Which form is this? DA Form 2188, official title DATA SHEET, used to data sheet. That is the whole answer in one sentence. What follows explains the version, the file and the entries.
Is this the current version? The edition offered here is dated 02/01/2017, published with the status ACTIVE. That date is the version number of a military form; there is no other.
Who is responsible for this document? T2COM maintains it, and TC 3-22.91 prescribes when it is used and where it goes. Completion falls to the person the entries describe or to the administrative staff holding the file. As for effort: 1 page(s), roughly 200 fields.
What the form asks for
- AMDATA_A
- AMDATA_A_1
- AMDATA_B
- AMDATA_B_1
- AMDATA_C
- AMDATA_C_1
- AMDATA_D
- AMDATA_D_1
- AMDATA_E
- AMDATA_E_1
- AMDATA_F
- AMDATA_F_1
- AMDATA_G
- AMDATA_G_1
- AMDATA_H
- AMDATA_H_1
- AMDATA_I
- AMDATA_I_1
- AMDATA_J
- AMDATA_J_1
- AMDATA_K
- AMDATA_K_1
- AMDATA_L
- AMDATA_L_1
Download the form
What can I download here? The formats available are PDF, XFDL. Each one reproduces the identical official layout. What separates them is the method of entry, nothing on the page itself.
What is the difference between fillable and printable? A fillable pdf has live fields that accept typing and can be saved with your entries in place. A printable pdf is the same blank page with no live fields, meant to come out of a printer and be completed with a pen. Both print identically once filled.
What do I open a pdf with? Any current browser will display one, and any dedicated reader will do better. For fillable use the reader is the safer choice, because some browser viewers accept typing and then discard it when the tab closes. Test one field and one save before committing. What opens an xfdl file? Only the IBM Lotus Forms Viewer. The format is IBM Lotus Forms, carried by several Army systems, and no pdf reader or word processor will touch it.
Is it free? Yes, entirely. No registration stands between you and the file, and what arrives is exactly what the publisher released.
Where do you start? At the top of the page, with the identifying entries: name as your official records spell it, identification number, unit or organisation, date of preparation. Why first? Because those entries are what the form is filed and searched under later, and a record indexed on a misspelled name is a record nobody retrieves.
How should you work through the entry fields? With the tab key. It follows the order the form was constructed in, which is usually the order the page reads, so nothing gets passed over. Do check boxes work the same way? They are clicked rather than tabbed into. In an exclusive group, a second click elsewhere clears your first choice, as intended.
Why does my text vanish when I print? Because one-line fields have no wrap, and anything past the field width is truncated on paper even though the screen shows all of it. Where should the overflow go? Into remarks, or onto a continuation. What about entries that do not apply? Enter the mark meaning "none". Blank space is ambiguous; a reviewer cannot tell an omission from a considered nil.
When do you sign? Last, after every other entry is settled. Until the signature is applied the document is a draft, however complete it looks. What if more than one signature is required? Reviewing official, approving authority and witness sign in the order the blocks print, and each dates the form on the day of signing rather than the day it was prepared. What goes wrong most often? Mandatory fields left empty, transposed digits in identification numbers, dates with day and month reversed, and old entries surviving in a working copy that was reused instead of a fresh blank form.
What is the Privacy Act statement on the page? A notice appearing wherever personal information is collected, setting out the authority for the collection, the purpose, the routine uses, and whether your disclosure is mandatory or voluntary. When should you read it? At the point you reach it, before entering the details it covers. And afterwards? Your completed copy holds personal data and is stored and transmitted under the rules that apply to such records.
Where do you send it? To the destination the prescribing directive names, which may be a specific office, the unit administrative channel, or the individual's file. Is a copy worth keeping? Always, and taken before submission. How long does the receiving office keep it? For the period the records schedule for the series prescribes, regardless of local custom.
What if this form is not the only one you need? Search by series and number. Within the DA series, forms under the same proponent or the same prescribing directive tend to be required as a set, and anything named on the face of one normally accompanies it. Are continuations part of that? They are, along with covers and transmittals, and all of them are collected in advance rather than after a query.
Why do editions change? Because the proponent revises the content, and the edition date printed on the page marks the result. How do you tell whether a stored copy is still current? Compare its printed date against the edition in force before you use it again. Does a new edition invalidate what you already filed? No. Records executed under a superseded edition stand as they are.
Is this an official Department of the Army site? No. It is an independent site distributing reproductions of published Department of the Army documents for download, with no authority to issue forms. Does it guarantee acceptance of anything you submit? It does not, and nothing on the page is legal advice. Who should you ask instead? T2COM or your servicing administrative office, whenever an entry, a requirement or your eligibility is in doubt.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 2188?
- DATA SHEET
- Which edition is current?
- 02/01/2017
- Who is responsible for this form?
- T2COM
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL, PDF