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The scope here is Department-wide. DD Form 1870 — DD Form 1870, Nomination for Appointment to the United States Service Academy, September 2005 — exists to Nomination for Appointment to the United States Military Academy, US Naval Academy, US Air Force Academy, 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.
Requirement traces to not stated; the form belongs to not stated. Everything about schedule sits below that in local instruction, which is where to ask if a date matters.
Current edition is not stated, carried as not stated. Check that against any copy you already hold before doing anything else — Department-level revisions land everywhere simultaneously, so a stale file is stale across the whole Department.
The set is PDF. Size: 1 pages, about 27 fields.
Free download, every format. Do not fill the form in a browser tab — browser pdf viewers handle interactive fields inconsistently and discard entries on close.
What the form asks for
- Nomination for Appointment to: Press space bar to mark X in first box if U.S. Military Academy, second box if U.S. Naval Academy, third box if U.S. Air Force Academy.
- 1. Name of nominee (last, first, middle initial).
- 2. Date of birth (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no separators).
- 3. Social Security Number. Do not include dashes.
- 4. Domicile in constituency. a. Street (include apartment number).
- 4.b. City.
- 4.c. County.
- 4.d. State.
- 4.e. Zip code (9 digit).
- 5. Temporary address. a. Street (include apartment number).
- 5.b. City.
- 5.c. County.
- 5.d. State.
- 5.e. Zip code (9 digit).
- 6. Sex. Mark X in first box if male, second box if female.
- 7. Telephone number (include area code).
- 8. Congressional district and/or state.
- 9. Type of nomination. a. Vacancy. Mark X in order for first, second, third, fourth, or fifth.
- 9.b. Type of nomination. Mark X in first box if principal, second box if competitive, third box if alternate, and fourth box if competitive alternate.
- Alternate number (enter 1 through 9 if applicable).
- If alternate, enter name of principal nominee.
- If competitive alternate, enter name of principal nominee.
- 10. Remarks.
- 11. Nomination authority. a. Typed name (last, first, middle initial).
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.
Sequence matters. Identification precedes content, content precedes certification, because the lower half of a form is generally conditioned on the upper half.
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.
Sign last, in ink or with a credentialed digital signature. A typed name in a signature field certifies nothing. CAC-based signing is the usual electronic method where the receiving system supports it. Date the block immediately — unsigned and undated certifications account for a large share of returns.
Review for the usual: old edition, blank required fields, illegibility on reproduction, date format, signature and date. Unclear entries — read the form face, then not stated; the directive prevails.
Submit to the office named in not stated or in local instruction; retain a duplicate before it leaves. Joint routing often sends a DD form across organizational boundaries, and tracing one afterward is not a same-day matter.
A number is a complete address in the DD series. Because the sequence is Department-level and not duplicated per service, there is nothing further to specify.
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.
Editions change when the prescribing directive is reissued, when the data collected changes, or when notice language is amended. None of that reaches you. Checking not stated at download is the entire defence, and it is cheaper than repeating a submission.
This page publishes a Defense document and explains its contents. It does not advise, does not rule on applicability, and determines nothing about how a completed form will be treated. Direct such questions to not stated, to the servicing personnel office, or to the office designated in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 1870?
- DD Form 1870, Nomination for Appointment to the United States Service Academy, September 2005
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?