Which document is this? DD Form 1210, official title DD Form 1210, Laboratory Compaction Characteristics of Soil (Compaction Test), December 1999. What does it do? It exists to Laboratory Compaction Characteristics of Soil (Compaction Test). Everything on this page builds on those two facts.
Will you need a different form because of where you serve? No. DD forms are Department-wide instruments, and that scope is what separates them from service publications. One edition, all branches, defense agencies included.
Who decides this form exists? not stated owns it; not stated directs its use. If someone told you to file this, the authority traces back to those.
Is this the right edition? The current one is dated not stated, and the publisher carries it as not stated. Check that against whatever copy you already have before going further.
What the form asks for
- 1. Project.
- 2. Excavation number.
- 3. Sample number.
- 4. Date.
- 5. Layers.
- Blows per layer.
- 6. Weight of tamper (pounds).
- 7. Height of drop (inches).
- 8. Specific gravity of solids (Gs).
- 9. Diameter of mold (inches).
- 10. Volume of soil sample. Press space bar to mark X in first box if 0.0333 cubic feet or second box if 0.075 cubic feet.
- 11. Run number, column 1.
- 12. Weight of mold + wet soil (grams).
- 13. Weight of mold (grams).
- 14. Weight of wet soil (12 - 13) (grams).
- 15. Wet unit weight (pcf).
- 16. Tare number (run 1, column 1).
- a. Weight of tare = wet soil (grams).
- b. Weight of tare + dry soil (grams).
- c. Weight of water (Ww) (a - b) (grams).
- d. Weight of tare (grams).
- e. Weight of dry soil (Ws) (grams) (b - d).
- f. Water content (w = Ws/Ws x 100) (percent).
- 16. Tare number (run 1, column 2).
Download the form
Which files are here? These: PDF. How much work is involved? 1 pages, about 164 entry fields.
What is the difference between fillable and printable? A fillable pdf has real field boxes that accept typed text and hold it inside the file. A printable pdf is a flat blank with no fields at all, intended for a printer and a pen. Which one you have determines how you complete the form, so it is worth checking first.
Is handwriting acceptable? Yes, but it is the weaker choice. Scanning flattens pen strokes and reproduction blurs them, while typed characters survive the whole chain intact. Print in capitals if you are working from a paper blank.
Where do you start? At the top. Identification first, the substance of the entry second, certification last. Why that order? Because fields lower on the page often depend on data you established in the header, and filling out of sequence produces contradictions.
What is the first thing to check? The edition date on the face of the form. Does it read not stated? If not, the copy is superseded, and a superseded DD form is a real problem: Department-level revisions replace the blank for every service at once, so an old file on a shared drive is stale everywhere, not just in your office.
Is the form its own instruction manual? Partly. The rest sits in not stated, which is also the authority where the two texts conflict.
What happens after you finish? It routes to the office specified in not stated or in local guidance. And your own record? Save a duplicate first; nobody regrets having one.
How do you find a form referenced inside this one? By its number alone. The DD sequence runs across the entire Department, so a number identifies exactly one document regardless of which service cited it.
Why do some instructions cite both a DA and a DD form? Because the procedure touches both systems, not because the forms are related. Service forms answer to a service proponent; DD forms answer to not stated or another Department office. The sequences were never aligned.
Why do editions change at all? Three reasons, mostly: the prescribing directive gets reissued, the information collected changes, or the required notice language is amended. Are you notified when it happens? No. Which is why confirming not stated at the moment you download is worth the few seconds.
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 1210?
- DD Form 1210, Laboratory Compaction Characteristics of Soil (Compaction Test), December 1999
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?