What is DD Form 108? It is a Department of Defense form titled DD Form 108, Application for Retired Pay Benefits, July 2002., and its job is straightforward: Application for Retired Pay Benefits. That single line covers most of what people want to know before they download it.
Does it apply to your branch? Yes. The DD prefix means Department of Defense, not one service, so the same blank serves the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force and the Coast Guard under Defense jurisdiction. There is no Army version and no Navy version to search for.
Who is behind it? not stated maintains the form, and not stated is the publication that requires it. Those two names answer most questions about why you are being asked to submit anything at all.
Which edition should you have? not stated, listed as not stated. A copy dated otherwise is a copy worth replacing.
What the form asks for
- 1. To
- 2. Date of Birth
- 3. Date retired pay to begin.
- 4. Highest military pay grade held
- 5. Applicant name: last, first, middle initial
- 6.a. Service number if applicable
- 6.b. Social security number. Do not include dashes.
- 7. Present home address: street, apartment number, city, state, zip code
- 7.b. home telephone number, area code only
- 7.b. Rest of home telephone number
- 8. Present assignment
- 9. Armed force and component before 1949, line 2
- 10. Grade or rating, line 2
- 11. a. approximate date of service from: day, line 2
- 11. a. approximate date of service from: month, line 2
- 11. a. approximate date of service from: year, line 2
- 11. b. approximate date of service to: day, line 2
- 11. b. approximate date of service to: month, line 2
- 11. b. approximate date of service to: year, line 2
- 12. a. active duty service from: day, line 2
- 12. a. active duty service from: month, line 2
- 12. a. active duty service from: year, line 2
- 12.b. active duty service to: day, line 2
- 12.b. active duty service to: month, line 2
Download the form
What formats exist for this form? PDF. What is the scale of it? 2 pages and approximately 200 fields.
Do you pay for these? No. Free download, every format. What should you avoid? Filling the form inside a browser tab; the fields frequently do not save.
Can you skip around the form? Better not to. The layout runs identification, then content, then certification, and entries near the bottom frequently take their meaning from what sits above them.
Why does the edition matter so much here? Because DD forms are revised centrally. When the Department reissues one, it reissues it for all branches simultaneously, and the field layout can shift. Compare the printed date against not stated before you type anything.
Can you leave fields blank? Not safely. A reviewer cannot tell a deliberate omission from a missed question, so mark inapplicable items N/A. And date fields? Match the format shown on the form — conventions differ, and misreading a date is easy.
Why read the Privacy Act Statement? Because it sits ahead of the personal data fields deliberately. It names the collection authority, the principal purpose, the routine uses of your data and the consequence of declining. Reading it afterward tells you nothing you can still act on.
How do you sign electronically? With a digital signature, usually CAC-based, in a reader that handles it. Will typing your name work? Not as execution — it fills a field without certifying anything. Either way, the date goes in immediately after.
Which mistakes are worth a final check? Superseded edition, gaps in mandatory fields, unreadable writing on a scanned copy, non-conforming date format, unsigned or undated certification.
Is the form its own instruction manual? Partly. The rest sits in not stated, which is also the authority where the two texts conflict.
Who receives it? The office not stated designates, subject to whatever local instruction your organization adds. What do you keep? A copy, made before the form leaves your hands.
What if DD Form 108 points to another form? Search the series and number. Because the DD sequence is common to every military department, no branch qualifier is needed to land on the right file.
Do DA and DD numbers ever correspond? Never. DA numbering is Army-specific, administered by an Army proponent, while DD numbering is Department-wide under not stated or an equivalent Department office. Identical digits in the two systems mean two unrelated documents, which is why the prefix matters more than the number.
Should you archive this file and reuse it next year? Better not. Forms are revised as directives are reissued, as data requirements shift and as statutory notice text is updated, and none of that reaches you directly. Download fresh, check the edition date.
Will your completed form be accepted? That is not a question this page can answer. What you have here is a published Department of Defense document, a description of it and instructions for filling it out. Nothing on the page is legal advice, and nothing here determines what any office does with a submission. Where do the remaining questions go? To not stated, to your servicing personnel office, or to the office named in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 108?
- DD Form 108, Application for Retired Pay Benefits, July 2002.
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?