How to Complete and Submit the ISOPREP Form (DD 1833)

To complete DD Form 1833, the Isolated Personnel Report (ISOPREP), you enter your personal identifiers, physical descriptors, fingerprints, photograph, and four authentication statements into the Personnel Recovery Mission Software (PRMS) through its unclassified PRO-File portal, then confirm with your unit personnel recovery officer that the record has been validated on the classified side. Every service member, DoD civilian, and covered contractor headed into a combatant command’s area of responsibility must have a current ISOPREP on file in PRMS before departure.¹ The form is what recovery forces use to confirm you are who you say you are if you become separated from friendly control.

Gather Your Information First

PRMS will not let you save a partially completed form and return to it later. Pull everything together before you log in.² You will need:

Personal identifiers: full legal name, date of birth, Social Security number, branch of service, rank, and unit assignment.
Physical descriptors: current height, weight, eye color, hair color, blood type, and every distinguishing scar, birthmark, or tattoo with its precise location and appearance. Recovery teams use these to tell you apart from someone who merely knows your name.
Fingerprints, which enter the record as a permanent biometric identifier.³
A head-and-shoulders photograph, at least 200×200 pixels and under 200 KB. A uniform is not required.²
Four authentication statements and their answers, which go in Blocks 50 through 53.⁴

Write Authentication Statements That Actually Work

The four statements are the most consequential part of the form. During a recovery, a rescue team may ask you one of the questions over a radio to confirm they are picking up the right person and not walking into a trap. Each question should point to something only you would know: a specific childhood memory, a private family detail, an experience no records search would surface.

Skip anything findable on social media or in public records. Mother’s maiden name, high school, first car, pet’s name — all poor choices. A workable example: “What did your grandfather call the dent in his kitchen table?” with the answer “the crater.” The question is meaningless to anyone else, and the answer is short enough to communicate clearly under stress. Keep every answer to one or two words. You may be relaying them over a noisy channel or while physically exhausted. Once entered, the statements are classified as confidential.⁴

Submit Through the PRMS PRO-File Portal

PRMS is the DoD’s web-based system for creating and managing ISOPREP records.⁵ You do not need a classified network for the initial entry. The PRO-File (Pre-OCONUS Travel File) portal works from any CAC-enabled computer on an unclassified .mil or .gov network.²

Logging In

Go to the PRMS PRO-File portal and authenticate with your DoD PKI certificate, not your email certificate. Use your own CAC. Signing in on someone else’s card saves the data to their profile instead of yours.² If you hit login errors or unexpected redirects, close the browser, clear the cache, and type the URL directly rather than using a saved bookmark. The PRMS homepage also has computer-based training slides that walk through account creation and data entry.¹

Entering the Data

The system walks you through each block. Fill in personal identifiers, physical descriptors, photo, fingerprint data, and authentication statements. Every required field has to be complete. Partial entries will not submit.

After You Click Submit

Expect a 48- to 72-hour delay before the record you entered on NIPRNet appears in PRMS on SIPRNet.² Your ISOPREP is not complete until a unit manager or designated personnel recovery representative reviews it on SIPRNet and validates it. Submitting is only half the job. Contact your unit personnel recovery officer to confirm the record shows as current and validated on the classified side.

If PRMS Is Down

You can complete a paper DD Form 1833 by hand and attach an Evasion Plan of Action. The paper form gets uploaded into PRMS once the system is back.⁵ The digital record is still the goal.

The Evasion Plan of Action Goes With It

The ISOPREP captures who you are. The Evasion Plan of Action (EPA) captures what you intend to do if you become isolated: planned movements, contact procedures, and survival intentions tied to the specific environment. It is a separate document, but you typically complete or review it alongside your ISOPREP, and both feed into PRMS as part of the same preparation.⁶ Update the EPA whenever your operating area changes. Routes and rally points that work in one theater are useless in another.

When to Update the Record

Renewal schedules vary by combatant command. Based on available theater entry and unit guidance, the cycles fall roughly here:

USCENTCOM: every 6 months
USAFRICOM: every 6 or 12 months
USEUCOM: every 12 months
USINDOPACOM: every 36 months after initial review
USSOUTHCOM: every 6 months

These figures come from combatant command theater entry requirements and unit-level guidance.⁷¹ Your unit personnel recovery officer can confirm the exact window for your assignment.

Certain events call for an immediate update regardless of the schedule. A significant change in physical appearance, such as a new tattoo, a major weight change, or a fresh surgical scar, means your existing descriptors no longer match what a rescue team would see. If any authentication statement has been compromised, whether you mentioned an answer to someone or the answer is now publicly findable, replace it. Revalidation usually does not mean starting over. Log in, confirm or update the relevant fields, and the system refreshes the timestamp.

Consequences of a Missing or Expired ISOPREP

Personnel without a current ISOPREP on file will not be allowed to deploy.⁸ Deployment processing centers check PRMS, and an invalid or missing record will hold up your movement. For personnel arriving at an overseas assignment without a completed ISOPREP, some commands allow a 30-day grace period to finish the requirement, but this varies.⁹ Under Article 92 of the UCMJ, neglect of a duty established by regulation can support a dereliction charge.¹⁰ Most lapses get handled through command attention and counseling long before that comes up, but the authority is there.

Where to Get Help

For technical problems with PRMS or questions about any part of the process, the PRMS Operations Support Team is available Monday through Friday, 0530 to 2130 Eastern, at (586) 239-3701.¹¹ For questions about your combatant command’s theater entry requirements or renewal timeline, start with your unit personnel recovery officer. They can also verify on SIPRNet that your record is current and validated after you submit through PRO-File.

1
U.S. Indo-Pacific Command. USINDOPACOM Personnel Recovery Theater Entry Requirements
2
Marine Corps Enterprise Support Group. ISOPREP PRO-File Instructions
3
Federal Register. Submission for OMB Review – Isolated Personnel Report
4
18th Wing, Kadena Air Base. 18WGI16-1301 Personnel Recovery Program
5
National Archives and Records Administration. Request for Records Disposition Authority – DAA-0330-2022-0008
6
Defense Technical Information Center. Joint Doctrine for Evasion and Recovery
7
Naval Postgraduate School. Travel Clearance Information
8
Yokota Air Base. 374AWI16-1301 Personnel Recovery Program
9
U.S. Forces Korea. USFK Regulation 525-40 – Personnel Recovery Procedures
10
United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Article 92 – Failure to Obey Order or Regulation
11
Washington Headquarters Services. DD 1833 – Isolated Personnel Report