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DD Form 2656-6 is a Department of Defense form, not a service form: DD Form 2656-6, SBP Election Change Certificate, April 2009, used to Survivor Benefit Plan Election Change Certificate. The DD prefix is the operative fact. It means one blank serves every military department — Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, Coast Guard under Defense jurisdiction — plus the defense agencies and combatant commands. No branch variant exists.
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.
Edition not stated, status not stated. That comparison is the first thing worth making, because a DD form supersedes centrally and an old copy in a shared drive is out of date for every office, not just yours.
Formats: PDF. Length 2 pages, approximately 58 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.
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
- 3. Date of retirement: 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day.
- 4. Date of birth: 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day.
- 5. mailing address: street, apartment number, city, state and zip code.
- 6. Telephone number, include area code.
- Section 2 - Current coverage. 7. My current coverage is: Press space bar to mark X in first box if no coverage, second box if spouse only, third box if child only, fourth box if spouse and child, fifth box if insurable interest, sixth box if former spouse, seventh box if former spouse and child, or eighth box if suspended coverage.
- Section 3 - Conditions that trigger eligibility to change coverage. 8. I am requesting a change in coverage based on: Mark X if marriage.
- Mark X if remarriage.
- If remarriage, X first box if resume existing coverage, second box if increase coverage, third box if not resume coverage, or fourth box if coverage for new spouse if current coverage is for former spouse.
- Mark X if acquiring a dependent child.
- Mark X if divorce.
- Mark X if death of spouse.
- Section 1 - Member Information. 1. Name: last, first, middle initial.
- 2. Social security number. Do not include dashes.
- Section 4 - Requested change to coverage. 9. Indicate new coverage election by marking X in first box if resume existing coverage, second box if spouse only, third box if spouse and child(ren), fourth box if child(ren) only, or fifth box if suspend coverage.
- Section 5 - Level of Coverage. 10. Indicate monthly amount coverage will be based on. X first box if full retired pay, second box if reduced amount of retired pay.
- Enter reduced monthly amount of retired pay (cannot be less than $300.00).
- Section 6 - Spouse and children information. 11.a. Spouse's name: last, first, middle initial.
- 11.b. Social security number.
- 11.c. Date of birth: 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day.
- 12. Date of marriage: 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day.
- 13. Dependent children. a. Name: last, first, middle initial, line 1 of 6.
- 13.b. Social security number.
- 13. c. Date of birth : 4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day.
- 13. d. Relationship. Son, daughter, stepson, etc. Indicate "FS" if from previous marriage.
Edition check comes first, ahead of any entry. Compare the printed date to not stated and replace anything older. Department-level supersession is simultaneous across the services, so a superseded blank is not merely out of date locally; the office receiving it is already working from the new field structure whichever branch it belongs to.
Field-level questions go to the printed instructions, then to not stated, which is authoritative.
Route it where not stated or local procedure directs, and keep a copy first. On a Department form the receiving office is frequently outside your own chain — another service, a defense agency, a joint command — which makes recovering a lost original slower than it would be internally.
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.
Prefix before number. A DA citation and a DD citation in the same instruction point at separate systems — one Army, administered by an Army proponent, one Department-wide under not stated — and there is no correspondence between them at any number.
Revision follows directive changes, changed data requirements and amended notice language, unannounced. Verify not stated each time rather than trusting a saved copy — the cost of the check is seconds.
What is here is the blank form and a description of it. What is not here is legal guidance or any assurance about a particular filing — this page is not the issuing authority and does not speak for one. Those questions go to not stated, to your servicing administrative office, or to the authority identified in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2656-6?
- DD Form 2656-6, SBP Election Change Certificate, April 2009
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?