How to Fill Out and Submit DD Form 2278: Personally Procured Move

To fill out DD Form 2278, the Application for a Personally Procured Move and Counseling Checklist, start your shipment in the Defense Personal Property System (DPS), gather your orders and supporting documents, complete the identifying blocks yourself, and then sit with a transportation counselor who fills in your entitlements, calculates the estimated incentive, and signs the form to authorize the move. The form is one page divided into twelve numbered blocks, and it doubles as your counseling record: without the counselor’s signature in Block 10, your PPM is not authorized.1Defense Finance and Accounting Service. DD Form 2278 – Application for Do It Yourself Move and Counseling Checklist

You can download a blank form from the DoD forms repository or pick one up at your installation’s Transportation Management Office or Installation Transportation Office.2WHS Information Management. DD Form 2278 – Application for Personally Procured Move (PPM) and Counseling Checklist In practice, though, you’ll almost always begin in DPS and let the counseling office print the form during your briefing.

What to Have in Front of You Before You Start

Most of the data on the form comes straight off your orders, so keep them open while you work. You’ll also want your supporting documents scanned and ready to upload in DPS, because the system won’t route your application to the counseling office without them.3U.S. Navy Supply Systems Command. Creating a Personally Procured Move (PPM) Shipment

  • A copy of your PCS, TDY, separation, or retirement orders authorizing household goods shipment.
  • Your enlistment contract or appointment letter, if you’re moving from your Home of Record.
  • A dependency report, if dependents’ belongings are moving with you.
  • A power of attorney, if someone else will sign on your behalf.
  • Your DD-214, if you’re separating or retiring.

Your orders must explicitly authorize household goods shipment. If they don’t, get them amended before your counseling appointment. The counselor cannot approve a PPM without that authorization in writing.

Setting Up the Shipment in DPS

Log into DPS with your CAC or DPS credentials, enter your personal information and order data, and select PPM as the shipment type. You’ll enter pickup and delivery addresses, your planned move date, and an estimated weight. During setup you also indicate whether you want an advance operating allowance and pick your local counseling office from the drop-down. Upload your orders and any other required documents, and the counseling office will reach out to schedule your briefing.3U.S. Navy Supply Systems Command. Creating a Personally Procured Move (PPM) Shipment

Completing the Twelve Blocks

Blocks 1 through 6 are yours to complete. Blocks 7 through 9 are the counseling portion, worked through with your counselor. Blocks 10 through 12 are signatures, with 11 and 12 held open until your actual weights come in.1Defense Finance and Accounting Service. DD Form 2278 – Application for Do It Yourself Move and Counseling Checklist

Blocks 1 Through 6: Your Information

  • Block 1, Date Prepared. The date you fill out the form, in YYYYMMDD format.
  • Block 2, Shipment Number. Leave blank. The Transportation Office assigns this.
  • Block 3, Member or Employee Information. Your name, rank or grade, Social Security Number, and agency if you’re a DoD civilian.
  • Block 4, Orders Information. Check whether your orders are local, permanent, or temporary, then enter the order date, issuing authority, new duty station, order number, distance in miles, preparing office, and paying finance office. Everything here comes off the face of your orders.
  • Block 5, Send Check To. The mailing address for your reimbursement check.
  • Block 6, State of Legal Residence. Your state of legal residence for tax purposes.

Block 7: Your Entitlements

Your counselor completes this block during the briefing. It records whether you’re authorized a PPM and between which locations, the estimated weight of your household goods, your maximum authorized weight, any prohibited items, temporary storage authorization, and the government’s maximum liability for loss or damage.1Defense Finance and Accounting Service. DD Form 2278 – Application for Do It Yourself Move and Counseling Checklist

The maximum authorized weight in this block is the cap the Joint Travel Regulations set for your pay grade and dependency status. Moving more than that weight means you absorb the cost of every excess pound, so treat the number your counselor writes here as a hard ceiling for planning.4U.S. Department of Defense. Joint Travel Regulations – Table 5-37 PCS and NTS Weight Allowances

Block 8: Your Responsibilities

Block 8 lays out what you’re on the hook for: picking up and safely operating any rental vehicle, obtaining empty and loaded weight tickets for every trip, making sure each ticket carries your name, rank, SSN, and the weighmaster’s signature, and turning in the form and tickets to the paying office to receive your incentive. If an advance operating allowance is authorized, its amount is noted here.1Defense Finance and Accounting Service. DD Form 2278 – Application for Do It Yourself Move and Counseling Checklist

