DA DD Forms Answers

DA Form 3779 — LOCATION PLACARD

location placard

What is DA Form 3779? It is the Department of the Army form titled LOCATION PLACARD, and it exists so that you can location placard. That single line covers most of what people arrive looking for. The rest of this page fills in the details.

Is this the current version? The edition offered here is dated September 1971, published with the status not stated. That date is the version number of a military form; there is no other.

Who is responsible for this document? AMC maintains it, and TM 743-200-1 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 45 fields.

What the form asks for

  • Code
  • Condition
  • ContentArea1
  • CustCode
  • ExpDate
  • Issue
  • Location
  • PSC
  • Page1
  • R30
  • R31
  • R32
  • R33
  • R34
  • R35
  • R36
  • R37
  • R38
  • R39
  • R40
  • Rectangle1
  • Remarks
  • SLI
  • StockNum

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.

Fillable or printable — which do I want? Fillable, if there is a keyboard involved: the boxes are interactive objects that store text. Printable, if there is a pen involved: the boxes are just lines on paper. Nothing else distinguishes them.

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.

Does the download cost anything? No. There is no charge, no account and no email address to surrender, and the file you receive is the published document with nothing added to it.

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.

What is the fastest way to fill the body? Tab from field to field. The order was set at build time and normally matches how the page reads, which is why tabbing catches boxes that clicking past would leave empty. And the boxes and buttons? Those take a click. Where only one option in a set can apply, choosing one deselects the other.

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.

Is a signature really the last step? Yes, and without it you have a draft, not a form. Who else signs? Whoever the form calls for — reviewer, approver, witness — in printed block order, each dated as of the day they sign. Which errors cause the most returns? Blank mandatory fields lead, followed by identification numbers with two digits swapped, dates written day-for-month, and leftover data in a reused file that goes forward as though it were meant.

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.

What happens after signing? The form is routed as the prescribing directive requires: to a named office, through the unit administrative channel, or into the personal file. Do you get the original back? No, so make a copy first. Who sets the retention period? The applicable records schedule, not the office holding the document.

How do you find related forms? By series and number. Documents in the DA series sharing a proponent or a prescribing directive are commonly used together, and a form cited on the face of another usually goes forward with it. When should you gather them? Before submission — continuation sheets, cover sheets and transmittal documents belong in the package from the start.

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.

What exactly is this site? A place to download reproductions of published Department of the Army documents. Is it part of the Department of the Army? No — it is independent, issues no forms of its own, and has no authority over any of them. Can it tell you whether your completed form will be accepted? It cannot, and nothing written here is legal advice. Who answers the real questions? AMC or the administrative office servicing your unit, on any question of entry, requirement or eligibility.

Questions and answers

What is DA Form 3779?
LOCATION PLACARD
Which edition is current?
September 1971
Who is responsible for this form?
AMC
In which formats can it be downloaded?
PDF, XFDL

Other forms in the series