Start here if you have been told to submit DD Form 2538. First, know what you are filling: Voluntary Leave Transfer Program Leave Donor Application. The document is titled DD Form 2538, Voluntary Leave Transfer Program Leave Donor Application, May 1989.
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.
Before you download, pick your approach — editable file or printed page. What follows covers the formats first, then the entries, then what you do afterward.
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.
Check the edition before you type a word. The date appears on the face of the form; it should read not stated. When it does not, discard the file and take a fresh copy from this page. Department-level revisions replace the blank across all services simultaneously, which means an old printout can be out of step everywhere.
Look up an unclear item on the form face before anywhere else, then in not stated. Should the two texts conflict, the directive is the one you follow.
Download the form
First, look at what you can download. The set covers PDF, the form runs 1 pages, and you will complete roughly 28 fields.
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
- 5. Employee certification. a. Press space bar to mark X if credit in the current leave year.
- 5. b. Mark X if credit effective the beginning of the next leave year.
- 5. c. Mark X if credit to another leave recipient (complete (1) - (4)).
- 5. c. (3) Mark X if credit all restored leave to recipient designated in 5.c.(1).
- 5. c. (4) Mark X if credit percent to the leave recipient and percent to my leave account designated in 4. a. or b.
- 1. Pay block number.
- 2. Employee identification. a. Name (last, first, middle initial).
- 2. b. Social security number. Include dashes.
- 2. c. Position title.
- 2. d. Grade/step.
- 2. e. Organization.
- 2. f. Salary.
- 3. Leave data. a. Annual leave balance.
- 3. b. As of (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 3. c. Accrual rate for annual leave.
- 3. d. Hours to be earned during remainder of leave year.
- 3. e. Hours to be donated.
- 3.f. Use or lose hours included in 3. e.
- 4. Designated leave recipient. a. Name (last, first, middle initial).
- 4. b. Organization.
- 5. c. (1) Name (last, first, middle initial).
- 5.c.(2) Organization.
- 5.c.(4) Percentage to leave recipient.
- Percentage to leave account.
Now that it is complete, send it where not stated or your local procedure says it goes. Before you do, make yourself a copy — scan it or save the file elsewhere. It costs you nothing and saves you the whole exercise if the original goes missing.
When DD Form 2538 references another form, search on the series and number. Because DD numbers are common to every military department, the number by itself identifies exactly one document.
Be careful when a procedure pairs this form with a service form. Read the prefix, not just the digits. Service forms answer to a service proponent, while DD forms answer to not stated or an equivalent Department office, and the two sequences were never aligned. Grabbing the wrong prefix gets you a form that has nothing to do with your task.
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.
One thing this page does not do: tell you whether your submission will be accepted. We publish the document and explain how to complete it, and that is where our role ends. Nothing here is legal advice. Take questions about eligibility, applicability or procedure to not stated, to your servicing personnel office, or to the office named in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2538?
- DD Form 2538, Voluntary Leave Transfer Program Leave Donor Application, May 1989
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?