Every entry on DA Form 3887 exists because a record system needs it in writing. The form's official title is NURSING DEPARTMENT - ARMY NURSE CORPS DATA, and it is raised whenever an office must nursing department - army nurse corps data in a way that survives the departure of everyone involved. Memory does not transfer between assignments; a filed document does. The edition dated 04/01/2010, status ACTIVE, is what stands here, spread across 2 page(s) and about 200 fields — a count that reflects how much detail the receiving system requires, not how much the drafter wishes to give.
Two offices stand behind the form, and the distinction between them explains most of what follows. TSG is the proponent: it decides what the form asks and revises it when the underlying process changes. AR 40-3 is the prescribing authority: it decides when the form is raised at all and where the completed document travels. Content and occasion are separated deliberately, so that a change in procedure does not require redesigning the page.
Retrieval governs the order of entry. The head of the form takes name, identification number, unit and date, and those values become the handles by which the record is found later — the substantive blocks are never searched on. This is why the spelling must match official records exactly rather than approximately.
Tab order is not a convenience feature; it was fixed when the form was built and generally traces the page, so following it produces the sequence the designer intended and leaves fewer gaps than a mouse. Exclusive option groups clear the previous selection because the record is not permitted to hold two contradictory answers. Single-line fields do not wrap for the same reason the layout is fixed: the printed page has to fall in known positions, so text past the field width is cut at the margin even though the screen still shows it whole. Overflow belongs in remarks or on a continuation, where there is room designed for it. And an inapplicable field is marked rather than skipped, since a blank tells a later reader nothing about whether the question was considered.
The signature is the point at which entries become an assertion someone stands behind, so it follows everything else and its absence leaves a draft. Countersignatures by reviewing, approving or witnessing officials each carry their own weight and are dated at signing, which is how the file preserves the order of responsibility. Seen that way, the familiar errors are not clerical trivia: an unanswered mandatory field, digits transposed in an identification number, day and month reversed, and residue from a reused file each put something false or unresolved into a document that will be relied upon.
Behind the Privacy Act statement is a requirement that anyone asked for personal data be told, in advance, under what authority it is sought, for what purpose, who else routinely sees it, and whether refusal is possible. Reading it after completing the fields defeats its function. And the completed form is itself a personal record from that point on, subject to the handling rules such records carry.
Download the form
Why several files for one page? Because the form has to be completed in a headquarters and in places without a workstation, and PDF covers both. The fillable pdf holds interactive fields that fix each entry in place and remove handwriting from the equation. The printable pdf is the same layout without those fields, meant for a printer and a pen. Neither is a lesser copy of the other; each answers a condition the other cannot.
Where a file opens matters more than it appears to. A browser will display a pdf, but browser viewers were built to read documents, and some accept keystrokes into fields they never intended to store — the entries are gone at tab close, without warning, because saving was never part of what that viewer does. A dedicated reader is built around the file's own structure and keeps what you enter.
No charge and no account apply: these are published documents, and access to them is not something a distributor is entitled to price.
What the form asks for
- AddressLocal
- ClinicalField10
- ClinicalField11
- ClinicalField12
- ClinicalField13
- ClinicalField14
- ClinicalField15
- ClinicalField16
- ClinicalField17
- ClinicalField18
- ClinicalField19
- ClinicalField20
- ClinicalField21
- ClinicalField22
- ClinicalField23
- ClinicalField24
- ClinicalField25
- ClinicalField26
- ClinicalField27
- ClinicalField28
- ClinicalField29
- ContentArea1
- ContentArea2
- Course01
Where the signed form goes is settled by AR 40-3 rather than by the office holding it — a named recipient, the unit administrative channel, or the individual's own file, depending on why it was raised. Retention likewise belongs to the records schedule for the series, which exists so documents are kept for as long as anyone might need them and no longer. Keep a copy before release; the original serves the file from then on, not you.
Series and number are how the DA series signals which documents belong together, and the grouping follows real process boundaries: a shared proponent or directive usually means a shared purpose. A form cited on the face of another is part of that same transaction, and continuation sheets, covers and transmittals complete it.
An edition marks the form at a point in a process that keeps moving, and the date printed on the page is what distinguishes one from another. Since a saved file never announces its own obsolescence, compare its date against the current edition before using it again. Prior executions remain valid: the change applies forward, and a record is read against the edition it was written under.
A word on where this page sits. These are reproductions of published Department of the Army documents, made available by an independent site with no official role and no authority to issue forms. The structure described above — proponent, prescribing directive, records schedule — exists apart from this site entirely, which is why nothing written here is legal advice and why acceptance by any office is not something that can be promised. Put questions of entry, requirement or eligibility to TSG or to the administrative office servicing your unit.
Questions and answers
- What is DA Form 3887?
- NURSING DEPARTMENT - ARMY NURSE CORPS DATA
- Which edition is current?
- 04/01/2010
- Who is responsible for this form?
- TSG
- In which formats can it be downloaded?
- PDF, PDF
Publisher notes
- 42-ITEM ONLY PRODUCED IN ELECTRONIC MEDIA
- 14-REQUIRES PRIVACY ACT STATEMENT (AR 340-21)