You have arrived looking for DD Form 3046. Before you download, confirm this is the right document: Disposition of Remains Election Statement Initial Notification of Identified Partial Remains. Full title: DD Form X635, Disposition of Remains Election Statement - Initial Notification of Identified Partial Remains, 20150129 draft.
Next, check the edition. You want not stated, currently carried as not stated by the publisher. Then confirm the form applies to you — this is a Department of Defense form, so you use it whether you serve in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force or Coast Guard under Defense jurisdiction.
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.
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.
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
Step one is picking the format. You have PDF to choose from, across 1 pages, with approximately 16 fields to complete.
Choose pdf as your default. Next, click inside a box. A fillable pdf responds by outlining the field and letting you type; the text stays in the document when you save it. A printable pdf does not respond, which tells you to print the page and complete it by hand.
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
- 1. Name of deceased (last, first, middle initial).
- 2. Service/grade of deceased.
- 3. DCIPS Case number.
- 4. Person Authorized to Direct Disposition (PADD). a. Name (last, first, middle initial).
- b. Relationship to deceased.
- c. Telephone number (include area code).
- d. Current residence address (street, apartment number, city, state and zip code).
- 5. Selection of disposition options. Section I - election for currently recovered remains. Option 1. I would like to receive the incomplete remains at this time. Initials.
- Option 2. I would like to have the incomplete remains temporarily held until other remains are identified. Initials.
- Section II - Election in the event of future individual identification. Option 1. I would like to be notified if additional remains are identified. Initials.
- Option 2. I do not want to be notified of additional remains and authorize the military service to cremate and bury at sea. Initials.
- b. Date.
- 7.a. Typed or printed name of witness.
- c. Date.
- 6.a. Signature of PADD.
- b. Signature of witness.
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.
Should you need a related form, look it up by its number. The DD sequence is Department-wide, which makes your search simple: no service qualifier, no branch-specific variant to track down.
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.
Plan to repeat this step whenever the form comes up again. Revisions follow directive changes, changes in what data is collected, and updates to notice language. Since nobody notifies you, check not stated at download and you have covered it.
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 3046?
- DD Form X635, Disposition of Remains Election Statement - Initial Notification of Identified Partial Remains, 20150129 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?