To fill out DD Form 3200, the JROTC Instructor Prohibited Activities Acknowledgement, enter your name, position, unit, and school address in the header, initial each of the fourteen prohibited-activity statements in Section 7, initial the violations statement in Section 9, sign and date the form, and pass it to the host school’s JROTC Program Official for their signature. New instructors complete it before their first day of work. Every year after that, you recertify by signing Section 11 within 30 days of the first day of school.
The current edition is available from the Department of Defense Executive Services Directorate forms page.
Who Signs and When
Every JROTC instructor and trainer is required to complete the form. A signed DD Form 3200 on file with the host school is a condition of certification: without it, you cannot be certified to teach in the program. It is also an inspectable item during the annual in-person unit evaluation conducted by your military service, so both the school and the service will be checking that it exists and is current.
Initial completion happens before your first day of employment. Recertification happens each subsequent school year, within 30 days of the first day of school. On recertification you re-read every prohibited activity but sign only the dedicated recertification section rather than initialing each item again.
Section by Section
The header of the form is short and administrative. The substance is in Section 7. Work through it in order:
- Section 1, Instructor Name. Full legal name, last-first-middle initial.
- Section 2, Position. Your title within the JROTC program, such as Senior Instructor or Assistant Instructor.
- Section 3, JROTC Unit/School. The host school’s name together with the JROTC unit name or number.
- Section 4, Unit/School Address. Street address, city, state, and ZIP of the school where the unit operates.
- Section 5, Date Signed. Use YYYYMMDD format.
- Section 6, Signature. Your signature.
- Section 7, Prohibited Activities. Read each of the fourteen statements and place your initials next to each one. Do not skip any; each initial confirms you understand that specific restriction and agree to follow it. Details on what the fourteen items cover appear below.
- Section 8, Exceptions. Instructions for requesting a written exception if a pre-existing relationship applies. You do not sign here; you follow the written-request process described.
- Section 9, Violations. Read the violations statement and initial next to it. You are confirming you understand the consequences of breaking any rule in Section 7.
- Section 10, Program Official Approval. The school’s designated JROTC Program Official fills in their information and signs, certifying the form is correct and complete. You do not sign this section.
- Section 11, Annual Recertification. Left blank on initial completion. In later years, you sign here to certify that you have re-read the form and still agree to every statement.
What You’re Agreeing To in Section 7
Because Section 7 is where you commit to fourteen specific rules with your initials, read each one carefully before you touch it. The prohibitions fall into a few groups.
Relationships and Sexual Conduct
You may not develop, attempt to develop, or carry on any personal, intimate, or sexual relationship with a cadet or student. That covers in-person contact and every form of remote communication: email, phone, text, social media, and video. You may not use your position, threats, pressure, or promises of favorable treatment to seek sexual favors, and you may not make sexual advances toward a cadet or student or accept them from one.
Physical Spaces and Transportation
You may not allow a cadet or student into your home, and you may not share a household with one. You also may not let a cadet or student into your personal vehicle. The vehicle rule has two narrow exceptions: transporting a cadet when their safety or welfare is at immediate risk, and transporting cadets for official school functions when the school’s guardian-permission requirements are met and more than one cadet is present. Driving a single cadet under the school-function exception is not allowed.
Social and Financial Boundaries
You may not attend social gatherings, bars, clubs, or similar places with a cadet on a personal basis. Financial entanglement is prohibited too: no gambling, no lending or borrowing money, no soliciting donations, and no hiring cadets for personal work such as babysitting or home maintenance. You may not accept a cadet’s personal belongings for storage or any other personal purpose.
Alcohol, Drugs, and Closed Doors
Providing alcohol or drugs to a cadet, or consuming them together on a personal social basis, is prohibited. When meeting with a cadet, keep the door open. The only exceptions are when another adult aged 18 or older is present, or when a brief closed-door conversation is needed to protect personally identifiable or confidential information.
Every prohibition in Section 7 stays in effect from your first contact with a cadet through six months after that cadet or student leaves the JROTC program. Keep that timeline in mind before you initial.
Requesting an Exception for a Pre-Existing Relationship
Some instructors already have relationships with cadets that predate the program, most often family relationships such as a child or niece who enrolls. Other pre-existing relationships also qualify. The exception is not automatic. You must submit the request in writing to the appropriate school official, and only a high-level school official or authority designated by the host institution in consultation with the host military service can approve it. The cadet’s parent or guardian must also sign the exception request, as noted on DD Form 3203. The school keeps the approval on file while the student is enrolled.
What a Violation Triggers
When you initial Section 9, you are acknowledging what happens if you break a rule in Section 7 outside an approved exception. Consequences may range from decertification as a JROTC instructor to legal action by the host school or by local, state, or federal law enforcement. Decertification is program-wide: it ends your ability to teach in any JROTC unit, not just the one where the violation occurred.
Allegations move quickly through the system once reported. The host school must notify the military service point of contact within one business day, and the service chain of command forwards the report to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Manpower and Reserve Affairs within 72 hours.
Where the Signed Form Goes
Once the Program Official signs Section 10, the original goes into your JROTC training and performance record and stays there for the duration of your assignment. The host school keeps a copy and must produce it for review during annual inspections. If the form is missing, incomplete, or out of date at inspection time, evaluators will flag it, so track your recertification date each fall and sign within the 30-day window.
Related Requirements
DD Form 3200 is one of three linked documents. DD Form 3202 is the memorandum of agreement between the military service and the host school district; the school signs it, not you, but it is the instrument that requires the school to give you the DD Form 3200 in the first place and to keep your signed copy. DD Form 3203 is the Student Code of Conduct and Parent/Guardian Consent Form, signed annually by students and their parents or guardians.
Beyond the form itself, you must complete annual Title IX compliance training through both your military department and the school district, and you must pass a Tier 1 with Child Care Investigation, a background check designed for people who work with minors. An unsatisfactory result on that investigation means immediate loss of instructor certification, regardless of what your DD Form 3200 says.