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This document amends the Department of Veterans Affairs’ (VA) adjudication regulations concerning the nature of evidence that VA will accept as proof of military service and character of discharge. In the past, VA only accepted original service documents, copies of service documents issued by the service department or by a public custodian of records, or photocopies of service documents if they were certified to be true copies of documents acceptable to VA by an accredited agent, attorney or service organization representative who had successfully completed VA-prescribed training on military records. This proposed change would authorize VA to accept uncertified service documents as evidence of military service if the Department of Veterans Affairs is satisfied that the documents are genuine and free from alteration. The intended effect of this amendment is to streamline and improve the timeliness of the adjudication of claims processing for VA benefits without compromising program integrity.