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Use DA Form 2173 when you need to statement of medical examination and duty status. Full title: STATEMENT OF MEDICAL EXAMINATION AND DUTY STATUS. Everything you need is on this page — the file, the entry rules, the routing. Edition 06/01/2021, status ACTIVE, 1 page(s), roughly 200 fields. Note the supersession: a later edition exists, and this one applies only to records already completed on it.
Two references decide everything about your use of it: G-1 maintains the content, AR 600-8-4 sets the trigger and the routing. Consult the directive when your case is not routine; otherwise the printed blocks tell you enough. The person named in the entries fills it, or the administrative office holding the file does it for them.
The formats are PDF, XFDL, and the choice comes down to keyboard or pen. Fillable pdf for typing — live fields, tab order, saved entries. Printable pdf for handwriting — same page, no interactive objects, print it blank. Content is identical; only entry method differs.
Save the download and open it in a dedicated reader. That single step prevents the common failure: an in-browser viewer accepts your typing and discards it at tab close. Confirm with one field and one save cycle before committing the whole form. The xfdl copy needs the IBM Lotus Forms Viewer. That format runs in Army systems and nothing else reads it.
No charge, no account, no email address. The file is the published document, distributed unaltered.
What the form asks for
- A11
- ABSTO
- ABSWAUTH
- ABegan23
- ACCDATE
- ACCDETAIL
- ACTDUTY
- ADMITTED
- AFrom20
- ALCOHOL
- APD
- AWOL
- AWOLDUTY
- AWas11
- AWasNot11
- AbsenceWithout
- AbsentAuthority29
- AbsentWith
- AbsentWith29
- AbsentWithout
- AccidentDetails
- AccidentInfo
- ActiveDuty
- ActiveTrain
The heading entries carry more weight than the body. Name spelled as in official records, identification number, organisation, date prepared. Retrieval runs on those values, so a transposed digit or a casual spelling costs someone a file search. Fill them before anything else.
Tabbing beats clicking for coverage. The order was set at build time and tracks the page layout, so following it leaves no gaps. Boxes and buttons are clicked; where options are exclusive, one selection cancels another by design. Watch field width on long entries: one-line fields have no wrap, and what runs past the edge disappears in print though the screen still shows it. Move that text to remarks or a continuation. Never leave an inapplicable field empty — enter the nil mark, because a reviewer cannot distinguish a skipped question from a considered answer.
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 600-8-4 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.
Related forms are found by series and number. DA series documents under the same proponent or the same prescribing directive are commonly required as a set, and any form named on the face of this one goes forward with it. Assemble continuations, covers and transmittals before submitting, not after the query comes back.
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 G-1 or your servicing administrative office.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 2173?
- STATEMENT OF MEDICAL EXAMINATION AND DUTY STATUS
- Which edition is current?
- 06/01/2021
- Who is responsible for this form?
- G-1
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL, PDF
Publisher notes
- 42-ITEM ONLY PRODUCED IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA