What does this form do? DA Form 591 is titled APPLICATION FOR INITIAL (EDUCATIONAL) DELAY FROM ENTRY ON ACTIVE DUTY AND SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT, and its job is to application for initial (educational) delay from entry on active duty and supplemental agreement. Anyone sent to find "the 591" is being sent here. Everything below expands on that one function.
Which edition is on this page? The one dated 10/01/2023, status ACTIVE. On army forms the edition date is the version, printed on the page itself so any copy can be checked. Be aware that a more recent edition has since been issued. This version is superseded and stays here for reference and for records already filled out on it.
Who fills it out, and how long does it take? The individual named in the entries fills it, or a records clerk fills it on that person's behalf. Length is 2 page(s) with about 200 entry fields, which is the honest measure of the work involved. Who owns the form and when it is raised comes from G-1 and AR 601-25 respectively.
What the form asks for
- ACTIVE_DAT
- APPRVD
- AWARD
- COLLEGEA
- COLLEGEB
- ContentArea1
- DATE_B
- DATE_SGN
- DA_NO
- DEGREE_A
- DELAY_BGN
- DELAY_END
- DIS_RSN
- DSAPPRVD
- GRAD
- HAS_BEEN
- HOME_ADD
- HOME_TELE
- IV_FROM
- IV_TO
- LEAD_TO
- MAIL_ADD
- MAIL_TEL
- MAJOR_A
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.
Which application should I use? Reading takes nothing beyond a browser. Filling takes a proper pdf reader, since browser viewers vary in whether they retain what you type — verify with a single field and a save before you fill the whole form. What is xfdl? The IBM Lotus Forms format used inside Army systems. It requires the Lotus Forms Viewer; nothing else opens it.
Do I have to sign up? No. Every format is free, no account is involved, and the file is distributed unmodified.
What goes in first? The heading block — your name exactly as official records show it, then identification number, then organisation, then the date you prepared the form. Is the order important? It is, because those four entries become the index for the finished record, and an error there is the one mistake that hides the document from everyone looking for it.
How do you move through the fields? By tab, not by mouse. The tab order was fixed when the form was built and generally follows the reading order of the page, so following it is the simplest way to avoid skipping a box. What about check boxes? Click them. If a group is exclusive, your new selection clears the old one — that is the design, not a malfunction.
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.
Where does the signature belong in the sequence? At the very end, by hand or by an accepted electronic means. An unsigned form is a draft regardless of how full it is. Are countersignatures needed? Where the form provides for them — reviewing official, approving authority, witness — taken in printed order and dated on the day applied. What should you check before releasing it? Empty mandatory fields, digit transposition in identification numbers, day-month inversion in dates, and residue from an old copy used in place of a blank one.
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 does the finished form go? Wherever AR 601-25 says — to the office it names, along your unit administrative channel, or into the individual's own record, depending on why it was raised. Should you keep a copy? Yes, before it leaves your hands. How long is it held? The records schedule for the series decides that, and local practice does not override it.
Which other forms travel with this one? Those found by series and number: DA series documents sharing a proponent or a governing directive are frequently needed in combination, and a form referenced on the face of another generally accompanies it. Do you assemble them before or after sending? Before. Continuation sheets, cover sheets and transmittals are part of the same package.
When is an edition replaced? When the proponent revises the form and publishes a new edition date. What should you do with a copy kept on your own machine? Check its date against the edition in force before reusing it. Does the change reach backwards? It does not; work already completed on an earlier edition remains valid as filed.
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? G-1 or the administrative office servicing your unit, on any question of entry, requirement or eligibility.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 591?
- APPLICATION FOR INITIAL (EDUCATIONAL) DELAY FROM ENTRY ON ACTIVE DUTY AND SUPPLEMENTAL AGREEMENT
- Which edition is current?
- 10/01/2023
- Who is responsible for this form?
- G-1
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL, PDF
Publisher notes
- PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT