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Defense Department form, series DD, number 173-3A. Full title: Joint Messageform (OCR Blue Ink MPSA 8/82 Exception). Function: Joint Messageform (OCR Blue Ink MPSA 8/82 Exception). Edition in force: not stated. Publisher status: not stated.
Governing directive: not stated. Responsible office: not stated. The DD designation signals joint scope — all military departments, combatant commands and defense agencies draw on a single edition of the document.
The form reaches military personnel across the services, civilian employees of the Department, and the personnel and records specialists who receive it.
Submission follows the schedule set by not stated and by local implementing procedures. This page provides the blank form for download and general orientation only.
Formats offered: none published here. Length: unknown pages. Fillable field count: roughly unknown.
Distribution centres on pdf. Two states exist: fillable, where field boxes accept keyboard input and retain it, and printable, a static blank produced for manual completion. Typed data reproduces cleanly across copies; handwritten data depends on the writer.
An xfdl file is provided as well. Xfdl is the IBM Lotus Forms format, historically standard across Defense form distribution, and it requires IBM Lotus Forms Viewer or an equivalent reader; ordinary pdf software will not open it.
All formats download free of charge. Pdf files open in any modern reader; interactive fields behave most predictably in a desktop application, less so in browser viewers.
Completion runs in the order printed on the page: identifying data at the head, the body of the entry next, certification at the foot. Header data frequently governs what belongs in the fields below it.
Edition in use: not stated. Because DD forms are revised at Department level and distributed to all services at once, an obsolete printing may not match the fields an office expects. The date is printed on the form face.
Field-level instructions appear on the form itself and in not stated. The directive is the controlling text.
Once executed, routing follows not stated and the submitting organization's own instruction. Keeping a copy is standard.
Related documents are located by series and number. DD forms sit in a single Department-wide sequence, so a form referenced inside DD Form 173-3A is normally found by its number alone, without regard to service.
Where a DA form is cited alongside a DD form, the two belong to different systems: DA numbering is Army-specific and administered by an Army proponent, while DD numbering is Defense-wide under not stated or an equivalent Department office. Numbers do not translate between the systems.
Editions change because the underlying directive changes, because collection requirements are revised, or because Privacy Act language is updated. Checking the edition date at the point of download is the practical response.
The material here is descriptive. Nothing on the page constitutes legal or procedural advice, and no statement here determines whether a submitted form will be accepted. Such questions go to not stated, a servicing administrative office, or the authority identified in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 173-3A?
- Joint Messageform (OCR Blue Ink MPSA 8/82 Exception)
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- No file published here