It's definitely a challenge when a veteran's military file doesn't exist, as in the case you're talking about. We work closely with the Department of National Defence to ensure that military members, when they leave the Canadian Armed Forces, have access to their file and that all their documents remain accessible in the department's archives.
Officials at the Department of National Defence are in a better position to answer that question. For our part, in such cases, we do research with the veteran to track down the military documents.