Download the form
Use DA Form 285-A when you need to technical report of u.s. army ground accident index a. Full title: TECHNICAL REPORT OF U.S. ARMY GROUND ACCIDENT - INDEX A. Everything you need is on this page — the file, the entry rules, the routing. Edition February 2009, status not stated, 1 page(s), roughly 153 fields.
Two references decide everything about your use of it: OCSA maintains the content, PAM 385-40 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.
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.
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
- ContentArea1
- DATE
- ENCL_A
- ENCL_B
- ENCL_C
- ENCL_D
- ENCL_E
- ENCL_F
- ENCL_G
- ENCL_H
- ENCL_I
- ENCL_J
- ENCL_K
- ENCL_L
- ENCL_M
- ENCL_N
- ENCL_O
- ENCL_P
- ENCL_Q
- ENCL_R
- NOT_AP_A
- NOT_AP_B
- NOT_AP_C
- NOT_AP_D
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.
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.
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.
Read the Privacy Act statement at the point it appears. Authority, purpose, routine uses, mandatory or voluntary — four facts, and they govern what you are about to enter. A completed copy holds personal data and takes the handling rules that attach to it.
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.
A stored file goes stale silently. The proponent revises, a new edition date is published, and your copy says nothing about it — so compare the printed date against the edition in force before typing into it again. Completed submissions on an earlier edition are not reopened.
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 OCSA or the administrative office servicing your unit.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 285-A?
- TECHNICAL REPORT OF U.S. ARMY GROUND ACCIDENT - INDEX A
- Which edition is current?
- February 2009
- Who is responsible for this form?
- OCSA
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL