DA Form 2653-R is the Army’s COMSEC Account Daily Shift Inventory, a locally reproducible form used to count Communications Security material at every shift change. It has nothing to do with food or subsistence, despite what some online summaries claim. The form’s instructions point to TB 380-41, the Army’s technical bulletin on COMSEC accounting, and the proponent listed on the form is Army Materiel Command.
What the Form Tracks
The form maintains accountability over cryptographic key cards, codes, and related COMSEC equipment held in a unit’s COMSEC account. Each custodian or duty officer uses it to verify that every item present at the start of a shift is still present at the end. If something goes missing, the shift-by-shift record narrows the window during which the loss occurred and identifies who signed for the material at that time.
Fields on DA Form 2653-R
The form is a grid organized around the calendar month and the duty shifts within each day. The header carries the month, day, page number, and total pages. The body has these columns and fields:
- Short Title — the abbreviated designator for each COMSEC item, such as a specific key tape or code.
- Qty — the quantity of that item on hand.
- Reg. No. — the register or accounting number assigned to the item in the COMSEC account.
- Day of the Month (1–31) — a row for each calendar day, giving a full month on one form.
- Shift 1, Shift 2, Shift 3 — separate columns for each shift within the day.
- Initials — the block under each shift column where the person conducting the count signs off.
A COMSEC account can hold many line items, so the form is designed to span multiple pages for a single reporting period.
How To Complete It
Enter the month and year in the header. In the left-hand columns, list each COMSEC item by short title, quantity, and register number, one item per row. Those entries stay the same for the month unless the account gains or loses material.
At the start of every shift, physically count each item on the form. If the count matches the recorded quantity, initial the box for the current shift and day. At shift change, the outgoing and incoming personnel should both verify the count before the outgoing person leaves. That joint verification is what makes the initials meaningful: each set represents a witnessed count at a specific point in time.
If a count does not match, report the discrepancy immediately to the COMSEC custodian and the unit’s security manager. A missing COMSEC item is treated as a potential compromise of classified material, which triggers reporting requirements far more urgent than a normal property loss.
Classification Once You Fill It In
A blank DA Form 2653-R is unclassified. The moment you enter data, it becomes classified in accordance with TB 380-41, because the entries reveal which COMSEC items your unit holds and in what quantity. Most completed copies will carry at least a Confidential marking.
Store completed forms in an approved security container rated for the assigned classification level. Do not leave them on desks, carry them in unsealed folders, or transmit them over unclassified networks. When the retention period ends, destroy the form under the procedures for classified material, typically by approved cross-cut shredding or burning.
What Happens If Accountability Fails
Losing track of COMSEC material is one of the more serious accountability failures in the Army. A service member who neglects inventory duties can face charges under Article 92 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice for dereliction of duty.1Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 892 – Art. 92. Failure to Obey Order or Regulation Under the 2024 Manual for Courts-Martial, negligent dereliction that does not result in death or serious injury carries a maximum of a bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and confinement for six months. Willful dereliction carries the same maximum when no death or serious injury results.
The Army may also open a Financial Liability Investigation of Property Loss to determine whether the individual must reimburse the government for the missing item.2Fort Campbell. Financial Liability Investigation of Property Loss Fact Sheet With COMSEC material, the dollar value is often the smaller problem. The real consequence is the potential compromise of classified communications, which can trigger a formal COMSEC incident report that reaches well above the unit level.
Where To Get the Form
DA Form 2653-R was originally published on 1 November 1974 as a locally reproducible form, which is what the “-R” suffix indicates. The Army Publishing Directorate at armypubs.army.mil is the standard source for current DA forms. Because COMSEC procedures and TB 380-41 have been revised multiple times since 1974, confirm with your COMSEC custodian or supporting signal office that DA Form 2653-R is still the required form for daily shift inventories. Some units have moved to automated COMSEC accounting systems or to updated forms issued under newer technical bulletins. Where the paper form is still in use, the COMSEC custodian usually keeps blank copies inside the COMSEC facility rather than distributing them electronically.