs, affordable school lunches for Warfighters' children overseas, combat uniforms below cost and more.
Click here to sign up for an account! Note: You may be asked to submit discharge paperwork for review to verify your eligibility. This can be for several reasons, but most likely, the record we have for you is missing a type of discharge (commonly called "Character of Service" or "Character of Separation"). You will be provided a link to VetVerify.org, a shared service of the four military exchanges, to upload your documentation. This process can take up to three days to complete; you will be notified by the VetVerify customer service team when your documentation has been reviewed.
FAQ
Only authorized Exchange customers can order from ShopMyExchange.com and the Exchange Online Mall. As such, we must validate eligibility through the Defense Enrollment Eligibility Reporting System (DEERS). The only information available for eligibility validation purposes is Social Security number and date of birth. For this reason, when first-time customers log in to our site, we are required to obtain the last four digits of their Social Security number, date of birth and last name. The first time customers enter our site, however, they will be required to create a new username to replace their Social Security number. Please be assured that we do not retain your Social Security number outside of the DEERS system and we take every measure to safeguard your personal information. (For details, refer to our terms and conditions section, then click "Online Security Guarantee.")
It is possible that the records we have been provided do not include your type of discharge (commonly called "Character of Service" or "Character of Separation"). If this is the case, you will be asked to submit discharge paperwork for review to verify your eligibility. You will be provided a link to VetVerify.org, a shared service of the four military exchanges, to upload your documentation. This process can take up to three days to complete; you will be notified by the VetVerify customer service team when your documentation has been reviewed.
Why doesn't this benefit extend to physical Exchange stores?
The Department of Defense's policy change to extend a lifetime online shopping benefit to Veterans is specific to online shopping only and does not include access to brick-and-mortar exchanges. Visiting brick-and-mortar stores, many of which are on limited-access posts and bases, involves logistics and policy issues to include credentialing, access, etc. that could strain resources at already busy locations. Offering Veterans an online exchange benefit is a low-risk, low-cost opportunity to recognize their service without increasing costs to the DoD or overburdening the current infrastructure.
Your records may have not yet been digitized – multiple agencies affiliated with the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs have been working tirelessly to digitize all U.S. military records, but they are not yet complete.
Your records may have been lost, misplaced or filed in error. For example, in 1973, approximately 16-18 million Official Military Personnel Files were destroyed by a fire at the National Personnel Records Center (NPRC). For more information about this fire and who it affected, please click here. In 1985, the United States Military began the conversion to digital files to prevent such a loss from happening again.
Finally, if you have been discharged recently, your information may not yet be available for use in this verification process.
If you are not found, you may submit your discharge paperwork for manual review. This process will take some research on the part of the VetVerify team. You will receive an email notification when the review is complete. To begin, go to VetVerify.org and submit a new verification form. Thank you for your patience and understanding.
The VetVerify customer service team is happy to assist you if you have any further questions.
- Call toll free: 1-844-868-8672
- Submit your questions via email to CustomerService@vetverify.org
This response most likely indicates that, according to the records provided to the Exchange, your discharge status is being reported as other than "honorable" or "general under honorable conditions."
If you believe this is inaccurate, please refer to the processes described below.
- If it has been 15 years or less since your discharge date, you need to obtain and complete DD Form 293, or the "Application for the Review of Discharge from the Armed Forces of the United States." Please submit a completed DD Form 293 and all supporting documentation to the appropriate Discharge Review Board.
- If it has been more than 15 years since your discharge date, you need to obtain and complete DD Form 149, or the "Application for Correction of Military Record Under the Provisions of Title 10, U.S. Code, Section 1552." Please submit a completed DD Form 149 and all supporting documentation to the appropriate Board of Correction for Military Records.
You must submit a federal government form that includes your full name at time of discharge, SSN/Service Number and a type of discharge (also known as "character of service" or "character of separation") that is either "honorable" or "general under honorable conditions." Examples include (but are not limited to): DD214 (Member Copies 2-8), DD215 (with corrected discharge status), NGB-22 or DD256/257.
Your paperwork cannot be redacted in any way, including but not limited to: crossing sections out, covering them with liquid eraser or filling them with dark ink; overlapping and/or folding copies where the full page is not visible or readable; and/or removing sections, whether by cutting them out or otherwise removing them from the document.
The most common type of discharge paperwork is the DD214. This is the official form issued at the time of discharge or separation by the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marines. It includes important information about your military service, such as your status (as retired or separated) and details regarding awards, decorations and date of entry, among others. This form must include your discharge status to be reviewed for eligibility. Please click here for more information about the DD214 from the National Archives.
Please note that Member Copy 1 of the DD214 does not provide all the necessary information to check your eligibility for this benefit.
The VetVerify customer service team is happy to assist you!
- Hours of Operation: Monday through Friday from 0800 to 1700 CST
- Call toll-free: 1-844-868-8672
- Submit your questions via email: CustomerService@vetverify.org
