So what is DD Form 1387? The short answer: a Defense Department document, officially DD Form 1387, Military Shipment Label, July 1999, used to Military Shipment Label. Anything else you need follows from that.
Is there a version specific to your service? No. A DD number is issued at Department level, which is the whole point of the prefix — every military department and defense agency works from one identical document. Looking for a branch variant wastes time you do not have.
Where does the requirement come from? From not stated, with not stated responsible for the document itself. Those are the names to cite if anyone asks under what authority you filed.
How current is this? Edition not stated, publisher status not stated. That is the version described throughout this page.
What the form asks for
- Press this Reset button to clear the data from all fields.
- 1. Transportation control number.
- 2. Postage data.
- 3. From.
- 4. Type service.
- 5. Ship to/Port of Embarkation
- 6. Transportation priority.
- 7. Point of Debarkation.
- 8. Project.
- 9. Ultimate consignee or mark for.
- 10. Weight (This piece).
- 11. Recovered Delivery Date
- 12. CUBE (This piece).
- 13. Charges.
- 14. Date shipped.
- 15. FMS case number.
- 16. Piece number.
- 17. Total pieces.
Download the form
What formats exist for this form? PDF. What is the scale of it? 1 pages and approximately 19 fields.
Is there a charge? No — free, all formats. Where should you open the file? In a full pdf application on your own machine. Browser-embedded viewers handle field properties unpredictably.
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 If not, the copy is superseded, and a superseded DD form is a real problem: Department-level revisions replace the blank for every service at once, so an old file on a shared drive is stale everywhere, not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.
Which fields are required? Treat all of them as required, marking N/A where an item genuinely does not apply. What trips people on dates? Writing them in a familiar format instead of the one the form specifies.
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.
What if a specific field still puzzles you? Read the instructions printed on the form, then not stated. Which wins if they differ? The directive.
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.
Do you need to know which branch issued a related form? No. DD numbering is Department-wide and unified, which means the number on its own is a complete address for the document.
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.
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 1387?
- DD Form 1387, Military Shipment Label, July 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?