Every entry in the Defense records system exists because some decision needed a documented basis, and DD Form 295 is one of those instruments: D D Form 295, Application for Evaluation of Learning Experiences during Military Service, April 2000, created to Application for the Evaluation of Learning Experiences During Military Service. The reason it carries a DD number rather than a service designation is structural — the Department maintains a single body of forms for matters that arise identically in every service, so that a record created in one component remains intelligible in another.
That decision has consequences you will notice. Because not stated prescribes the form for the Department as a whole, and not stated maintains it on the Department's behalf, the same blank passes between the Army, the Navy, the Air Force, the Marine Corps, the Space Force, the Coast Guard when operating under Defense jurisdiction, the defense agencies and the combatant commands without translation. A clerk in one component reads a record created in another and finds the fields where they expect them.
You are looking for edition not stated, listed as not stated. Department-wide supersession is a single event rather than a rollout, which is what distinguishes edition currency on a DD form from the same question on a service publication: nobody anywhere is still accepting the previous version out of habit.
The form is laid out top to bottom in a sequence that reflects how the record will be read, not merely how it was drawn. Identification comes first because everything below it is understood in relation to a named person, unit or transaction; substantive entries follow; certification closes the document because certification attests to what precedes it. Filling out of order tends to produce internal inconsistencies — an entry that made sense before the header was settled and does not afterward.
Check the edition date before you type anything, against not stated. Old blanks accumulate in shared drives for years, and the cost of one is not obvious until a reviewer cannot find a field. Because DD forms are revised centrally and replaced across the Department in a single action, there is no component still tolerating the old layout as a local practice.
Where a specific field is genuinely unclear, the instructions printed on the form come first and not stated governs where the two do not agree.
Download the form
The set published here is PDF, covering 4 pages with roughly 175 fields.
If you find an xfdl file here, its presence is historical. The format belongs to IBM Lotus Forms, which the Department adopted Department-wide for electronic forms and fielded on a scale that makes wholesale removal slow. You need the matching viewer to open it; ordinary pdf software cannot read the format and will say so unhelpfully.
All of it downloads without charge. Where care is needed is in the reader you choose. A fillable pdf depends on field properties that desktop applications honour and browser previews frequently ignore, so work locally rather than inside a browser window.
What the form asks for
- Press this Reset button to clear the data from all fields.
- Date (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no separators).
- To (name and address of educational institution, agency, or employer).
- Section 1 - To be completed by applicant. 1. Name (last, first, middle initial).
- 2. Grade, rank or rating.
- Social security number. Do not include dashes
- 4. Previous service number(s).
- 5. Present branch of service (includes National Guard and Reserve components). Press space bar to mark X in first box if Army, second box if Navy, third box if Air Force, fourth box if Marine Corps, or fifth box if Coast Guard.
- 6. Applicant's mailing address for reply from eductional institution.
- 7. Date of birth (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day, no separators).
- 8. Permanent home address.
- 9. Highest grade of school completed. X first box if 6, second box if 7, third box if 8, fourth box if 9, fifth box if 10, sixth box if 11, or seventh box if 12.
- 10. Highest year of college completed. X first box if none, second box if Freshman (1 - 29 semester hours), third box if sophomore (33-59 hours), fourth box if Junior (60 - 39 hours), or fifth box if Senior (90 - 100 hours).
- 11. College degree earned. X first box if associate, second box if bachelor.
- 12.a. Name of educational institution last attended.
- b. Mailing address.
- 13. Military correspondence courses completed. a. Course name, line 1 (if none taken, print "NONE").
- b. ACE guide course or occupation identification number.
- c. Course sponsor (AIPD, MCI, ECI, CGI).
- d. Date course completed (4 digit year, 2 digit month, 2 digit day).
- c. Course sponsor.
- a. Course name, line 8.
- b. Ace guide course or occupation ID number.
- c. Course sponsor.
Submission follows not stated and whatever local instruction supplements it. Make a copy before the original leaves. Department forms travel across organizational lines by design, and the administrative distance that makes them useful is the same distance that makes tracing a lost one difficult.
When DD Form 295 cites another form, the citation is self-sufficient. The DD series is a single sequence administered at Department level, so the number resolves to exactly one document without any need to establish which component issued it — a convenience that exists only because the sequence was never allowed to fork.
Where a service form is cited in the same instruction, the two numbering systems should not be read across. DA numbering belongs to the Army and is administered by an Army proponent; DD numbering belongs to the Department and is administered by not stated or an equivalent Department office. The systems developed separately and were never harmonized, so identical digits in each identify two documents with nothing in common. The prefix, not the number, tells you which system you are in.
A form is downstream of the policy that requires it, and revision usually starts there: a directive is reissued, a collection requirement is altered, notice language is updated by statute. The form is republished as a consequence. Since none of that reaches individual users, an archived copy quietly becomes wrong, and verifying not stated each time you download is the whole remedy.
The role of this page is narrow and worth stating plainly. It makes a published Defense form available and explains its structure. It does not advise, does not interpret policy for your circumstances, and cannot indicate how any office will treat a completed copy — those judgments rest with the authorities that own the process. Direct such questions to not stated, to the administrative office that services you, or to the authority named in not stated.
Questions and answers
- What is DD Form 295?
- D D Form 295, Application for Evaluation of Learning Experiences during Military Service, April 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?