How to Fill Out DD Form 2808: Report of Medical Examination

DD Form 2808, the “Report of Medical Examination,” is the Department of Defense form a physician uses to record the results of a military physical, whether you’re enlisting, changing duty status, going before a medical board, or separating. You complete the identifying information at the top; the examining physician completes everything clinical and signs to certify the findings. The current edition is dated February 2025, and blank copies are available through the DoD Executive Services Directorate at esd.whs.mil.¹

When You’ll See DD Form 2808

The Privacy Act Statement describes the form’s purpose as obtaining “medical data for determination of medical fitness for enlistment, induction, appointment and retention for applicants and members of the Armed Forces.”² In practice, it turns up at several points across a career:

Initial entry at a Military Entrance Processing Station (MEPS), where the results establish a baseline that follows you through service.
Specialized-duty screening for assignments like flight status, dive school, or airborne qualification. Aviator-specific fields for rating, specialty, and flying time appear on the form itself.³
Periodic and promotional exams, including service academy and ROTC scholarship physicals. A complete package with the companion DD 2807-1 must generally be no older than one year.⁴
The Separation History and Physical Examination (SHPE) at the end of service, which the Navy describes as “the objective basis for any Department of Veterans Affairs benefits claims made by the Service member after separation.”⁵
Medical Evaluation Boards, when a condition may no longer meet retention standards.²

The Items You Fill In

You’re responsible for a defined slice of the form. According to the general instructions, the examinee completes Items 1 through 10a, Items 15 and 16, and the header information at the top of pages 2 and 3.⁴

Items 1 through 10a are your personal identifiers: date of examination, Social Security number, full legal name, home address, phone number, grade or rank, date of birth, age, sex, and racial category (collected for medical purposes only). Items 15 and 16 cover the service information: your branch, component (active, reserve, or guard), the purpose of the exam, and the name and address of the examining facility. Items 10b through 14c — ethnic category, organization, agency, aviator data — are optional in most contexts, though aviators must complete the rating, specialty, and flying-time fields.³

Write legibly and make sure every entry matches your other paperwork exactly. A mismatched Social Security number or misspelled name can disconnect your medical record from your personnel file and cause delays later.

The Companion Form You Also Have to Complete

DD Form 2808 travels with DD Form 2807-1, “Report of Medical History.” The 2807-1 is the self-report form: past surgeries, chronic conditions, hospitalizations, family history, current medications, allergies. DD Form 2808 is what the physician fills out based on the clinical evaluation. A complete physical package requires both forms, plus lab results, dental records, and any supporting documents.⁴

Incomplete submissions get rejected. The instructions warn that “submission of an incomplete history or physical exam will result in the delay of the review of my physical exam and that the forms will be rejected.”⁴ Confirm every required field on both forms is filled in before the physician signs.

What to Bring

Show up prepared, or expect to be turned away. Bring:

Government-issued ID, plus your Social Security card and birth certificate.
Eyeglasses or contacts if you wear them, along with your current prescription and a lens case.
Civilian medical documentation for any prior surgeries, hospitalizations, chronic conditions, specialist visits, or childhood medical problems. MEPS disqualifies applicants who arrive without required documents.
A list of every medication you take, with dosages.
Immunization records. The DoD requires proof of vaccination for measles, mumps, rubella, and varicella — two lifetime doses documented, or blood tests showing immunity. Without proof, you’ll receive the vaccines during initial training.⁶

Leave jewelry, watches, and headphones behind. Remove earrings before you arrive; they interfere with the hearing test headset. Wear clean, comfortable clothing and underwear, because portions of the exam are done in a gown or in your undergarments.

What Happens During the Exam

The clinical evaluation fills the largest portion of the form. Items 17 through 42 record the physician’s findings across each body system, and Items 44 through 72 record measurements, lab results, and test scores. You don’t write in these sections, but knowing what’s coming helps.

Medical staff draw blood and collect urine to screen for HIV, drug and alcohol use, and pregnancy for female applicants.⁷ The urinalysis also checks specific gravity, albumin, and sugar.⁸ Vision and hearing get quantified against military standards. Depending on the exam purpose, expect a chest X-ray for tuberculosis screening, an EKG, or a blood lipid panel.

Technicians record height without shoes and weight in undergarments, then check body composition.⁸ The physician takes your pulse and blood pressure, then works head-to-toe: ears, eyes, nose, throat, heart, lungs, abdomen, spine, extremities, skin, and neurological function. There are orthopedic maneuvers to test joint stability, range of motion, and balance. They aren’t exercises. They’re simple checks that your major joints work.

Once the evaluation is complete, the physician reviews the whole form for completeness and accuracy, then signs and dates it to certify the findings.⁸ Items 77 and 78 summarize any defects or diagnoses and note whether specialist follow-up is recommended. The signed package then goes to your branch’s medical authority for final review.

