Download the form
DA Form 2985 handles one job: admission and coding information. The official title is ADMISSION AND CODING INFORMATION. Download it below, fill it in, sign it, send it where your directive says. The edition on this page is 03/01/2000, status ACTIVE, running 3 page(s) with about 200 fields to complete.
Two references decide everything about your use of it: TSG maintains the content, AR 40-400 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.
Free, unregistered, unmodified. What arrives is what the publisher released.
What the form asks for
- ADMBED_A
- ADMBED_B
- ADMBED_C
- ADMBED_D
- AGEDIS_A
- AGEDIS_B
- AGEDIS_C
- AGE_ADM_A
- AGE_ADM_B
- ATEDIA_A
- ATEDIA_B
- ATEDIA_C
- ATEDIA_D
- ATEDIA_E
- ATEDIA_F
- ATEDIA_G
- ATEPRO_A
- ATEPRO_B
- ATEPRO_C
- ATEPRO_D
- ATEPRO_E
- ATEPRO_F
- ATEPRO_G
- AUTOPSY
Header first, always. Name as your official records spell it, identification number, unit, date of preparation — these four index the finished record, and an error in them hides the document from anyone searching for it later. The substantive blocks can wait thirty seconds.
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.
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 40-400 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.
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.
These are reproductions of published Department of the Army documents, offered for download. The site is independent, connected to nothing official, and issues no forms of its own. Nothing here is legal advice and no statement is made about acceptance by any office. Questions about an entry, a requirement or eligibility go to TSG or your servicing administrative office.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 2985?
- ADMISSION AND CODING INFORMATION
- Which edition is current?
- 03/01/2000
- Who is responsible for this form?
- TSG
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL, PDF
Publisher notes
- 14-REQUIRES PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT (AR 340-21)
- 42-ITEM ONLY PRODUCED IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA