Start here if you have been told to submit DD Form 2864. First, know what you are filling: VSI Beneficiary Designation. The document is titled DD Form 2864, Voluntary Separation Incentive (VSI) Beneficiary Designation, September 2003.
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.
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.
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.
If a particular field puzzles you, read the instructions printed on the form first, then go to not stated. When the two disagree, follow the directive.
Download the form
First, look at what you can download. The set covers PDF, the form runs 1 pages, and you will complete roughly 31 fields.
Check your software before choosing xfdl. That format belongs to IBM Lotus Forms, long used for Defense form distribution, and it needs the matching viewer. Get the viewer installed, then come back for the file.
You will not be charged for any of these; the whole set is free. Before you start entering data, save the file to your computer and open it there. Fields behave far more reliably in a desktop reader than in a browser preview.
What the form asks for
- Member name and grade.
- 1.a. Name of first beneficiary (First, Middle Initial, Last).
- 1.b. Address (include zip code).
- 1.c. Social security number. Do not include dashes.
- 1.d. Relationship (spouse, son, daughter, brother, sister, father, mother, other).
- 1.e. Date of birth (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 1.f. Percent.
- 1.a. Name of second beneficiary (First, Middle Initial, Last).
- 1.b. Address (include zip code).
- 1.c. Social security number.
- 1.d. Relationship.
- 1.e. Date of birth.
- 1.f. Percent.
- 1.a. Name of third beneficiary (First, Middle Initial, Last).
- 1.b. Address (include zip code).
- 1.c. Social security number.
- 1.d. Relationship.
- 1.e. Date of birth.
- 1.f. Percent.
- 1.a. Name of fourth beneficiary (First, Middle Initial, Last).
- 1.b. Address (include zip code).
- 1.c. Social security number.
- 1.d. Relationship.
- 1.e. Date of birth.
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.
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.
Here is where people go wrong. They see a number in an instruction and download whichever form matches it. But DA and DD are separate systems — Army-specific in one case, Department-wide under not stated in the other — so check which series you were sent to before you take the file.
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 2864?
- DD Form 2864, Voluntary Separation Incentive (VSI) Beneficiary Designation, September 2003
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?