VetVerify.org is a shared online service of the

Army & Air Force Exchange Service The Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES, also referred to as The Exchange and The PX or The BX) is the retailer in U.S. Army and Air Force installations worldwide. The Exchange is headquartered in Dallas, Texas, and its director/chief exe ...

, the

Navy Exchange Navy Exchange is a retail store chain owned and operated by the United States Navy under the Navy Exchange Service Command (NEXCOM). The Navy Exchange offers goods and services to active military, retirees, and certain civilians on Navy installati ...

Service Command, the Marine Corps Exchange and the Coast Guard Exchange. Its sole purpose is to verify eligibility for the veterans online shopping benefit, a 2017 expansion of online military exchange shopping privileges to honorably discharged Veterans.

History

Veterans online shopping benefit

On June 14, 2012, the

appointed its first civilian director/CEO,

Tom Shull Tom Shull is an American businessman and Director/CEO of the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (Exchange), No. 54 on the National Retail Federation's Top 100 Retailers list. Shull joined the Exchange in 2012 as the first civilian to lead the Depar ...

, a

West Point The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known Metonymy, metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academies, United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a f ...

graduate who previously served as CEO of

Wise Foods Wise Foods, Inc. is a company based in Berwick, Pennsylvania, that makes snacks and sells them through retail food outlets in 15 eastern seaboard states, as well as Vermont, Ohio, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Washington, D.C. Best k ...

, Hanover Direct,

Barneys New York Barneys New York Inc. is an American luxury brand founded in New York City in 1923. It has introduced major designers including Armani, Azzedine Alaïa, Comme des Garçons, Christian Louboutin, and Ermenegildo Zegna to the US market. Barneys N ...

and Meridian Ventures. On May 8, 2014, Shull drafted a memorandum to the then-acting

Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness The under secretary of defense for personnel and readiness, or USD (P&R) is a high-ranking civilian position in the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD) within the United States Department of Defense responsible for advising the secretary an ...

Jessica Wright proposing a plan to allow honorably discharged

veterans A veteran () is a person who has significant experience (and is usually adept and esteemed) and expertise in a particular occupation or field. A military veteran is a person who is no longer serving in a military. A military veteran that has ...

to shop online at military exchanges. Shull presented a business case for the expanded benefit to the

Department of Defense Department of Defence or Department of Defense may refer to: Current departments of defence * Department of Defence (Australia) * Department of National Defence (Canada) * Department of Defence (Ireland) * Department of National Defense (Philippin ...

's Executive Resale Board in August 2014, emphasizing the plan's potential to generate more than $100 million for installation quality-of-life programs within three years. The Executive Resale Board voted unanimously to recommend the proposal in August 2016. On Jan. 13 2017, the Department of Defense announced that all honorably discharged veterans would be eligible to shop tax-free online military exchanges starting Nov. 11, 2017. The expanded benefit is expected to make online exchange privileges available to all honorably discharged veterans from a total of approximately 21 million veterans.

Website launch

The military exchanges announced the launch of VetVerify.org on June 5, 2017, adding that some veterans would be selected to shop ahead of the Nov. 11 launch as beta testers. By July 26, VetVerify.org had received 260,000 applications and verified 120,000 veterans. Military exchanges annually distribute more than $300 million in earnings back to the military community in the form of dividends to quality-of-life programs such as Morale, Welfare and Recreation. Allowing veterans to shop online could provide tens of millions in additional contributions to such programs.

Verification Process

To register, users must provide their first and last names, the last four digits of their social security number, date of birth, email address and branch of service. VetVerify.org then confirms the user's eligibility using Defense Manpower Data Center data, the most comprehensive collection of data on veterans. If an applicant cannot be immediately verified, they may submit a digital copy of their discharge paperwork to be reviewed for eligibility.

Celebrity Endorsements

In July 2017, former United States Navy SEAL

Marcus Luttrell Marcus Luttrell (born November 7, 1975) is a retired United States Navy SEAL who received the Navy Cross and Purple Heart for his actions in June 2005 against Taliban fighters during Operation Red Wings in which he was the lone survivor. Luttrell ...

appeared in a 30-second Facebook video alongside

Mark Wahlberg Mark Robert Michael Wahlberg (born June 5, 1971), former stage name Marky Mark, is an American actor, businessman, and former rapper. He has received multiple accolades, including a BAFTA Award, and nominations for two Academy Awards, three ...

, who played Luttrell in "

Lone Survivor ''Lone Survivor'' is a 2013 American biographical war film based on the 2007 nonfiction book of the same name by Marcus Luttrell with Patrick Robinson. Set during the war in Afghanistan, it dramatizes the unsuccessful United States Navy SEAL ...

," urging veterans to register at VetVerify.org. The video went viral, causing a spike in traffic to the site and driving a 60 percent increase in number of successful verifications on the weekend of the video's launch.

References

External links

Official site

Army & Air Force Exchange Service official site

Navy Exchange official site

Marine Corps Exchange official site

Coast Guard Exchange Exchange official site
{{authority control United States Army organization United States Navy United States Marine Corps United States Air Force United States Coast Guard United States Department of Defense agencies