Which document is this? DD Form 453-1, official title DD Form 453-1, Travel Order, August 1984. What does it do? It exists to Travel Order. Everything on this page builds on those two facts.
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.
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.
How current is this? Edition not stated, publisher status not stated. That is the version described throughout this page.
What the form asks for
- Payment of travel allowances is authorized pursuant to 10 U S C Section 847 and 28 U S C Section 18 21. You should travel from: enter location
- in sufficient time to arrive at: enter location, on the date and time specified. You will be paid fees and expenses for attendance at the specified hearing and travel directly to and from that place.
- You may travel by: press space bar to mark X if rail.
- Mark X if commercial or military aircraft.
- Mark X if by bus.
- Mark X if privately owned automobile.
- X first box if you have or second box if have not been given a Government Transportation Request.
- If you travel by private automobile, you will be reimbursed at the rate of 20 cents per mile or: enter other amount
- plus the cost of necessary parking fees, bridge, ferry and other highway tolls incurred while traveling under this travel order. The total reimbursement will be limited to the cost of travel by the usual mode of common carrier, including per diem. Receipts and ticket stubs will be required to support your claim for cost of transportation and subsistence for each item in excess of 15 dollars or: enter amount.
- Press space bar to mark X if: you will be traveling to a high cost area. The travel regulations designate certain cities as high cost areas. Because your attendance requires travel to one of these cities, you will be authorized an actual expense allowance instead of a per diem allowance. You will be reimbursed for the actual expenses incurred, not to exceed the maximum amount for the city involved. The expenses may include lodgings, meals, tips to waiters, bellboys, maids, porters, personal laundry, pressing and dry cleaning, local transportation including usual tips, between places of lodging and duty, and other necessary expenses.
- You must itemize your daily actual expenses on your claim and receipts for lodging and any items over 15 dollars or: enter amount, are required.
- Mark X if you will not be traveling to a high-cost area. Because you are not traveling to a high-cost area, you will be entitled to a per diem allowance to cover your expenses for lodging, meals, and incidentals.
- While traveling and attending the specified hearing within the continental United States, you will be authorized a per diem equal to the daily average you pay for lodging, plus 23 dollars or (enter amount) per day for meals and incidentals, rounded off to the next dollar.
- If the resulting amount is more than the maximum per diem allowable, which is 50 dollars or (enter amount), then you will be reimbursed only the maximum per diem authorized. You are required to state on your reimbursement claim that the per diem claimed is based on the average cost to you for lodging while on required travel within the continental United States during the period covered by the claim. Receipts are required for lodging. The per diem allowance for travel overseas is based on rates set by the Department of State or by the Department of Defense, and you will be reimbursed the amount specified for the particular overseas area involved.
- You are entitled to an attendance fee of 30 dollars or (enter amount) per day under 28 U S C section 18 21.
- Address any inquiries regarding this matter to: line 1.
- Address inquiries to, line 2.
- This is travel order number:
- Dated:
- Issued by headquarters:
- T D N Accounting Citation:
- Typed name of authenticating official.
- For the commander: typed name of approving official.
- Signature of approving official.
Download the form
What formats exist for this form? PDF. What is the scale of it? 1 pages and approximately 26 fields.
Why do two kinds of pdf exist? Because two kinds of user exist. One completes the form on screen and forwards a file; the other prints a blank and fills it by hand. The fillable release has interactive boxes, the printable release is a static image of the same page.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
What if DD Form 453-1 points to another form? Search the series and number. Because the DD sequence is common to every military department, no branch qualifier is needed to land on the right file.
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.
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 453-1?
- DD Form 453-1, Travel Order, August 1984
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?