Which document is this? DD Form 2168, official title DD Form 2168, Application for Discharge of Member or Survivor of Member, April 2010 (Corrected for OMB expiration and Army address). What does it do? It exists to Application for Discharge of Member or Survivor of Member of Group Certified to Have Performed Active Duty with the Armed Forces of the U.S.. 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 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
- Section 1. Group member data. 1.a. Member's name: last, first, middle, and maiden, if any.
- 1.b. Alias(es).
- 2. Social Security Number. Do not include dashes.
- 3. Date of birth: 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no spacers.
- 4.a. Present street address (include apartment number).
- 4.b. City.
- 4.c. County.
- 4.d. State.
- 4.e. ZIP code.
- Section 2 - Service group data to support claim. 5. Name of group served with.
- 6. Identification number.
- 7. Highest grade/rank/rating held.
- 8. Highest pay grade (or actual pay).
- 9. Entry into Service. a. Date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 9.b. Place (include city and state of military installation).
- 10.Actual military service before/after this service. a. Dates (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 10.b. Department(s).
- 11. Home of record at time of entry. a. Street address (include apartment number).
- 11b. City.
- 11c. County.
- 11d. State.
- 11e. ZIP code.
- 12. Grade/rank/rating at time of entry.
- 13. Military installation where ordered to report (include city and state).
Download the form
What formats exist for this form? PDF. What is the scale of it? 2 pages and approximately 44 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.
Should you type or write? Type, whenever the choice is yours. The reason is what happens after submission: the record gets copied and scanned, and every pass costs handwriting legibility that typed entries never lose.
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.
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.
What is the Privacy Act Statement doing on the form? Telling you, before you supply personal identifiers, under what authority the information is collected, what it will be used for, who else may see it, and whether answering is voluntary or mandatory. Is it worth reading? It is the only part of the form written for your benefit rather than the file's.
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.
What sends forms back most often? An obsolete edition, blank required boxes, handwriting illegible after scanning, dates in a format the form did not ask for, and certification without a signature or without a date.
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.
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.
Can you assume a matching number is the same form? No, and this is where downloads go wrong. Read the prefix. Army numbering and Department numbering are independent systems, so the digits alone tell you nothing about which document you need.
How often does a form like this change? Unpredictably — revision follows directive changes, altered collection requirements and updated notice language. What is the practical defence? Verifying not stated every time you download rather than trusting a saved copy.
What does this page actually provide? The blank form and a description of it. What does it not provide? Legal guidance, procedural rulings, or any assurance about a particular filing. Who answers those? not stated, the administrative office that serves you, or the authority identified in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2168?
- DD Form 2168, Application for Discharge of Member or Survivor of Member, April 2010 (Corrected for OMB expiration and Army address)
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?