Download the form
DA Form 5123-1 exists to in-processing personnel record — that is the short version. Title of record: IN-PROCESSING PERSONNEL RECORD. The page covers the download, the entries and the disposition, nothing else. Current here: edition 09/01/2023, 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 Superseded edition.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.
Authority sits in two places. G-1 owns the form, AR 600-8-101 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.
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.
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.
Nothing is charged and no sign-up applies. Files are served as published, without changes to the page image.
What the form asks for
- COMMNAME
- ClearA
- ClearAA
- ClearA_1
- ClearA_2
- ClearA_3
- ClearB
- ClearBB
- ClearBB_1
- ClearBB_10
- ClearBB_11
- ClearBB_2
- ClearBB_3
- ClearBB_4
- ClearBB_5
- ClearBB_6
- ClearBB_7
- ClearBB_8
- ClearBB_9
- ClearB_1
- ClearB_2
- ClearB_3
- ClearB_4
- ClearB_5
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.
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.
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.
Companion documents come from the same series and number scheme. Within the DA series, a shared proponent or a shared directive usually means shared use, and a form cited on the face of another accompanies it. Gather the whole package first — continuation sheets, cover sheets, transmittals.
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.
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 5123-1?
- IN-PROCESSING PERSONNEL RECORD
- Which edition is current?
- 09/01/2023
- Who is responsible for this form?
- G-1
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL, PDF
Publisher notes
- PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT