AF Form 133, Oath of Office: Filling, Signing, and Filing

AF Form 133 is the Air Force Oath of Office document that every new Air Force and Space Force officer signs at commissioning to record the oath required by federal law. The form captures your identifying information, the type and grade of your commission, and the signatures of both you and the officer who administers the oath. Once signed, it has to reach the Air Force Personnel Center within five duty days.¹

Who Signs One

Anyone entering the commissioned officer corps of the Air Force or Space Force uses this form. That includes Air Force Academy graduates, ROTC cadets receiving their commissions, Officer Training School selectees, Commissioned Officer Training candidates, interservice transfers, and direct appointments through the Judge Advocate General’s office.² Space Force officers sign an AF Form 133 with a USSF Addendum tailored to their branch.³

Enlisted members do not. Their oath is documented on DD Form 4.⁴ Promotions also do not require a new form. Federal law provides that an officer who has served continuously since first taking the oath does not need to take a new one when promoted, so any oath recited at a promotion ceremony is ceremonial only.⁵ A new form is required only when the appointment itself is new: separating and later accepting a new commission, or moving from a reserve commission to a regular commission.

Where to Get the Form

AF Form 133 is a fillable PDF on the Department of the Air Force e-Publishing site at e-publishing.af.mil. Search the forms library by number.⁶ In most cases the administering unit already has copies ready and will pre-fill some fields from your personnel records. ROTC detachment cadre handles the paperwork for cadets; OTS graduates and Academy cadets get theirs through their training organizations.

Filling in the Fields

The form is short, but every field has to match your commissioning orders exactly. Mismatches between the form and the orders are the most common reason personnel specialists send the paperwork back.

Full legal name, spelled the way it appears on your commissioning orders and in official personnel databases. First, middle, and last.
Social Security Number. This links the appointment to your pay account and personnel record, so a transposed digit will delay pay and benefits.
Grade. The rank you are being commissioned into, almost always Second Lieutenant (O-1). Use what appears on your appointment orders.
Component: Regular Air Force, Air Force Reserve, or Air National Guard, whichever matches your orders.
Type of commission. Use the checkboxes indicating the nature of the appointment.
Date of appointment. The effective date of your commission as stated on your orders. This drives your date of rank and future promotion eligibility.

Fill these in before the ceremony. The only items left blank until the ceremony itself are the two signatures and the date they are applied.

The Oath and Who Can Administer It

The oath printed on the form comes from 5 U.S.C. § 3331 and reads:

“I, [name], do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.”⁷

You recite the oath aloud while the administering official witnesses it. The signed form is the written authentication of that oral oath.⁴

Under 10 U.S.C. § 1031, the oath for a military appointment can be administered by the President or Vice President, the Secretary of Defense, any commissioned officer (active, reserve, or retired), or anyone else designated by regulations the Secretary prescribes.⁸ In practice it is almost always a commissioned officer the candidate chooses: a mentor, a former professor of military science, a family member with a commission, or the new commander.

You are not required to say “So help me God.” Federal law treats “swear” and “affirm” as interchangeable, and you may omit the closing invocation. At group commissioning ceremonies, individuals can silently drop those words without affecting the validity of their oath.⁴

Signing and Sending It In

Immediately after you finish reciting the oath, both you and the administering officer sign and date the form. Both signatures must appear on the same form, and both dates must match the day the oath was actually taken. A form dated differently from the oath will get flagged by personnel offices.

The signed form is part of the commissioning package. Under DAFMAN 36-2604, the complete package must be sent electronically or by mail to AFPC/DPSTTC within five duty days of the commissioning event.¹ The rule applies whether you commission through ROTC, OTS, or the Academy. Missing the five-day window can delay the recording of your commission, and with it your pay, benefits enrollment, and access to personnel systems.

Once AFPC processes the package, the form becomes a permanent part of your military personnel record. Scan a personal copy before you hand the original off.

Correcting Errors or Replacing a Lost Form

If you find a mistake on a filed AF Form 133, such as a misspelled name, wrong component, or incorrect date, active-duty members should contact their servicing Force Support Squadron first. Reserve and Guard members should call the Air Force Total Force Service Center at 1-800-525-0102.⁹ Straightforward fixes, like a typo, can usually be handled administratively through the virtual Personnel Center (vPC).

A lost or destroyed form is more serious because it is the foundational legal document showing you took the oath. If the personnel center cannot locate or reconstruct it, you can apply to the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records under 10 U.S.C. § 1552. The AFBCMR can amend or reconstruct records to correct an error or remove an injustice, but the burden of proof is on you. Gather what evidence you can, such as commissioning orders, promotion records, and witness statements, and submit the application through the Air Force Review Boards Agency portal.⁹ The Board expects you to exhaust other administrative remedies first, so work through the Total Force Service Center before you go that route.

1
Department of the Air Force. DAFMAN 36-2604 – Section 3.9.2
2
Department of the Air Force. DAFMAN 36-2604 – Table 3.2
3
U.S. Space Force. U.S. Space Force Interservice Transfer Program FAQs
4
Department of the Air Force. AF Form 133 Air Force Oath of Office
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 U.S.C. 626 – Acceptance of Promotions, Vacancies
6
Department of the Air Force E-Publishing. Department of the Air Force E-Publishing
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 5 U.S.C. 3331 – Oath of Office
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 U.S.C. 1031 – Administration of Oath
9
Air Force’s Personnel Center. Military Personnel Records