DA Form 3955 – Fill Out and Use This PDF

DA 3955 – Change of Address Card Details

The DA 3955, officially titled the Change of Address and Directory Card, is the standard U.S. Army form used to update mailing address records. Both Army military personnel and Army civilian employees are required to submit this form whenever their mailing address changes because of a Permanent Change of Station (PCS), deployment, temporary duty (TDY) assignment, or any personal relocation that affects where official or personal mail should be delivered. Timely and accurate submission prevents gaps in mail delivery at your new location.

To complete the form, you will need your full legal name, your military grade or civilian pay grade, and your Social Security Number (SSN). The form contains dedicated fields for your current mailing address and your new mailing address. Official mail and personal mail are recorded in separate sections, so both types of correspondence can be routed independently if your official and residential addresses differ. Personnel with APO or FPO addresses should use the standard Department of Defense mailing format, including the PSC, Unit, or CMR designation in the appropriate fields. The form also includes a forwarding end date, which tells the postal service when to stop forwarding mail and begin returning it to the sender.

Authority for collecting this information is provided under Title 39 USC and the DOD/Postal Service Agreement dated February 2, 1959. All personal data gathered by the form is subject to the Privacy Act of 1974, which governs how information is stored, accessed, and distributed. The form includes a voluntary consent section allowing you to authorize or deny the release of your home address or SSN to third parties, including commercial mailers. Withholding this consent is permitted, but it may limit forwarding efficiency for periodicals and mail from outside the Army postal system.

Once completed, submit the form to your unit postal officer or the postal section at your installation before your scheduled departure date. Commanders, postal officers, and military postal inspectors may review submitted forms as part of routine mail management oversight. Mail forwarding through the Army postal system typically continues for up to one year from the date of submission. If you are simultaneously updating address records with civilian organizations, a separate change of address form covers banks, subscriptions, and other non-military accounts. For updates that also involve a name change, an address and name change form can serve as a checklist template when coordinating civilian record updates alongside military paperwork.