What is DD Form 261? It is a Department of Defense form titled DD Form 261, Report of Investigation Line of Duty and Misconduct Status, October 1995, and its job is straightforward: Investigation, Report of - Line of Duty and Misconduct Status. 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.
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. Report date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 2. Investigation of: press space bar to mark X in first box if injury, second box if disease, third box if illness, or fourth box if death.
- 3. Status. X first box if regular or EAD, second box if called or ordered to AD, third box if inactive duty training, or fourth box if short tour of active duty for training.
- If called or ordered to active duty: X first box if more than 30 days, or second box if 30 days or less.
- 3.c. Type of inactive duty training.
- Hour.
- Finish date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- Hour.
- 4. To (Major Army or Air Force Commander).
- 8. Organization and station.
- d. LOD investigation made: X first box if yes, second box if no.
- 9. Other military personnel involved in the same incident. a. Name (last, first, middle initial), line 1.
- b. Social security number.
- c. Grade.
- d. LOD investigation made: X first box if yes, second box if no.
- a. Name, line 2.
- b. Social security number.
- c. Grade.
- a. Name, line 3.
- b. Social security number.
- c. Grade.
- d. LOD investigation made: X first box if yes, second box if no.
- 10. Basis for findings (as determined by investigation). a. Circumstances. (1) Hour.
- (2) Date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
Download the form
What can you download? The available set is PDF. How big is the job? The form runs 2 pages with roughly 64 fields to complete.
Why will not the xfdl file open? Because it is not a pdf. Xfdl belongs to IBM Lotus Forms, long the Department's electronic form format, and it needs IBM Lotus Forms Viewer or an equivalent reader installed first.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 261?
- DD Form 261, Report of Investigation Line of Duty and Misconduct Status, October 1995
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?