What is DD Form 2258? It is a Department of Defense form titled D D Form 22 58, Temporary Mail Disposition Instructions, January 19 82., and its job is straightforward: Temporary Mail Disposition Instructions. That single line covers most of what people want to know before they download it.
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.
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
- D D Form 22 58, Temporary Mail Disposition Instructions, January 19 82
- Printed name: last, first, middle initial.
- Receptacle number.
- Status: Press space bar to mark X if status is A D V A S G.
- Mark X if status is T D Y.
- Mark X if status is on leave.
- Mark X if status is hospital
- Effective date from which to forward or hold mail: year, month, day.
- Mark X if status is confined.
- Mark X if status is AWOL
- Effective date to which to hold or forward mail: Year, month, day.
- Mark X if all mail is to be forwarded.
- Mark X if all mail is to be held.
- Indicate which items are to be forwarded only: Mark X if letters.
- Mark X if paychecks are to be forwarded.
- Mark X if parcels are to be forwarded.
- Mark X if newspapers and magazines are to be forwarded.
- Mark X if other items are to be forwarded and explain in the Special Instructions block.
- Complete forwarding address.
- Special instructions.
- Signature of receptacle holder.
- Date signed: year, month, day.
- For advance receptacle assignment, list name of sponsor and duty phone in the Special Instructions block.
- Press this Reset button to clear the data from all fields.
Download the form
Which files are here? These: PDF. How much work is involved? 1 pages, about 24 entry fields.
What does any of this cost? Nothing. Every format listed is a free download. One practical note: save the file and open it in a desktop pdf reader, because browser previews often ignore interactive fields and lose what you typed.
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.
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.
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.
Is a typed name enough? No. The signature block takes an actual signature: pen on paper, or a digital signature applied with your Common Access Card where the receiving system accepts one. Add the date beside it before you close the file.
What goes wrong most? The same short list: old edition, empty fields, illegibility, wrong date format, missing signature or date.
Where do you look up an unclear entry? The form face first, not stated second. And when the two disagree? not stated controls.
Where does the completed form go? To the office named in not stated or in your organization's local procedure. Should you keep a copy? Always — a scan or a saved file costs nothing and spares you the whole exercise if the original disappears.
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.
Is any of this advice? No. This page distributes a published Defense form and explains its contents, which is a different thing from telling you whether your circumstances qualify or whether a reviewer will accept your copy. Direct questions of eligibility, applicability and procedure to not stated, to your servicing personnel office, or to the office designated in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2258?
- D D Form 22 58, Temporary Mail Disposition Instructions, January 19 82.
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?