Download the form
DA Form 5188 handles one job: medical report on applicant for certification to provide care for children or adults with disabilities. The official title is MEDICAL REPORT ON APPLICANT FOR CERTIFICATION TO PROVIDE CARE FOR CHILDREN OR ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES. Download it below, fill it in, sign it, send it where your directive says. The edition on this page is 02/01/2026, status ACTIVE, running 1 page(s) with about 93 fields to complete. This edition is superseded — pull the newer one unless your record was already executed on this version.
Authority sits in two places. TSG owns the form, AR 608-75 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.
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
- DATESIGN
- DATE_A
- DATE_B
- EXPLAIN_A
- EXPLAIN_B
- EXPLAIN_C
- NAME
- NO_A
- NO_B
- NO_C
- Page1
- R77
- R78
- R79
- R80
- R81
- R82
- R83
- R84
- R85
- R86
- R87
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.
Tab through the fields rather than clicking. The tab order was fixed when the form was built and generally follows the page, which catches boxes a mouse skips past. Check boxes and option buttons take a click, and an exclusive group clears the previous selection when you make a new one. Single-line fields do not wrap — text past the field width prints truncated while still showing in full on screen, which is why the loss is discovered after printing. Overflow goes to remarks or a continuation sheet. A field that does not apply gets the mark meaning none; blank space reads as an omission.
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.
Routing follows AR 608-75 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.
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.
Edition date is the version number, printed on the page. Hold a locally saved copy against the current edition before reuse, since nothing on your machine signals a revision. Work already executed under a superseded edition remains as filed.
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 TSG or the administrative office servicing your unit.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 5188?
- MEDICAL REPORT ON APPLICANT FOR CERTIFICATION TO PROVIDE CARE FOR CHILDREN OR ADULTS WITH DISABILITIES
- Which edition is current?
- 02/01/2026
- Who is responsible for this form?
- TSG
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL, PDF