Download the form
DA Form 31 exists to request and authority for leave — that is the short version. Title of record: REQUEST AND AUTHORITY FOR LEAVE. The page covers the download, the entries and the disposition, nothing else. Current here: edition 10/01/2023, status ACTIVE, 1 page(s), near 200 fields. Superseded edition. A newer one is out; stay here only for files already executed on this version.
Two references decide everything about your use of it: G-1 maintains the content, AR 600-8-10 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, 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.
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.
Nothing is charged and no sign-up applies. Files are served as published, without changes to the page image.
What the form asks for
- ACCRUED
- ACTGCIT
- ADDRESS
- ADVANCED
- APPROVAL
- APPRV_date
- ARRAPOD
- ARRAPOE
- ARRHOME
- Button8
- CNTRLNO
- COMBOBOX13
- COMBOBOX14
- ContentArea1
- DEPAUTH
- DEPS
- DEPS_1
- DEPS_2
- DEPS_3
- DEPS_4
- DEPUNIT
- DEP_AUTH_date
- DISAPPROV
- EMERGEN
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 G-1 or your servicing administrative office.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 31?
- REQUEST AND AUTHORITY FOR LEAVE
- Which edition is current?
- 10/01/2023
- Who is responsible for this form?
- G-1
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, PDF
Publisher notes
- PRIVACY ACT OF 1974