You need DD Form 2331, and this page gives you the blank plus the steps for handling it. Start with what the form does: Waiver/Withdrawal of Appellate Rights in General Courts-Martial Subject to Examination in the Office of the Judge Advocate General. Its official title is DD Form 23 31, Waiver or Withdrawal of Appellate Rights in General Courts-Martial Subject to Examination in the Office of the Judge Advocate General, 20160512 draft..
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.
After that, turn to timing. The requirement comes from not stated; the form is maintained by not stated. Local implementing instructions fill in the dates, so check with the office that will receive your copy.
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.
Now fill it in. Work from the top of the page downward, and do not jump ahead — the identifying block comes first, the substance of your entry second, the certification last. Later boxes often depend on what you put at the top.
Before your first entry, look at the corner of the page and compare the printed date with not stated. If they do not match, stop and download again. Old copies circulate in shared drives for years, and a DD form is revised centrally for every service at once, so a superseded blank may not carry the fields your reviewer expects.
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 20 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.
Go with the typed route whenever the choice is yours. Consider what happens after you submit: the copy gets scanned, forwarded and filed, and each pass costs handwriting some legibility. Block letters help if you are stuck with a pen.
Handle xfdl in two steps. First confirm you have IBM Lotus Forms Viewer or a compatible reader on your machine; ordinary pdf software will report the file as broken. Once the viewer is running, download and fill the form.
Whichever you pick, you pay nothing — every format here is a free download. One last tip: open your pdf in a desktop reader rather than in a browser tab, because browser viewers sometimes drop the interactive fields you need.
What the form asks for
- I have read the attached action, dated:
- I have consulted with:
- Typed name of accused.
- Rank of accused.
- Signature of accused.
- Date.
- Press space bar to mark X if 1. I represented the accused at his or her court martial.
- Mark X if 2. I am associate counsel detailed under R. C. M. 11 10 b. I have communicated with the accused's, detailed, individual military, civilian, appellate, defense counsel concerning the accused's waiver or withdrawal and discussed this communication with the accused.
- Mark X if 3. I am substitute counsel detailed under R. C. M. 11 10 b.
- Mark X if 4. I am a civilian counsel whom the accused consulted concerning this matter.
- Mark X if 5. I am appellate defense counsel for the accused.
- 4. I am a member in good standing of the bar of:
- Typed name of counsel.
- Unit of counsel.
- Rank of counsel.
- Business address, if civilian counsel.
- Signature of counsel.
- Date.
Submit the completed form through the channel not stated or your local guidance specifies. Save a copy for yourself before it leaves your hands, whether that means a scan, a photograph or a duplicate file.
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.
Do not archive this file and reuse it in a year. Forms are reissued as directives are revised, as data requirements shift, and as statutory notice text is amended. Your protection is simple: download fresh each time and confirm the edition date.
Finally, understand the limits of what you have read. This page distributes a published Department of Defense form and describes how to fill it out. It does not give legal or procedural advice, and it cannot promise any outcome for your particular case. For that, contact not stated, your administrative office, or the authority identified in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2331?
- DD Form 23 31, Waiver or Withdrawal of Appellate Rights in General Courts-Martial Subject to Examination in the Office of the Judge Advocate General, 20160512 draft.
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?