Executive Order 14426 gives the Department of War 30 days to send every separating service member's records to VA the moment they leave, to fix a delay the White House puts at 90 to 180 days and sources to nothing. The record breaks in three places the order never names: where it is written, how it is certified, and whether the rater can open it. Each has a fix with a number attached, and the contract review due January 6 is where the three lines could go.
On October 3, 2025, three days after a Navy reservist finished more than 1,400 consecutive days on active duty, the Defense Health Agency told him he was no longer eligible for TRICARE, as determined by information in DEERS. Congress had deleted the words that disqualified him eight years earlier. The benefit he lost includes the dental coverage that decides, more than any other single factor, whether a reserve soldier can deploy.
In April I wrote that the ecosystem would either build a shared evidence layer before the Pentagon asked for one, or scramble after. On August 3 the President asked, and the ninety days that follow decide which kind of answer he gets.