To fill out DA Form 5121, the Overseas Tour Election Statement, enter your name, Social Security number, and grade at the top; read the acknowledgments in Sections 4 through 7 that apply to you; check either the “all others” or “with dependents” box in Section 8 and write in the prescribed number of months; then sign in front of a witness and file the original in your Military Personnel Records Jacket with a copy in your Reassignment File. The form is one page and has ten blocks. The election you make on it is binding and drives your overseas allowances, so the preparation matters more than the writing.
The prescribing regulation is AR 600-8-11, and the current edition of the form is dated March 2007.
What to Have in Front of You Before You Start
Four things. Your PCS orders, because Section 4 references the overseas duty station named on them and the reporting timeline flows from them. The prescribed tour lengths for both the “all others” and “with dependents” options at your gaining installation, because Section 8 asks for a number of months and that number is not something to guess at. Your assignment instructions or the gaining installation’s in-processing guidance will list the correct figures. Your remaining service obligation, because a “with dependents” election requires enough time left in service to complete the full tour on arrival. And a decision about family travel: concurrent, deferred, or dependents remaining stateside.
You do not need lease documents, utility bills, or anything from finance. Those come later when you enroll in Overseas Housing Allowance at the gaining installation. DA Form 5121 is purely the tour election.
Filling In Each Block
Blocks 1 Through 3: Identification
Full name, Social Security number, and current grade or rank. These should match your PCS orders exactly.
Section 4: Read Before You Choose
Section 4 is not a fill-in section. It lays out the tradeoffs, and you need to understand both before you check a box in Section 8.
Electing “all others” authorizes a government-funded move of your family members to a designated location in the continental United States. Once that move happens, you cannot later switch to “with dependents” and request government-funded travel to your overseas location unless extreme personal problems arise and are fully documented.
Electing “with dependents” obligates you to promptly apply for concurrent travel of your family. If concurrent or deferred travel is denied, you can apply for nonconcurrent travel after arriving overseas once you have suitable quarters, or you can elect to have your family remain stateside. Applying promptly also preserves your Family Separation Allowance eligibility during any period your dependents are not yet at the duty station.
Section 5: Involuntary Extension
Applies only if you are being involuntarily extended overseas. It states that to be reassigned back to the continental United States at your normal date eligible for return, you must be eligible for and take action to acquire enough remaining service by that date. If this does not describe your situation, leave the section alone.
Section 6: Dual-Military Couples
If you and your spouse are both active duty Army soldiers, Section 6 covers joint domicile considerations and how the tour election interacts with both assignment cycles. Review it with your assignment manager if it applies to you.
Section 7: USAR Obligated Volunteer Officers
Reserve officers on active duty under an obligated volunteer agreement need to read this carefully. Electing “with dependents” is simultaneously a volunteer extension of your active duty service obligation through the end of the prescribed tour. The extension is automatic when you sign. Be sure the time commitment is one you intend to make.
Section 8: The Election
This is the box that binds you. Two options:
- “I elect to serve a tour for a period of ___ months in an ‘all others’ status.”
- “I elect to serve a tour for a period of ___ months in a ‘with dependents’ status.”
Check one. Write in the number of months that matches the prescribed tour length for your gaining location and elected status. The figure comes from your assignment instructions or the gaining installation’s in-processing material, not from memory.
Signatures and Witness
Two signatures are required: yours in Block 9 and a witness signature in Block 10A, with the date in Block 10B formatted as YYYYMMDD. No commander or supervisor endorsement is required. The form does not specify rank or position for the witness; what matters is that someone observed you sign. In practice, using someone in your chain of command or your unit’s personnel office is easiest because they typically have the form on hand.
Both signatures must be original. Plan for a paper signing rather than assuming a digital route will be accepted.
Where the Completed Form Goes
Prepare two copies. The original goes in the Action Pending section of your Military Personnel Records Jacket. The copy goes in your Reassignment File. Your unit’s S-1 or the Military Personnel Division at your installation handles the physical filing.
DA Form 5121 is a personnel action, not a finance submission. The gaining installation’s finance office uses your recorded status to set up allowance rates once you arrive, but it reads that status through the personnel system. If the form is not properly filed before you depart, expect delays in receiving overseas allowances after arrival.
How the Election Changes Your Pay
Section 8 is not just a personnel checkbox. It sets the rate at which two overseas allowances pay out.
Overseas Housing Allowance uses your dependency status to determine your rental ceiling. Members without dependents at the duty station receive 90 percent of the with-dependent rental ceiling, and members without dependents who pay their own utilities receive 75 percent of the with-dependent rate.1Defense Travel Management Office. Overseas Housing Allowance Overseas Cost-of-Living Allowance, which offsets higher non-housing prices at foreign duty stations, also uses dependency status as a rate factor.2Department of Defense. DoD 7000.14-R Financial Management Regulation Volume 7A Chapter 68 A “with dependents” tour with family present pays a higher COLA rate than an “all others” tour.
If you elect “with dependents” but your family has not yet arrived due to travel delays or denied concurrent travel, you may qualify for Family Separation Allowance during the separation, provided you applied promptly for concurrent travel as the form requires.
Signing DA Form 5121 with false information, such as claiming “with dependents” status to collect the higher rates, is a false official statement under UCMJ Article 107 and can be prosecuted at court-martial.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. United States Code Title 10 Section 907 – Art 107 False Official Statements False Swearing Overpayments traced to an incorrect election are collected by DFAS whether or not the error was intentional.
Changing an Election Later
The form itself warns that switching from “all others” to “with dependents” after your family has already been moved at government expense to a stateside designated location is not permitted unless extreme personal problems arise and are fully documented. Going the other direction, from “with dependents” to “all others,” may still require coordination with your assignment manager and can trigger a recalculation of government-funded travel entitlements you have already used.
If circumstances genuinely change, start with your unit’s S-1 and the gaining installation’s personnel office. A new DA Form 5121 has to be executed, witnessed, and filed. Any allowance adjustments take effect based on when the updated paperwork is received, not retroactively to your original arrival date.