Block 9: Cost Computation and Your Promise on Weight Tickets

The Transportation Office calculates your estimated incentive here based on the applicable rate schedule and your estimated weight, and enters the advance operating allowance amount if one is issued. This block also contains a statement you sign agreeing to furnish two weight tickets within 45 days of your move start date. If you don’t submit them, you’re consenting in writing to repayment of all government costs from your pay.1Defense Finance and Accounting Service. DD Form 2278 – Application for Do It Yourself Move and Counseling Checklist

Blocks 10 Through 12: Signatures

You and the counselor sign Block 10 together at the end of the briefing. Blocks 11 and 12 stay open. The TMO or ITO completes them later, once actual weights come in and the final constructive cost is calculated.

The Counseling Session

The counseling briefing is mandatory. Your PPM is not authorized until a transportation counselor reviews the form with you and signs it. During the meeting the counselor verifies your orders, confirms your weight allowance, walks through every checked item in Blocks 7 and 8, and explains how reimbursement works.

Pay close attention to prohibited items. The form flags privately owned vehicles and flammable materials as items you cannot include in your shipment weight, and the counselor will list any others that apply to your situation.1Defense Finance and Accounting Service. DD Form 2278 – Application for Do It Yourself Move and Counseling Checklist Your signature in Block 10 is a legal acknowledgment that you’ve been briefed on reimbursement limits and the consequences of submitting false information. Knowingly filing a fraudulent claim against the government is punishable under the Uniform Code of Military Justice as a court-martial may direct.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 924 Art 124 – Frauds Against the United States

After the Move: Weight Tickets and Settlement

What you signed in Block 9 comes due once you arrive. You need two certified weight tickets for each vehicle hauling household goods: one empty (tare) and one loaded (gross). The difference is your shipment weight. Tickets must come from a certified weigh station, be signed by the weighmaster, and show your name, rank, and SSN.6Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Personally Procured Moves

A few rules keep your weigh-ins consistent:

  • Fill fuel tanks completely before the empty weigh-in and keep them full for the loaded weigh-in. If refueling between the two isn’t practical, don’t add fuel after the empty weight is recorded.
  • No passengers in the cab or cargo area during either weighing.
  • Detach any privately owned vehicle you’re towing before stepping on the scale.
  • Weigh trailers attached to the prime mover, as one unit on the scale.
7U.S. Navy Supply Systems Command. Conducting a Navy Personally Procured Move (PPM)

Empty and full tickets can come from different scales, and government, public, or commercial scales all count. If you lose a ticket, prepare a written explanation; the paying office may still process the claim, but the process gets harder.

The Settlement Packet

Close out your PPM by submitting a packet to the paying office or your Transportation Office:

  • Your signed, counselor-authorized DD Form 2278.
  • DD Form 1351-2, the travel voucher that serves as your formal payment request.
  • Certified empty and full weight tickets for each vehicle.
  • Receipts for truck rental, fuel, packing materials, tolls, and other moving expenses.
8U.S. Navy Supply Systems Command. Conducting a Navy Personally Procured Move (PPM)

Your branch may require additional paperwork; the Navy, for example, requires an EFT form for direct deposit. Check with your service’s finance office. The 45-day deadline for weight tickets runs from your move start date, so submit as soon as the move is done.1Defense Finance and Accounting Service. DD Form 2278 – Application for Do It Yourself Move and Counseling Checklist

The TMO or ITO then completes Blocks 11 and 12, calculating the final constructive cost from real weight rather than estimates. If your actual weight is lower than estimated, your incentive drops accordingly. If an advance exceeds your final incentive, the difference is collected from your pay.

Who Can File

Any active-duty service member with orders authorizing household goods shipment can file DD Form 2278, across all branches — Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Space Force, and Coast Guard. DoD civilian employees with qualifying relocation orders can also use the form; Block 3 includes an agency field for that purpose.1Defense Finance and Accounting Service. DD Form 2278 – Application for Do It Yourself Move and Counseling Checklist Qualifying orders include PCS, TDY, and separation or retirement orders, provided each explicitly authorizes household goods shipment.