Home / DEERS ID Cards / About DEERS ID Cards
February 7, 2025
The DOD identification card is issued to eligible individuals, including active-duty service members, National Guard and Reserve members, retirees, civilian employees, and eligible dependents. It serves multiple purposes, including access to military installations, healthcare benefits, and verification of DoD affiliation.
Retirees (RET) of the U.S. Military get Retiree ID cards upon retirement from the U.S. military with an Expiration Date of the last day of the month prior to their birth month when turning 65. Anytime during that month prior to turning 65, they must renew their Retired ID card to get the INDEF Expiration Date. Some older blue RET ID cards say INDEF on the front even if you are not 65 yet and that is WRONG and MISLEADING! I explain these INDEF issues here. So, upon your 65th birthday = update your ID.
Reserve Retirees (Gray Area Retiree) upon retiring from the reserves get a Reserve Retired ID card, which states on the card Reserve-Retired. Once you have turned 60, when you start collecting retirement pay, you get a replacement ID card that drops the Reserve and you become just Retired. And when turning 65, 5 years later, you again get a new ID card with INDEF, same as above.
SHOPPING PRIVILAGES: Go To Ration Control page.
BASE ACCESS: Go To the Base Access page
VEHICLE REGISTRATION: Go To the Base Access page
Retiree Dependents (RET DEP) of the U.S. Military get Retiree Dependent ID cards. Dependent spouses must also renew their Retired ID cards the month prior to their 65th birthday, which is printed on the front of the cards. Also, divorced spouses of U.S. Military get a DOD ID card as long as they are un-remarried fall under either the 20-20-20 or 20-20-15 rule.
Dependent children of retirees are eligible for a DOD ID Card until they:
- Turn 21 years old
- Turn 23 years old if a full-time student
- Turn 26 years old if enrolled in the TRICARE Young Adult program
SHOPPING PRIVILAGES: Go To Ration Control page.
BASE ACCESS: Go To the Base Access page
VEHICLE REGISTRATION: Go To the Base Access page
Widows of Retired (RET DEC) U.S. Military get Dependent ID cards as long as they are un-remarried. They must also renew their Retired ID cards the month prior to their 65th birthday, which is printed on the front of the cards.
SHOPPING PRIVILAGES: Go To Ration Control page.
BASE ACCESS: Go To the Base Access page
VEHICLE REGISTRATION: Go To the Base Access page
100% Disabled American Veteran, classified as 100% permanently disabled by Veterans Affairs, AND ARE NOT Retirees with a DOD Retiree ID card, are eligible for a DOD DEERS/RAPIDS 'DAV' ID card. Retirees are not allowed to have both their Retiree ID and this 100% DAV ID.
SHOPPING PRIVILAGES: Go To Ration Control page.
BASE ACCESS: Go To the Base Access page
VEHICLE REGISTRATION: Go To the Base Access page
Dependents of 100% Disabled American Veteran, classified as 100% permanently disabled by Veterans Affairs, are eligible for a DOD DEERS/RAPIDS 'DAV' ID card.
SHOPPING PRIVILAGES: Go To Ration Control page.
BASE ACCESS: Go To the Base Access page
VEHICLE REGISTRATION: Go To the Base Access page
An un-remarried former spouse (divorce) may retain the military ID card if he or she meets the 20/20/20 rule. The 20/20/20 rule requires at least twenty years of marriage, at least twenty years of military service, and at least twenty years of overlap of the marriage and the military service. They qualify for medical benefits, commissary, exchange and MWR privileges for the remainder of their life (as long as they remain unmarried). The former spouse is designated as their Designated Beneficiary (DB) sponsor (not a dependent). The spouse must visit an ID card office with the below documents:
ID card offices do not have the ability create these ID cards until the Service Project Officer (SPO) approves and coordinates the requirement with other DOD agencies. The ID card office will transmit the documents the the SPO and await reply that the former spouses DEERS record is ready for ID card issue, and will then notify the former spouse to visit the ID card office
View Base Access Privileges Here
View Exchange, Commissary and MWR Privileges Here
An un-remarried former spouse (divorce) may retain the military ID card if he or she meets the 20/20/15 rule. The 20/20/15 rule requires at least twenty years of marriage, at least twenty years of military service, and at least fifteen years of overlap of the marriage and the military service. They qualify for medical benefits, commissary, exchange and MWR privileges for only one (1) year from the date of divorce. The former spouse is designated as their Designated Beneficiary (DB) sponsor (not a dependent). The spouse must visit an ID card office with the below documents:
ID card offices do not have the ability create these ID cards until the Service Project Officer (SPO) approves and coordinates the requirement with other DOD agencies. The ID card office will transmit the documents the the SPO and await reply that the former spouses DEERS record is ready for ID card issue, and will then notify the former spouse to visit the ID card office
Civilian Retirees (GS, NAF etc) are no longer issued DOD Retiree ID Cards as per a program termination memo in 2022.
There is often confusion between the 100% DOD Disabled American Veterans ID card (DAV) and the Veterans Health Insurance ID card (VHIC). Continue reading for more. There two ID cards are two completely different ID's, issued from you different departments and with different authorizations and privileges. They SHOULD NOT be confused with each other.
Veterans who are rated by the VA as 100% disable, and their dependent family members, are eligible to be issued a DEERS/RAPIDS 100% Disabled American Veterans ID card. Read more about the privileges of this ID card further up on this page.
Veterans who are enrolled in the VA Health Care system can receive a Veterans Health ID card (VHIC) from the Department of Veterans Affairs. This is not a DOD iD card Read more about the VHIC card here
If you lose your ID card:
We'll go back as far as when the Blue Retiree ID Card had your SSN on the front. A that time the blue card had your SSN on the front and the word INDEF as an expiration date. When the SSN Reduction Act was passed SSN came off the front of the ID card, replaced with your DOD ID number. Many will remember being told to get a new ID card for this reason, although many did not. INDEF remained printed on the front of the ID card, even if you were not at age 65 yet. This created problems for some... read on...
Later, following many Congressional complaints from retirees, who had unknowingly lost TRICARE, the INDEF on the front of the card was looked at more closely. Some retirees lost TRICARE For Life because they turned 65 and failed to enroll in Medicare. The INDEF on the front of the retiree ID card was misleading, and the small medical benefits expiration date printed on the back of the card was not understood to play such an important role when turning 65 (read more about this). So, changes were made to replaced INDEF when under 65 with an actual Expiration Date of the last day of the month prior to your birth month. This is the date you need to be enrolled in Medicare Part B (read more about Medicare Part B) by on order to transition from TRICARE to TRICARE For Life. So, to help with all this, DOD changed the retiree card to add the date on the front as a reminder. They removed the INDEF and replace it with your birthdate (same as on the back).
Spending 21 years working for DMDC as their Director of Asia Operations and deeply involved in the DEERS/RAPIDS program, this allowed me to see and be part of these changes: The following is how I explain the differences over the years.
Here is a quick explanation of why some legacy INDEF Retiree ID Cards ARE NOT really INDEF and why you MUST get a new ID card when you turn 65
