So what is DD Form 2715-3? The short answer: a Defense Department document, officially DD Form 2715-3, Prisoner Restoration/Return to Duty, Clemency and Parole Statement, March 2013, used to Prisoner Restoration/Return to Duty, Clemency and Parole Statement. Anything else you need follows from that.
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.
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
- Report date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no separators).
- 1. Prisoner name (last, first, middle).
- 2. DoD Identification number or Social security number (last 4 only).
- 3. Correctional facility.
- Section 1 - Restoration/Return to duty. Press space bar to mark X in first box if requests restoration/return, or second box if does not request.
- Section 2 - Clemency. 6. Mark X if waiving right to be considered for clemency.
- 7. I hereby request to be considered for clemency in the following form(s): Mark X if reduction in length of sentence.
- Mark X if reduction or remission of forfeitures.
- Mark X if reduction or remission of fine.
- Mark X if substitution of administrative discharge for punitive discharge.
- Mark X if remission of dismissal (officers and cadets only).
- Mark X if mitigation of a Dishonorable Discharge to a Bad Conduct Discharge.
- Mark X if restoration to pay grade.
- Enter pay grade if applicable.
- Mark X if restoration of precedence (officers only).
- 8. My reasons for requesting clemency are as follows:
- 9. Prisoner/supervisee signature.
- 10. Witness signature.
- 11. Date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 12. Certification. a. Certifying official (name, grade and title).
- Signature of certifying official.
- Date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- Section 3 - Parole. 13. Under regulation I become eligible for parole consideration on: (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 14. Mark X in first box if desire, or second box if do not desire, to be considered for parole.
Download the form
What formats exist for this form? PDF. What is the scale of it? 2 pages and approximately 47 fields.
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.
Do you pay for these? No. Free download, every format. What should you avoid? Filling the form inside a browser tab; the fields frequently do not save.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Where do you look up an unclear entry? The form face first, not stated second. And when the two disagree? not stated controls.
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.
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.
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.
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 2715-3?
- DD Form 2715-3, Prisoner Restoration/Return to Duty, Clemency and Parole Statement, March 2013
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?