DA Form 638 "Recommendation for Award"

How to Fill Out DA Form 638?

The form itself consists of four individual parts. DA Form 638 instructions are as follows:

1. Box 1 requires the address of the final approval authority. Enter the address of the next office above the recommender.
2. Box 2 should contain the address of the commander sending the recommendation for approval.
3. Box 3 will be filled automatically after filing Box 19.
4. Part I is for entering the soldier's personal data. Enter and save the full name, rank, social security number and organization of the service member recommended for an award.
5. List all previous awards in Box 8. The record must match the soldier's most current ORB/ERB. Enter NO AWDS if this award will be the first one in their career.
6. Choose a branch service in the drop-down menu in Box 9.
7. Select the type of award being recommended and the period covered in Boxes 10 and 11, respectively.
8. Present a reason for the award and the proposed presentation date in Boxes 12 and 13.
9. Part II of the form cover Boxes 14 through 19 and are meant to provide personal details about the recommender and their relationship to the awardee.
10. Part III is used to describe the soldier's achievements that led to the recommendation. Provide specific bullet examples for AAM, ARCOM, or MSM. Use narrative page and paragraph format for LMs and higher.
11. Describe the proposed citations in Box 21.
12. Part IV is for documenting the approval throughout the whole chain of command necessary for the recommendation to be completed and valid.

Proposed Citation For DA Form 638

When proposing citations for the DA Form 638 you should remember that the citations will be transferred by the Commander's staff to the Army Commendation Medal Certificate. This certificate has an inherent historical value and the citation block should be prepared with care.

The policy does not prohibit the use of acronyms and abbreviations but recommends to limit them to the most commonly known. The descriptive narrative should be concise and brief and not distract the reader from the main points.