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Defense Department form, series DD, number 2538. Full title: DD Form 2538, Voluntary Leave Transfer Program Leave Donor Application, May 1989. Function: Voluntary Leave Transfer Program Leave Donor Application. Edition in force: not stated. Publisher status: not stated.
Prescribing authority: not stated. Proponent: not stated. Unlike service-specific publications, DD forms carry Department-level authority and apply across the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force and Coast Guard when operating under Defense jurisdiction.
The form reaches military personnel across the services, civilian employees of the Department, and the personnel and records specialists who receive it.
When the form is filed is a matter of not stated and local instruction. The description here covers the document itself and how to obtain a copy.
Formats offered: PDF. Length: 1 pages. Fillable field count: roughly 28.
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.
Xfdl is present in the set. The format belongs to IBM Lotus Forms — long the Defense standard for electronic forms — and needs the matching viewer; pdf applications will report the file as unreadable.
Every listed format is free to download. Modern pdf software handles the pdf files, with the caveat that browser-embedded viewers sometimes ignore field properties that a desktop reader honours.
What the form asks for
- 5. Employee certification. a. Press space bar to mark X if credit in the current leave year.
- 5. b. Mark X if credit effective the beginning of the next leave year.
- 5. c. Mark X if credit to another leave recipient (complete (1) - (4)).
- 5. c. (3) Mark X if credit all restored leave to recipient designated in 5.c.(1).
- 5. c. (4) Mark X if credit percent to the leave recipient and percent to my leave account designated in 4. a. or b.
- 1. Pay block number.
- 2. Employee identification. a. Name (last, first, middle initial).
- 2. b. Social security number. Include dashes.
- 2. c. Position title.
- 2. d. Grade/step.
- 2. e. Organization.
- 2. f. Salary.
- 3. Leave data. a. Annual leave balance.
- 3. b. As of (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- 3. c. Accrual rate for annual leave.
- 3. d. Hours to be earned during remainder of leave year.
- 3. e. Hours to be donated.
- 3.f. Use or lose hours included in 3. e.
- 4. Designated leave recipient. a. Name (last, first, middle initial).
- 4. b. Organization.
- 5. c. (1) Name (last, first, middle initial).
- 5.c.(2) Organization.
- 5.c.(4) Percentage to leave recipient.
- Percentage to leave account.
Order of completion: identification block first, substantive entries second, certification and signature last. The blank is laid out in that sequence and the sequence is not arbitrary — later entries often depend on data established in the header.
The current edition is not stated. Superseded editions of DD forms are frequently rejected at the receiving office, since Department-wide forms change centrally and older layouts lose their field correspondence. Edition date appears in the lower corner of the printed blank.
The signature block takes an actual signature. On paper this means ink; electronically it means a credentialed digital signature, commonly CAC-based. Typed text in a signature field satisfies neither.
Privacy Act notice: DD forms that collect personal data carry a Privacy Act Statement stating the authority for collection, the principal purpose, routine uses and whether disclosure is voluntary or mandatory. The statement is part of the form and should be read before entry, not after.
Recurring errors: entry on a superseded edition, blanks left in mandatory fields, illegible handwriting on scanned copies, dates in a format other than the one the form specifies, missing signature or missing date beside the signature.
Guidance for specific entries sits on the form face and in not stated; the directive is authoritative where the two do not agree.
After completion, the copy goes to the office designated by not stated or by local procedure. Retention of a personal copy is ordinary practice and costs nothing.
Related documents are located by series and number. DD forms sit in a single Department-wide sequence, so a form referenced inside DD Form 2538 is normally found by its number alone, without regard to service.
A DD number and a DA number may appear in the same instruction without being related. DA forms belong to the Army alone; DD forms belong to the Department and are administered at Department level. The sequences are independent.
Forms are reissued for several reasons: directive revision, changed data requirements, updated notice language. Confirming not stated at the moment of download covers the risk.
This page distributes a published Department of Defense document and describes it. It is not a source of legal advice and makes no representation about acceptance of any completed form. Questions of applicability, eligibility or procedure belong to not stated, the servicing personnel office, or the office named in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 2538?
- DD Form 2538, Voluntary Leave Transfer Program Leave Donor Application, May 1989
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?