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DA Form 5121 is a DA series document issued for use across the Department of the Army. Official title: OVERSEA TOUR ELECTION STATEMENT. Purpose: oversea tour election statement. The current edition carries the date 03/01/2007 and is listed with a publication status of ACTIVE. The form runs to 1 page(s) and contains approximately 122 entry fields.
Responsibility for content and revision lies with G-1. The prescribing directive is AR 600-8-11, which sets both the trigger for use and the disposition of the completed document. Entry is made by the named party or by the records clerk holding the file, with review and signature applied in the prescribed order.
Distributed formats: PDF, XFDL. The layout is common to all of them; what varies is the method of entry. The pdf is the reference version. In the fillable pdf the entry areas are live objects that accept typing; in the printable version the same areas are inert and are filled by hand after printing.
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
- ContentArea1
- DATE
- EIA
- EIB
- EIGHTA
- EIGHTB
- First
- GRADE
- NAME
- Page1
- R100
- R101
- R102
- R104
- R105
- R106
- R107
- R108
- R109
- R110
- R111
- R112
- R113
- R114
The blocks are worked through in the order they appear on the sheet. At the head sit the identifying entries: name, identification number, unit, date. Because the filed record is indexed on these, they precede everything substantive.
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.
Revision by the proponent supersedes an edition. Version is read from the edition date printed on the form itself, and a stored copy is compared against the current edition before it is used again. Documents already executed under an earlier edition are not redone because of the change.
The documents on this page are reproductions of published Department of the Army forms, offered for download. This is an independent site with no connection to the Department of the Army and no authority to issue forms. Nothing stated is legal advice, and no assurance is given regarding acceptance by any office. Doubts about a specific entry, requirement, or eligibility are resolved by the proponent or by the servicing administrative office.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 5121?
- OVERSEA TOUR ELECTION STATEMENT
- Which edition is current?
- 03/01/2007
- Who is responsible for this form?
- G-1
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, XFDL, PDF
Publisher notes
- 14-REQUIRES PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT (AR 340-21)
- 42-ITEM ONLY PRODUCED IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA