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DD Form 491-1 — a Department of Defense document. Title of record: DD Form 491-1, Summarized Record of Trial Article 39(a) Session, May 2000. Stated purpose: Summarized Record of Trial - Article 39(A) Session. Edition date not stated; 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.
Common users: service members regardless of branch, Defense civilian staff, and the offices that file, verify or retain the finished document.
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.
The download set covers PDF. Document length is 6 pages with about 37 entry fields.
Pdf serves as the base format. In the fillable variant, each box is an interactive field that holds typed text inside the document. In the flat printable variant, no fields exist — the page prints as a blank to be completed by hand. Typed entries survive transmission; handwriting does not always survive scanning.
Free download applies to every format listed. Any current pdf reader opens the pdf files, though field behaviour is most reliable in a full desktop reader rather than a browser preview.
What the form asks for
- Proceedings of a (enter type) court-martial.
- In the case of (Name - last, first, middle initial).
- Social security number. Do not include dashes.
- Rank.
- The military judge called the Article 39(a) session to order: line 1.
- Called to order, line 2.
- at (hours).
- Day and month.
- Year.
- Pursuant to the following orders:
- Persons present.
- Persons absent.
- The accused and the following counsel were present.
- The following detailed reporter/interpreter was(previously) sworn.
- The trial counsel announced the legal qualifications and status as to oaths of all members of the prosecution:
- The trial counsel further stated that no member of the prosecution had acted in any other capacity involving the same general matter except as indicated below:
- Press this Reset button to clear the data from all fields.
- Trial counsel and:
- Had been detailed by:
- Trial counsel and:
- Had been detailed by:
- The defense counsel announced the legal qualifications and status as to oaths of all members of the defense:
- The accused responded that he/she understood the right to be defended by legally qualified counsel.
- The accused responded that he/she understood his/her rights with respect to counsel.
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.
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.
Guidance for specific entries sits on the form face and in not stated; the directive is authoritative where the two do not agree.
Once executed, routing follows not stated and the submitting organization's own instruction. Keeping a copy is standard.
Cross-referenced forms are found through the numbering system. The DD sequence is Department-level and unified, which means a number cited on the page identifies one document across the whole Department.
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.
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.
Scope of this page: distribution of a published form and description of its contents. It offers no legal guidance and no assurance regarding any particular submission. Direct procedural questions to not stated, to the servicing personnel office, or to the office designated in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 491-1?
- DD Form 491-1, Summarized Record of Trial Article 39(a) Session, May 2000
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?