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DA Form 3056 is a DA series document issued for use across the Department of the Army. Official title: REPORT OF MISSING/RECOVERED FIREARMS, AMMUNITION AND EXPLOSIVES. Purpose: report of missing/recovered firearms, ammunition and explosives. The current edition carries the date 03/01/2023 and is listed with a publication status of ACTIVE. The form runs to 2 page(s) and contains approximately 200 entry fields.
The office of primary responsibility is PMG. Use is prescribed by ARMY DIR 2023-07, which defines when the form is raised and where it goes afterward. The form is normally completed by the subject of the entries or by administrative personnel maintaining the record, then reviewed and signed as the governing authority directs. A more recent edition has been published. This edition is superseded; it remains available for reference and for files already executed against it.
Formats offered: PDF, XFDL. All are the same published layout in different containers, and the choice between them is a matter of how the entries will be made rather than what appears on the page. The pdf serves as the authoritative rendering. A fillable pdf exposes editable fields on screen; a printable pdf is the blank form as a flat page for handwriting.
A pdf opens in any current browser or in a dedicated reader. Fillable behaviour is more reliable in a full reader than in a browser viewer, where some field types render but do not save. An xfdl file is also published. This is the IBM Lotus Forms format used within Army systems; it requires the Lotus Forms Viewer and will not open in a pdf reader or a word processor.
All formats are free to download and no registration is involved. The files are the published documents, distributed unmodified.
What the form asks for
- ACT_ARMY
- ARNG
- CALIBER
- CALIBER_1
- CALIBER_10
- CALIBER_11
- CALIBER_12
- CALIBER_13
- CALIBER_14
- CALIBER_15
- CALIBER_16
- CALIBER_17
- CALIBER_2
- CALIBER_3
- CALIBER_4
- CALIBER_5
- CALIBER_6
- CALIBER_7
- CALIBER_8
- CALIBER_9
- Checkbox
- ContentArea1
- DAY_A
- DAY_B
Entry proceeds block by block in the order printed on the page. Identifying particulars occupy the head of the form: name, identification number, unit or organisation, and date of preparation. These fields govern how the record is later retrieved from the file, so they are completed before any substantive block.
Typed entry is made straight into the interactive fields. The tab key moves through them in the order set at build time, generally matching the reading order of the page. Boxes and buttons respond to a click; in an exclusive group, one selection cancels the others. Single-line fields do not wrap, and anything longer than the field width prints cut off although it may still display in full on screen. Extended text goes to remarks or a continuation sheet rather than into a narrow box.
The signature block is completed last and by hand or by an accepted electronic means. An unsigned form is a draft. Where a second signature is called for — reviewing official, approving authority, witness — each is applied in the order the blocks appear and dated as of application, not as of preparation. Blank mandatory fields are the most frequent defect; a nil entry is marked as such rather than left empty. Other recurring faults: transposed digits in identification numbers, dates in the wrong order of day and month, and stale copies retaining prior data because a working file was reused instead of a fresh blank form.
Where personal information is gathered, the form carries a Privacy Act statement giving the collection authority, the purpose, the routine uses, and the mandatory or voluntary character of the disclosure. It is read before entries are made rather than afterwards. A completed copy holds personal data and is stored and transmitted under the corresponding safeguards.
Disposition of the completed document follows the prescribing authority — delivery to the office it names, transmission through the unit administrative channel, or placement in the individual's record, according to circumstance. The preparer keeps a copy. Retention is governed by the applicable records schedule, not by office custom.
Companion forms are traced by series and number. Within the DA series, documents sharing a proponent or a governing directive are frequently required together, and a form cited on the face of another is generally submitted alongside it. Continuation sheets, covers, and transmittal forms are part of that set and are assembled in advance of submission.
Editions are replaced when the proponent revises the content. The edition date printed on the form is the means of telling one version from another, and the date on a downloaded copy is checked against the edition in force before use. Records already executed on a prior edition are not reworked on that account.
What is offered here are copies of published Department of the Army documents, made available for download. The site is independent of the Department of the Army and publishes no forms of its own. The material is informational and not legal advice, and no statement is made about whether any office will accept a given document. Questions of entry, requirement, or eligibility go to the proponent or the servicing administrative office.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 3056?
- REPORT OF MISSING/RECOVERED FIREARMS, AMMUNITION AND EXPLOSIVES
- Which edition is current?
- 03/01/2023
- Who is responsible for this form?
- PMG
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL, PDF
Publisher notes
- UNITS FILING A DA FORM 3056 WILL UTILIZE CAC ENABLED, ARMY VANTAGE WEBSITE AT https://vantage.army.mil/DA3056