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DD Form 518 — a Department of Defense document. Title of record: DD Form 518, Accident - Identification Card, October 78. Stated purpose: Accident Identification Card. Edition date not stated; status not stated.
Issued under not stated, with not stated as proponent. A DD number marks a Department-wide instrument: the same blank form serves every military department and the defense agencies, rather than one service alone.
Users include uniformed members of any branch, DoD civilian employees, contractor personnel where authorized, and the administrative staff who process the completed record.
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: PDF. Length: 1 pages. Fillable field count: roughly 9.
The pdf is the primary distribution format. A fillable pdf accepts typed entries in defined field boxes and stores them in the file; a printable pdf is a flat image of the blank, meant for pen entry after printing. The distinction matters for legibility and for records that pass between offices.
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.
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
- Any correspondence regarding accident should be addressed to:
- Date of accident.
- Make and type of vehicle.
- Registration number.
- Driver (last name, first name, middle initial).
- Driver social security number. Include dashes.
- Grade.
- Organization.
- Press this Reset button to clear the data from all fields.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 518?
- DD Form 518, Accident - Identification Card, October 78
- Which edition is current?
- Not stated by the publisher
- Who is responsible for this form?
- Not stated
- In which formats can it be downloaded?