Download the form
Use DA Form 2188 when you need to data sheet. Full title: DATA SHEET. Everything you need is on this page — the file, the entry rules, the routing. Edition 02/01/2017, status ACTIVE, 1 page(s), roughly 200 fields.
Authority sits in two places. T2COM owns the form, TC 3-22.91 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.
PDF, XFDL are available and the decision takes one second. Type your entries: fillable pdf. Write them: printable pdf. The published layout is common to both, so the format governs your method and nothing more.
Use a full pdf reader, not the browser viewer. Browser viewers display fields they cannot always save, and the loss shows up only when you reopen the file — type one entry, save, reopen, verify, then fill the rest. The xfdl file is IBM Lotus Forms, used inside Army systems, and opens in the Lotus Forms Viewer alone — no pdf reader, no word processor.
No charge, no account, no email address. The file is the published document, distributed unaltered.
What the form asks for
- AMDATA_A
- AMDATA_A_1
- AMDATA_B
- AMDATA_B_1
- AMDATA_C
- AMDATA_C_1
- AMDATA_D
- AMDATA_D_1
- AMDATA_E
- AMDATA_E_1
- AMDATA_F
- AMDATA_F_1
- AMDATA_G
- AMDATA_G_1
- AMDATA_H
- AMDATA_H_1
- AMDATA_I
- AMDATA_I_1
- AMDATA_J
- AMDATA_J_1
- AMDATA_K
- AMDATA_K_1
- AMDATA_L
- AMDATA_L_1
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.
Move between fields with tab; the build-time order follows the page and misses nothing. Click check boxes and option buttons, and expect an exclusive group to release the old choice when you set a new one. The trap is field width. Single-line fields do not wrap, so an overlong entry displays complete on screen and prints cut at the margin — put it in remarks or on a continuation instead. Mark inapplicable fields rather than leaving them blank, since an empty box carries no information about whether the question was read.
The signature closes the form and nothing precedes it. Draft status holds until it is applied, by hand or by an accepted electronic method. Countersignatures go in printed order, each dated at signing. Then one final read from the top, looking for the four recurring defects: empty mandatory fields, swapped digits in identification numbers, day-month inversion in dates, and residue from a reused file that goes forward as though intended.
The Privacy Act statement is read before the personal entries, not after. It gives the collection authority, the purpose, the routine uses and whether disclosure is mandatory or voluntary. Once filled, your copy is a personal record and gets stored and transmitted accordingly.
The prescribing directive names the destination; office custom does not. Depending on the case that means a specific office, the unit administrative channel, or the personal record. Keep a copy first, because the original does not come back. Retention runs on the applicable records schedule.
Look for associated forms by series and number. In the DA series, documents sharing a proponent or a governing directive tend to travel together, and anything referenced on the page normally submits alongside. Collect continuations, covers and transmittals in advance of sending.
Check the edition date before reusing a saved copy. Revisions come from the proponent without notice to you, and the printed date is the only version marker on the page. Already-submitted records under a superseded edition stand as filed; the change does not run backwards.
The files are copies of published Department of the Army forms. This site has no official connection, no authority to issue anything, and no basis for saying whether an office will accept a given submission. None of the text is legal advice. Real questions — entry, requirement, eligibility — belong with T2COM or the administrative office servicing your unit.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 2188?
- DATA SHEET
- Which edition is current?
- 02/01/2017
- Who is responsible for this form?
- T2COM
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL, PDF