You have arrived looking for DD Form 4. Before you download, confirm this is the right document: Enlistment/Reenlistment Document Armed Forces of the United States. Full title: DD Form 4, Enlistment/Reenlistment Document - Armed Forces of the United States, October 2007.
Your second step is the edition, not stated, listed as not stated. Your third is scope. Because the number carries a DD prefix, you use the same blank as every other military department and defense agency; no service-specific version exists for you to hunt down.
Then settle the schedule. You are working under not stated, with not stated responsible for the document, and your organization layers its own deadlines on that. Ask before you assume a date.
Finally, decide how you will complete it. You can type into a fillable file or print a blank and write by hand, and the rest of this page walks you through both paths in order.
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.
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 A mismatch means you are working from a superseded printing, and because DD forms change Department-wide rather than service by service, the office receiving it will notice.
Work through the fields one at a time and leave nothing blank. When a box does not apply to you, write N/A rather than skipping it, so the reviewer can see you read the question. Follow the date format printed beside each date field instead of the one you normally use.
Do not skip past the Privacy Act Statement. It is placed ahead of the personal data fields on purpose: it explains under what authority you are being asked, what happens to the information, and what follows if you decline. Take the minute it costs.
Sign only after every other entry is complete. Use ink on a printed copy, or a credentialed digital signature — CAC-based, in a reader that handles it — on an electronic one. A typed name satisfies neither method. Enter the date next to it before you close the file.
Review before you submit. Look for a superseded edition, blank mandatory fields, illegible writing, dates in the wrong format, and an unsigned or undated certification.
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
Step one is picking the format. You have PDF to choose from, across 4 pages, with approximately 87 fields to complete.
Download the pdf first. After it opens, test a field with your cursor. Fillable means you type, tab to the next box, and save your work inside the file. Printable means the page is a flat blank, so print it and write your answers in ink.
Prefer typing over writing. Your form will likely be scanned and emailed onward, and typed text reproduces at every stage while pen strokes fade or blur. When you do write, print in capitals so the receiving clerk can read it.
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
- 4. Place of enlistment/reenlistment (military installation, city, state).
- 5. Date of enlistment/reenlistment (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no separators).
- 6. Date of birth (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 7. Previous military service upon enlistment/reenlistment. a. Total active military service: years.
- 7.a. Total active military service: months.
- 7.a. Total active military service: days.
- 7.b. Total inactive military service: years.
- 7.b. Total inactive military service: months.
- 7.b. Total inactive military service: days.
- 8. I am enlisting in the United States: list branch of service.
- Number of years enlisted for.
- And number of weeks:
- Beginning in pay grade:
- Number of years considered active duty obligation.
- Number of weeks considered active duty obligation.
- Number of years to be served in reserve component.
- Number of weeks to be served in reserve component.
- Additional details are in section C and annexes:
- 8.a. Report to place shown in item 4 by: Date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- Branch of service:
- For not less than: number of years.
- For not less than (number of weeks).
- 8.b. Remarks (if none, so state).
- 1. Name of enlistee/reenlistee (last, first, middle).
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.
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.
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 4?
- DD Form 4, Enlistment/Reenlistment Document - Armed Forces of the United States, October 2007
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?