How to Fill Out DD Form 369: Sections, Signatures, and Disclosure

To fill out DD Form 369, the Police Record Check used for military enlistment, you personally complete only one block: Block 11, where you sign to consent to the release of your law enforcement records. Your recruiter completes the identifying information in Section I, and each law enforcement agency that receives the form completes Section III with whatever it has on file. The form is available from the Washington Headquarters Services website, which hosts all official DoD forms.¹

Who Completes Each Section

The form is split three ways, and that split is the single most useful thing to understand before you sit down with a recruiter.²

Section I (Blocks 2–10) is the recruiting service’s job. Your recruiter enters your identifying information and the address details for each jurisdiction being checked.
Section II (Block 11) is yours. It is a signature block, nothing more.
Section III (Blocks 12–16) is completed by the law enforcement or juvenile agency that receives the form. They report whether you have a record and certify the results.

A separate copy of the form goes to each agency covering a place you’ve lived. Three addresses in two jurisdictions means two forms.

The One Block You Personally Sign

Block 11 reads: “I hereby consent to release your files from the information requested below,” followed by a signature line. Your signature authorizes every law enforcement agency that receives the form to disclose whatever records they hold to the military recruiting service.²

Signing is technically voluntary. The form’s privacy statement is blunt about what happens if you refuse: enlistment can be denied. The legal authority for collecting the information comes from 10 U.S.C. §§ 504 and 505 and DoD Instruction 1304.26, which sets qualification standards for enlistment, appointment, and induction.

What to Bring to Your Recruiter Appointment

Since the recruiter completes Section I from information you provide, the process stalls if you arrive without the details. Bring the following:

Your full legal name and every alias, including maiden names, former married names, and any other names used in official records.
Your Social Security card or number, needed for Block 7 and for cross-referencing databases.
A birth certificate or ID showing the city, county, and state of your birth, along with the exact date.
A complete address history with approximate move-in and move-out months. The more precise you are, the fewer follow-up questions the recruiter has to chase.
Any court documents you have — arrests, charges, diversionary programs, juvenile adjudications, dismissals, expungements, sealings. Disclose everything upfront rather than letting it surface later.

The form itself does not specify a minimum residence history. Instead, your recruiter sends a form to each jurisdiction where you’ve lived, covering whatever period the branch’s regulations require.

What Your Recruiter Enters in Section I

Blocks 2 through 10 hold everything the recruiter fills in based on what you provide:²

Block 2: full legal name (last, first, middle) plus any aliases or former names.
Block 3: sex.
Block 4: place of birth (city, county, state).
Block 5: date of birth in YYYYMMDD format.
Block 6: race and ethnicity, chosen from eight categories.
Block 7: Social Security Number. The privacy statement explains the SSN is used to conduct the check and keep your enlistment documents together.
Block 8: your street address within that specific agency’s jurisdiction.
Block 9: the dates you lived at that address, listed “from” and “to” in YYYYMMDD format.
Block 10: the recruiter’s own name, rank, signature, and title.

Every field in Section I gets filled in fresh for each jurisdiction, because Block 8 changes from copy to copy.

How the Form Travels to Law Enforcement

Once you sign Block 11, the recruiter identifies which law enforcement agency covers each address in your history and sends a copy of the form to each one, either by mail or electronically. A pre-addressed return envelope goes with the form so the agency can send its response directly back to the recruiting office. The recruiter tracks each request and follows up with any agency that hasn’t answered. Enlistment generally cannot advance past the background screening stage until every jurisdiction has reported back.

What Law Enforcement Reports in Section III

The responding official at each agency answers two questions:²

Block 12: whether you have a police or juvenile record, including minor traffic violations. If yes, the agency lists the offense, date, disposition, and sentence.
Block 13: whether you are currently undergoing court action of any kind. If yes, the agency provides details.

The official signs Block 16 to certify the information is true and correct according to records on file, then returns the form. Recruiting personnel compare what the agencies report against what you disclosed at your interview.

Sealed, Expunged, and Juvenile Records

This is where applicants most often trip themselves up. State-level expungements and sealed records do not disappear from federal databases. The FBI and military investigative services often retain records a state court has ordered expunged, and DD Form 369 specifically asks law enforcement to check juvenile records alongside adult ones.²

Military applicants are expected to disclose expunged, vacated, set-aside, and pardoned offenses to their recruiters. The Army’s conduct waiver guidance explicitly includes expunged dispositions in the list of records that must be reported.³ When you build your list for the recruiter, treat sealed and expunged matters as things you need to bring up, not things you can leave out.

A Record on the Form Is Not an Automatic Disqualification

Something turning up in Section III does not end the process on its own. The military uses a tiered system that weighs the type and number of offenses to decide whether you need a conduct waiver. Under DoD Instruction 1304.26, an applicant is generally ineligible while under any form of judicial restraint — including probation or parole — or with a significant criminal record, but waivers exist for many situations.⁴ A conduct waiver is typically required when your record includes any conviction, adverse adjudication, fine, probation, or community service, including traffic violations carrying a fine of $100 or more. An arrest where charges were dropped without any determination of guilt generally does not require a waiver.³

Some offenses cannot be waived at all, including convictions or juvenile adjudications for sexual offenses requiring registration, and misdemeanor domestic violence convictions covered by 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(9). Whether any specific matter on your record needs a waiver, and whether that waiver is available, is a conversation to have with your recruiter once you’ve told them everything.

Why Concealment Is Worse Than the Underlying Record

Concealing a criminal record during enlistment is a separate offense under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Article 104a (10 U.S.C. § 904a) makes it a crime to obtain your own enlistment through a knowingly false statement or deliberate concealment about your qualifications and then to receive pay under that enlistment.⁵

The false statement does not have to involve something that would have been an absolute bar to service. A lie about any material fact regarding your qualifications is enough to sustain a charge, even one the military would have waived. Consequences can include court-martial, imprisonment, dishonorable discharge, and forfeiture of pay, and the offense can surface years later during a security investigation or clearance review. Hiding a waivable record is one of the most avoidable mistakes an applicant can make while filling out this form.

1
Washington Headquarters Services. DD Form 369 – Police Record Check
2
Department of Defense. DD Form 369 Police Record Check
3
U.S. Army Recruiting Command. Waivers and ETP
4
Department of Defense. DoD Instruction 1304.26 – Qualification Standards for Enlistment, Appointment, and Induction
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 10 USC 904a – Art 104a Fraudulent Enlistment, Appointment, or Separation