So what is DD Form 3043-1? The short answer: a Defense Department document, officially TRICARE Select Enrollment, Disenrollment, and Change Form (EAST), used to TRICARE Select Enrollment, Disenrollment, and Change Form (EAST). Anything else you need follows from that.
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 decides this form exists? not stated owns it; not stated directs its use. If someone told you to file this, the authority traces back to those.
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.
Download the form
What can you download? The available set is PDF. How big is the job? The form runs unknown pages with roughly unknown fields to complete.
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.
Is handwriting acceptable? Yes, but it is the weaker choice. Scanning flattens pen strokes and reproduction blurs them, while typed characters survive the whole chain intact. Print in capitals if you are working from a paper blank.
Is xfdl worth downloading? Only if you have the viewer. The format comes from IBM Lotus Forms, which carried Defense form distribution for a long stretch, and no ordinary pdf application will read it.
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.
In what order do you complete it? The printed order, top to bottom. Header data comes before the body, and the body before the signature block. The sequence is not decorative — later entries are keyed to earlier ones.
What if your copy is old? Replace it. Check the date printed on the form against not stated. Old blanks circulate for years in shared folders, and because a DD revision lands across the whole Department at once, the receiving office will be working from the new layout.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 3043-1?
- TRICARE Select Enrollment, Disenrollment, and Change Form (EAST)
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?