DA Form 3947 is the Medical Evaluation Board’s written record of whether your medical conditions meet the Army’s retention standards. The board’s physicians complete it, not you. It lists each clinical diagnosis, states whether each one falls below the Chapter 3 retention standards in AR 40-501, and carries the board’s recommendation on whether the case should move forward to a Physical Evaluation Board for a fitness-for-duty decision.1Department of the Army. Army Regulation 40-501 – Standards of Medical Fitness Your role starts when the form is presented to you: review the findings, decide whether to accept them or push back, and sign.
How You End Up With a DA Form 3947
You enter the Medical Evaluation Board process when a provider determines that one or more of your conditions likely fail to meet retention standards. Under AR 40-501, that referral is supposed to happen within one year of diagnosing a condition that appears to fall below the standard, though providers can refer sooner if it’s clear you won’t recover enough to perform your duties within that year.2Department of the Army. Army Regulation 40-501 – Standards of Medical Fitness A temporary profile that runs longer than six months for the same condition also triggers a specialist review that can send you to an MEB.
Once referred, you’re enrolled in the Integrated Disability Evaluation System by default. IDES has four phases (MEB, PEB, Transition, and VA Disability Compensation Benefits), and the MEB phase has a 100-day processing goal.3United States Special Operations Command. IDES Toolkit DA Form 3947 is what closes out the MEB phase.
What the Board Records on the Form
The opening blocks capture administrative information: your identifying details, unit of assignment, and service history. Block 16 lists each clinical diagnosis, and every diagnosis has to match the evidence in the Narrative Summary and the supporting medical records that the MEB physician and Physical Evaluation Board Liaison Officer (PEBLO) assembled. The board evaluates each condition against the Chapter 3 retention standards in AR 40-501.
Block 18 carries the recommendation. If any listed condition fails retention standards, the board recommends referral to a Physical Evaluation Board.4Department of the Army. Army Regulation 635-40 – Physical Evaluation for Retention, Retirement, or Separation If every condition meets standards, the board can recommend return to duty. Board members sign to certify the proceedings, and the completed form is presented to you.
What “Unfitting” Actually Means
Having a serious diagnosis does not automatically make you unfit. The board weighs the nature and severity of your conditions against the duties you can reasonably be expected to perform given your office, grade, and rank. You can be found unfit based on one condition or the combined effect of several that individually would not be disqualifying.
Fitness turns on a preponderance-of-the-evidence standard. If the record shows you were adequately performing your duties right up until the referral, the board may find you fit even where the medical evidence alone looks marginal. Poor duty performance only counts as evidence of unfitness when it’s clearly linked to the medical condition. Deployability alone cannot serve as the sole basis for an unfit finding, and the medical standards used at initial enlistment are irrelevant to the retention question.5Department of the Army. Army Regulation 635-40 – Disability Evaluation for Retention, Retirement, or Separation
Your Three Options After the Board Signs
Once DA Form 3947 is complete, the PEBLO counsels you on your options. There are three: concur with the findings, submit a written rebuttal, or request an Impartial Medical Review. You can also do both a rebuttal and an IMR at the same time. The IDES timeline allocates 20 days for this window.6TRICARE. IDES Timeline
Concur. Signing your concurrence sends the case forward to the Physical Evaluation Board. Choose this when the diagnoses in Block 16 are accurate, no significant condition has been left off, and you’re comfortable with the board’s recommendation.
Rebuttal. A written rebuttal is your chance to challenge the findings on the record. Common reasons to rebut include a missing condition that should have been listed, a diagnosis that doesn’t reflect what your medical records actually show, or an assessment of severity that conflicts with the clinical evidence. The rebuttal becomes part of the case file that follows you to the PEB.
Impartial Medical Review. An IMR brings in a physician or other healthcare professional who was not involved in your original MEB to independently review the case.7U.S. Army Medical Command. Disability Evaluation System Guidebook You can submit a written letter of concern to the IMR physician laying out the specific issues you see in the MEB package. In rare cases the impartial reviewer disagrees with the board’s findings, which forces the MEB president to consider whether the package needs changes and whether to reconvene the board.
Get Legal Help Early
The Office of Soldiers’ MEB Counsel provides free, confidential legal assistance throughout the MEB phase. The attorneys and paralegals there operate under a protected attorney-client relationship and help with IMR requests, rebuttal drafting, and MEB appeals.8Tripler Army Medical Center. Office of Soldiers’ Counsel Contact them as early in the process as you can. Waiting until after the findings are issued leaves less time to build a meaningful challenge inside the 20-day window.
Where the Case Goes Next
Once you concur, or once the rebuttal and IMR process wraps up, the PEBLO packages the case file and routes it to the Physical Evaluation Board. The PEBLO is your primary non-clinical case manager for the whole IDES journey and serves as the link between you, your chain of command, the VA Military Service Coordinator, and the PEB.7U.S. Army Medical Command. Disability Evaluation System Guidebook The file has to include the supporting clinical documents, the completed DA Form 3947, any rebuttal or IMR findings, and the line-of-duty documentation. The case is tracked electronically through the Veterans Tracking Application, a joint DoD-VA case management system.9Department of Veterans Affairs. Privacy Impact Assessment for Salesforce – Veterans Tracking Application 2.0
The PEB phase has a 120-day processing goal. The PEB can send the case back to the Military Treatment Facility if it needs a further physical exam, clarification on how a condition affects your functional ability, more observation, or input from your command on duty performance.4Department of the Army. Army Regulation 635-40 – Physical Evaluation for Retention, Retirement, or Separation Cases that bounce back are a common source of delay, which is why the accuracy of what’s on your DA Form 3947 matters so much.
Informal and Formal PEB Review
The PEB first reviews the case informally. It’s a records-only review, without you present, that decides whether you’re fit or unfit and, if unfit, what disability rating applies. The informal PEB has an 11-day processing target inside the broader phase timeline.6TRICARE. IDES Timeline The PEBLO then notifies you of the results.
If you disagree with the informal findings, you can request a formal hearing. At a formal hearing you may appear in person, be represented by appointed military counsel or private counsel at your own expense, and call witnesses.10U.S. Army. Physical Evaluation Boards Explained The formal board reviews the entire case fresh and can change the informal findings in any direction, including increasing or decreasing a proposed rating or reversing a fitness determination.
What the Rating Means Financially
The PEB’s disability rating drives your financial outcome. If you have fewer than 20 years of active service, a combined DoD rating of 30 percent or higher qualifies you for disability retirement. A rating below 30 percent results in separation with disability severance pay instead.11Defense Finance and Accounting Service. Disability Retirement Soldiers with 20 or more years of service are recommended for retirement regardless of the percentage.
Disability severance pay is calculated by multiplying your creditable years of service by twice the monthly basic pay at the time of separation. The formula credits a minimum of three years of service (six years for a combat-related disability) and caps at 19 years.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 1212 – Disability Severance Pay A partial year of six months or more counts as a full year; less than six months is dropped. If you later receive VA disability compensation, the VA recoups the severance before paying monthly benefits. For severance received after September 30, 1996, the VA recoups the after-tax amount rather than the full pre-tax figure, and the VA cannot withhold more per month than your VA award, so the recoupment stretches over time.
Where to Get the Form
DA Form 3947 is available through the Army Publishing Directorate at armypubs.army.mil. You will not fill it out or submit it yourself. The MEB physician and board members complete it, and the PEBLO handles routing. What you sign is a record of what the board decided, along with your election to concur, rebut, or request an IMR.