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Defense Department form, series DD, number 2873. Full title: DD Form 2873, Military Protective Order, July 2004. Function: Military Protective Order (MPO). 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.
Timing of submission is fixed by not stated and by the implementing guidance of the submitting organization. What follows describes the blank document, not agency procedure.
Formats offered: PDF. Length: 2 pages. Fillable field count: roughly 47.
The xfdl release corresponds to IBM Lotus Forms. This format carried Department-wide form distribution for years and opens only in IBM Lotus Forms Viewer or a compatible client, not in a pdf reader.
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.
What the form asks for
- 1. Service member. a. Rank.
- 1.b. Last name.
- First name.
- Middle initial.
- 1.e. Unit.
- 1.g. Installation.
- 2. Protected person. a. Rank.
- 2.b. Last name.
- First name.
- Middle initial.
- 2.e. Unit.
- 2.g. Installation.
- 3. Information supporting issuance of this military protective order.
- 4. Court orders. a. Mark X if civil protection order.
- 4.a. Issue date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- Name of court.
- Name of county.
- State.
- 4. b. Mark X if other court order.
- 4.b. Issue date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- Name of court.
- Name of county.
- State.
- Mark X if property settlement.
The document is filled from the top down. Identification precedes substance, substance precedes certification. Fields lower on the page are commonly keyed to entries made above them.
Verify the edition date against not stated before entry. Department-level revisions replace the blank across every service simultaneously, so an old copy in a desk drawer may no longer correspond to current field numbering.
Instructions printed on the form or in not stated govern individual field entries. Where the two differ, the governing publication controls.
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 2873 is normally found by its number alone, without regard to service.
Some procedures pair a DD form with a service form. The two numbering systems are separate — service forms answer to a service proponent, DD forms to not stated or another Department office — and a matching number in each system means nothing.
Revision occurs when the prescribing directive is reissued, when the data collected changes, or when statutory notice language is amended. Verification of the edition date at download addresses all three.
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 2873?
- DD Form 2873, Military Protective Order, July 2004
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?