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DA Form 4591 Retention Counseling Record
What Is DA Form 4591?
DA Form 4591, Retention Data Worksheet , is a form used by commanders and career counselors to record the results of retention counseling as part of the Army Retention Program. The form is a record of the soldier's career plans, status, eligibility, and the results of the counseling. DA Form 4591 is the only approved medium for recording retention interviews.
The form - sometimes incorrectly referred to as DD Form 4591 - was last updated by the U.S. Department of the Army (DA) on April 1, 2023 . An up-to-date DA Form 4591 fillable version is available for digital filing and download below or can be found through the Army Publishing Directorate website.
How to Fill Out DA Form 4591?
Procedural guidelines and additional information can be found in the Army Regulation 601-280. DA Form 4591 instructions are as follows:
- The company retention Non-Commissioned Officer (NCO) will prepare initial copies of DA Form 4591 for all soldiers except for those serving on indefinite reenlistment contracts during inprocessing.
- All entries must be made in pencil, in pen, or entered digitally. A soldier's Enlisted Record Brief (ERB) needs to be attached to DA Form 4591. Information redundant to the information provided on an ERB is not required to be recorded. The entries on both forms need to be verified by the servicing career counselor.
- Other required additions to the form include records of all reservation attempts, cancellations and validations, and all records regarding processing. If the soldier decides to reenlist or continue service, the full set of forms is filed with DD Form 4, Enlistment/Reenlistment Document - Armed Forces of the United States, or DA Form 1695, Oath of Extension of Enlistment.
- If the soldier decides to separate from the Regular Army, a copy of DA Form 4591 will be provided to the servicing RC career counselor.
Publications related to DA Form 4591:
- DA Form 4591-1, Status of the Retention Data Worksheets, is a form that summarizes the assigned strength of a single unit and provides the statuses of all individual DD 4591 forms used by the soldiers of that unit;
- DA Form 4591-2, Record of Inspections Conducted, is a form used for recording all inspections and Staff Assistance Visit (SAV) evaluations of the commander's Army Retention Program.
