Start here if you have been told to submit DD Form 108. First, know what you are filling: Application for Retired Pay Benefits. The document is titled DD Form 108, Application for Retired Pay Benefits, July 2002..
Then look at the edition date: not stated, publisher status not stated. After that, ask whether the form covers your situation. It almost certainly does regardless of your branch — DD forms run Department-wide rather than through a single service.
Once you know the form fits, find out when you file it. not stated sets the requirement, and not stated maintains the form itself. Your own command or agency adds local timing on top of that, so ask your administrative office if the deadline matters to you.
Last in this stage, choose your method: complete it on screen, or print the blank form and fill it out in pen. The sections below take each route step by step.
Begin at the top and move down. Enter your identifying data first, then the body of the form, then the signature block. The sequence is printed in that order because entries below frequently follow from entries above.
Your first action is verification. Find the edition date on the form and match it against not stated. A mismatch means you are working from a superseded printing, and because DD forms change Department-wide rather than service by service, the office receiving it will notice.
For questions about a specific entry, check the form's own instructions, and if that does not settle it, open not stated. The directive controls where they differ.
Download the form
First, look at what you can download. The set covers PDF, the form runs 2 pages, and you will complete roughly 200 fields.
Take the pdf if you are unsure. Then check which kind you have: if the boxes highlight when you click them, you have a fillable pdf and can type straight into it, and your entries save with the file. If nothing highlights, you have a printable pdf — send it to a printer and use black ink.
Type when you can. Printed entries stay legible after the form is scanned, copied and forwarded, and handwriting often does not survive that trip. If you must write by hand, use block capitals and press firmly.
What the form asks for
- 1. To
- 2. Date of Birth
- 3. Date retired pay to begin.
- 4. Highest military pay grade held
- 5. Applicant name: last, first, middle initial
- 6.a. Service number if applicable
- 6.b. Social security number. Do not include dashes.
- 7. Present home address: street, apartment number, city, state, zip code
- 7.b. home telephone number, area code only
- 7.b. Rest of home telephone number
- 8. Present assignment
- 9. Armed force and component before 1949, line 2
- 10. Grade or rating, line 2
- 11. a. approximate date of service from: day, line 2
- 11. a. approximate date of service from: month, line 2
- 11. a. approximate date of service from: year, line 2
- 11. b. approximate date of service to: day, line 2
- 11. b. approximate date of service to: month, line 2
- 11. b. approximate date of service to: year, line 2
- 12. a. active duty service from: day, line 2
- 12. a. active duty service from: month, line 2
- 12. a. active duty service from: year, line 2
- 12.b. active duty service to: day, line 2
- 12.b. active duty service to: month, line 2
With the form finished, route it to the office named in not stated or in your organization's own instruction. Keep a copy first. People rarely regret having one and frequently regret not having one.
If the form points you to another document, you can find it by number alone. DD numbering runs across the whole Department, so you do not need to work out which service issued it — one number, one form, everywhere.
Watch out for one trap here. If your instructions cite a DA form as well, do not assume the numbers are connected. DA numbering belongs to the Army alone; DD numbering belongs to the Department and is administered by not stated or another Department office. The same number in each system means two unrelated forms, so read the prefix before you download.
Come back and check the edition next time you need this form. Editions change when the prescribing directive is reissued, when the information collected changes, or when the required notice language is updated, and none of those events reaches you directly. Verifying not stated at the moment you download is the whole defence.
Before you go, note what is not covered here. You have the blank form and instructions for completing it; you do not have legal guidance, and no statement on this page determines what any office will do with your submission. Direct those questions to not stated, to the personnel office that serves you, or to the office designated in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 108?
- DD Form 108, Application for Retired Pay Benefits, July 2002.
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?