Reading Your PULHES Rating

Near the bottom of the form, Item 71a records a six-digit code summarizing your overall physical readiness. PULHES stands for six functional areas: Physical capacity, Upper extremities, Lower extremities, Hearing and ears, Eyes, and psychiatric Status.⁹ Each area gets a 1 through 4:

1 means qualified for unrestricted worldwide duty with no limitations.
2 means a condition that requires minor activity limitations but doesn’t prevent deployment.
3 means one or more conditions that may require significant treatment; not medically qualified for worldwide deployment.
4 means moderate-to-severe interference with duty.⁹

The quick deployment check: 1s and 2s across the board means deployable; a 3 or 4 anywhere means not deployable.¹⁰ These codes feed the medical fitness standards in Army Regulation 40-501 and DoD Instruction 6130.03, which set the minimum profile required for each military occupational specialty.¹¹

A profile carries a prefix showing whether it’s expected to change. A “T” marks temporary (you’re recovering and expected to improve); a “P” marks permanent (treatment is complete and the condition has stabilized). When a physician assigns a permanent 3 or 4 in any category, the branch will usually initiate a Medical Evaluation Board. If you receive a temporary profile, follow up with the issuing physician before it expires; letting it lapse creates administrative confusion in the tracking system.

If You’re Medically Disqualified

Not everyone passes on the first attempt. DoD Instruction 6130.03 lists the disqualifying conditions for accession — vision, hearing, orthopedic injuries, asthma diagnosed after age 13, psychiatric conditions, food allergies causing systemic reactions, and much more.¹² Many are waivable.

To pursue a waiver, your recruiter forwards your DD Form 2808 results, a DD Form 2807-2, and supporting documentation to the Surgeon General’s office for your branch. Supporting documentation usually means a letter from a civilian specialist, on the doctor’s letterhead, dated, summarizing your history with the condition, your current status, and their opinion on whether you can handle military service. Civilian evaluations come out of your pocket. The Surgeon General’s office reviews the package, may ask for more information, and issues a decision. Timelines run from weeks to months depending on complexity and workload.

The Surgeon General’s decision is final. There’s no appeal within the branch, though a different service might evaluate the condition differently.

Why Honesty on the History Matters

Concealing a condition to get through screening is a criminal risk, not just an administrative one. Article 83 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice makes fraudulent enlistment an offense: anyone who “procures his own enlistment or appointment in the armed forces by knowingly false representation or deliberate concealment as to his qualifications.”¹³ Courts have held it doesn’t matter whether the concealed condition could have been waived. Lying is enough to sustain a conviction.¹⁴

Disclose everything on the 2807-1 and let the waiver process work. A condition that looks disqualifying on paper often clears once a specialist confirms recovery or a lack of functional limitation. Getting caught concealing something after you’re already serving can end in court-martial and a less-than-honorable separation.

The Separation Physical

The SHPE uses DD Form 2808 to document your condition before you leave. Active-duty members separating or retiring after 180 or more days of service must complete one, scheduled at your military treatment facility between 180 and 90 days before your separation date.¹⁵ You can still get it done inside 90 days, but starting early leaves room to address whatever surfaces.

Treat this exam as the foundation of your VA claim, because it is. If a condition isn’t on the separation DD Form 2808, proving it was service-connected later becomes significantly harder. Report every ache, limitation, and lingering symptom, including things you’ve been ignoring or self-treating. The physician can only record what you mention. Before you out-process, confirm with your medical department that your complete service treatment record, dental included, is properly filed; lost or incomplete records delay VA claims processing and can make valid claims unprovable.⁵

Getting a Copy of Your DD Form 2808 Later

If you’re still serving, your completed form and other health records are accessible through the MHS GENESIS Patient Portal, which provides 24/7 access to lab results, radiology reports, and clinical notes.¹⁶

After separation, service medical records transfer to the National Archives and Records Administration. Veterans can request copies, including the DD Form 2808 from an enlistment or separation exam, through vetrecs.archives.gov (identity verified through ID.me), or by mailing or faxing a Standard Form 180. Your request needs your full name as used during service, service number, Social Security number, branch, dates of service, and date and place of birth. Basic medical record requests are free for veterans whose discharge date is less than 62 years ago. Allow at least 90 days before following up; the National Archives specifically advises against duplicate requests inside that window. For status, call the NPRC Customer Service Line at 314-801-0800.¹⁷

1
DoD Forms Management Program. DD 2808 – Report of Medical Examination
2
Defense Technical Information Center. DD Form 2808 – Report of Medical Examination
3
Department of Defense. DD Form 2808 – Report of Medical Examination
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. General Instructions for Completing DD-2807-1 and DD-2808
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U.S. Navy. Guidance for Separation History and Physical Examination
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Military Health System. Update: Measles, Mumps, Rubella and Varicella Among Service Members and Other Beneficiaries of the Military Health System
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U.S. Army Recruiting Command. Other Documents – TAB 3
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Defense Security Cooperation University. Instructions for International Military Students DD Form 2808
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United States Army. Army in Europe Pamphlet 40-501 – Medical Services Guide for Physical Profiling, MOS/Medical Retention Boards, Medical Evaluation Boards, and Physical Evaluation Boards
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The United States Army. Managing the Health of the Force: A Primer for Company Leaders – Section: PROFILES
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Department of the Army. Army Regulation 40-501 – Standards of Medical Fitness
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Department of Defense. DoD Instruction 6130.03, Volume 1 – Medical Standards for Appointment, Enlistment, or Induction in the Military Services
13
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 883 – Art. 83. Fraudulent Enlistment, Appointment, or Separation
14
United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Core Criminal Law Subjects: Crimes: Article 83 – Fraudulent Enlistment, Appointment, or Separation
15
86th Medical Group. Separation History and Physical Examination (SHPE)
16
Health.mil. MHS GENESIS: The Electronic Health Record
17
National Archives. Request Military Service Records