Download the form
DA Form 1559 exists to inspector general action request — that is the short version. Title of record: INSPECTOR GENERAL ACTION REQUEST. The page covers the download, the entries and the disposition, nothing else. Current here: edition 04/01/2021, status ACTIVE, 1 page(s), near 70 fields. Superseded edition. A newer one is out; stay here only for files already executed on this version.
Authority sits in two places. TIG owns the form, AR 20-1 says when it is raised and where it goes. Routine cases need neither read in full — the page itself carries the sequence. The entries are completed by their subject or by unit administrative staff working from what that person supplies.
Pick by how you will enter data: PDF, XFDL on offer. Typing means fillable pdf, where the boxes accept keystrokes and hold them on save. Handwriting means printable pdf, a flat page image sent straight to a printer. Neither version changes what appears on the page.
A standalone reader is the safe choice for fillable work. Browser viewers vary in whether entered data survives the session, and there is no warning when it does not; a one-field save test settles it in seconds. Xfdl means IBM Lotus Forms. The Lotus Forms Viewer opens it; pdf readers and word processors do not.
Nothing is charged and no sign-up applies. Files are served as published, without changes to the page image.
What the form asks for
- ACTION
- ADDRESS
- Bottom_Page1_Flowed_Subform
- COMP
- CurrentPage
- DOD_ID
- DONOT_1
- DONOT_2
- DO_1
- DO_2
- Expanding_Field_Page1
- GRADE
- Information_Request
- L11
- L12
- L14
- Master_Page1
- Master_Page2
- NAME
- PHONE
- Page1
- PageCount
- Pages
Start at the top and get the header exactly right. Official spelling of the name, identification number, unit, date. Everything downstream finds the record through those entries; nothing else on the page has that consequence.
Tab through the fields rather than clicking. The tab order was fixed when the form was built and generally follows the page, which catches boxes a mouse skips past. Check boxes and option buttons take a click, and an exclusive group clears the previous selection when you make a new one. Single-line fields do not wrap — text past the field width prints truncated while still showing in full on screen, which is why the loss is discovered after printing. Overflow goes to remarks or a continuation sheet. A field that does not apply gets the mark meaning none; blank space reads as an omission.
Signature comes after every other entry — ink or an approved electronic means, and without it the document is a draft. Where reviewing, approving or witnessing signatures are called for, take them in printed block order, each dated on the day applied. Before release, one pass from the top. The defects worth hunting are always the same four: mandatory fields left empty, identification digits transposed, dates with day and month reversed, and stale data surviving in a copy reused in place of a blank form.
Privacy Act statement first, personal entries second. The notice covers who is authorised to collect, why, who else routinely sees it, and whether you must answer. After completion the file carries personal data and is stored and sent under the corresponding safeguards.
Routing follows AR 20-1 and nothing else — a named office, the unit administrative channel, or the individual's file, according to why the form was raised. Copy it before it leaves. Retention is fixed by the records schedule for the series, which local practice does not shorten or extend.
Companion documents come from the same series and number scheme. Within the DA series, a shared proponent or a shared directive usually means shared use, and a form cited on the face of another accompanies it. Gather the whole package first — continuation sheets, cover sheets, transmittals.
Edition date is the version number, printed on the page. Hold a locally saved copy against the current edition before reuse, since nothing on your machine signals a revision. Work already executed under a superseded edition remains as filed.
What is distributed here are reproductions of published Department of the Army documents. Independent site, no official standing, no forms of its own. Nothing on the page constitutes legal advice, and acceptance by any office is outside what can be stated. Put questions about entries, requirements or eligibility to TIG or your servicing administrative office.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 1559?
- INSPECTOR GENERAL ACTION REQUEST
- Which edition is current?
- 04/01/2021
- Who is responsible for this form?
- TIG
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL, PDF
Publisher notes
- PRIVACY ACT OF 1974