Download the form
DA Form 5655 handles one job: meritorious civilian service medal. The official title is MERITORIOUS CIVILIAN SERVICE MEDAL. Download it below, fill it in, sign it, send it where your directive says. The edition on this page is 02/01/2019, status ACTIVE, running unknown page(s) with about unknown fields to complete.
G-1 is the proponent, AR 672-20 the prescribing authority. Read the directive only if something about your situation departs from the standard case. Otherwise the form is filled by the individual it describes, or by the records clerk keeping the file, and reviewed through the printed signature blocks.
The formats are none published here, 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.
No charge, no account, no email address. The file is the published document, distributed unaltered.
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.
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 672-20 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.
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 G-1 or the administrative office servicing your unit.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 5655?
- MERITORIOUS CIVILIAN SERVICE MEDAL
- Which edition is current?
- 02/01/2019
- Who is responsible for this form?
- G-1
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- No file published here