The number of period photos showing him in Vietnam is enough for me to be concerned about why a previous researcher would get a "no record found" from the NPRC in 2015 if all the info he submitted was correct. Did the NPRC Records Tech make a mistake? It seems like there is a consistent problem obtaining records prior to 1985.
The issue with records requests started to go to shit with Obama and his ilk and was further damaged during COVID under the current admin.
NPRC has taken steps to reduce the backlog of over a million written requests by offering an online option using "NPRC E-Vetrecs" which I first used today. I still have an outstanding FOIA for a previous person Miguel "Mike" Valles I submitted in November last year, still no response.
That could mean they simply disregarded all written FOIA requests submitted by a certain date. Either way, there are hundreds of thousand of requests seemingly never processed, including those by Veterans for their own records required to apply for VA Benefits.
Total clusterfuck