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The scope here is Department-wide. DD Form 1351-5 — DD Form 1351-5, Government Quarters and/or Mess, July 1999 — exists to Quarters and/or Mess, Government, and it applies across the services rather than inside one. That is what the DD prefix encodes: joint issue, single edition, every branch and defense agency working from identical paper.
Authority: not stated prescribes it, not stated maintains it. Those two names settle most disputes about why the form is being asked for. Local commands add timing on top; the requirement itself comes from above them.
Use not stated, status not stated. Older printings circulate widely and lose their currency Department-wide the moment a new edition issues.
Formats: PDF. Length 2 pages, approximately 57 entries. Pick on the basis of how you will complete it.
Fillable pdf is the default choice. Its boxes hold typed entries inside the document; the printable release is a static image of the same page with no interactive layer. Since DD forms routinely cross between services and agencies before they are filed, typed entries matter more here than on a form that stays inside one office.
What the form asks for
- 4. Quarters. a. Press space bar to mark X if Government quarters were not available to the above-named member on the following dates or for the following periods.
- Specify dates or periods when government quarters were not available.
- 4.b. Mark X if government quarters were not or will not be available to both the above-named member and his dependents on the following dates or for the following periods:
- Specify dates or periods when government quarters were or will not be available.
- 4.c. Mark X if utilization of government quarters by the above named member is or was impracticable for the following dates or the following periods:
- Specify dates or periods when utilization of quarters is or was impracticable.
- 5. Mess. Mark X as applicable. a. Government mess was not available to the above-named member for the number of meals shown opposite each of the dates or periods specified in columns 1 and 2 below.
- 5.b. Mark X if government mess was not or will not be available to both the above-named member and his dependents for the number of meals shown opposite the following dates or periods.
- 5.c. Mark X if utilization of government mess available at this station by the above-named member is, was, or will be impracticable for the number of meals shown opposite the following dates or periods.
- 5.d. Mark X if officers' open mess was not available to the above named officer for at least two meals on the following dates government quarters were available.
- 6. Remarks, continued.
- 1. Traveler's name: last, first, middle initial.
- 2. Grade.
- 3. Social security number. Do not include dashes.
- 4. Date of statement: four digit year, two digit month, two digit day.
- Column 1. Date meals not available (line 1). Enter all dates as four digit year, two digit month and two digit day, no spaces or punctuation marks.
- Column 2. Number of meals not available.
- Date, line 2.
- Number of meals not available.
- Date, line 3.
- Number of meals not available.
- Date, line 4.
- Number of meals not available.
- Date, line 5.
Start by matching the printed date to not stated. Old blanks accumulate in shared folders for years. Because the Department reissues to all services in one action, nobody is still accepting the previous layout by local custom.
Work the printed sequence: header, body, signature block. The order is functional rather than decorative, since entries below frequently key to identifying data above them.
Nothing stays blank. N/A on an inapplicable item, because an empty box is indistinguishable from a skipped question and the form returns for it. Dates follow the format printed beside the field, not local habit — a joint form is read by clerks in several services with different date conventions, and ambiguity is expensive.
The Privacy Act Statement precedes the personal data fields for a reason. It gives the collection authority, the principal purpose, the routine uses and whether disclosure is voluntary or mandatory. Read it while the disclosure decision is still yours to make.
Certification closes the form. Ink on paper, or a digital signature — normally CAC-applied — in software that supports it. Typed text in the signature box is a name, not an execution. Enter the date beside it before closing the file.
Check before submitting. The recurring failures are edition mismatch, gaps in required boxes, unreadable scanned handwriting, wrong date format, and certification without signature or date. Field-level questions go to the printed instructions, then to not stated, which is authoritative.
Send it as not stated or local guidance specifies. Save a copy. Cross-service and cross-agency routing is normal for Department forms, and a lost original outside your own organization is harder to chase down.
Look up cross-referenced forms by series and number. DD numbering is unified across the Department, which removes the usual step of identifying which service issued the thing.
Do not read across from a service number. DA numbering is Army-specific under an Army proponent; DD numbering is Department-wide under not stated or an equivalent Department office. The sequences are unrelated, so identical digits in each identify two different documents. Read the prefix, not the digits.
Three drivers of revision: directive reissue, altered collection requirements, updated statutory notice text. No notification accompanies any of them, so download fresh and confirm not stated rather than reusing an archived file.
Limits of this page: it distributes a published Department of Defense document and describes it. No legal advice, no procedural ruling, no statement about whether any submission will be accepted. Applicability, eligibility and procedure belong to not stated, to a servicing personnel office, or to the office named in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 1351-5?
- DD Form 1351-5, Government Quarters and/or Mess, July 1999
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?