Department of Defense
INSTRUCTION
NUMBER 1312.03
November 22, 2013
USD(P&R)
SUBJECT: Service Credit for Commissioned Officers
References: See Enclosure 1
1. PURPOSE. In accordance with the authority in DoD Directive 5124.02 (Reference (a)), this
instruction reissues DoD Instruction (DoDI) 1312.03 (Reference (b)) to update established
policy, assigned responsibilities, and prescribed procedures that govern granting service credit to
persons receiving original appointments as Regular or Reserve commissioned officers.
2. APPLICABILITY
a. This instruction applies to OSD, the Military Departments, the Office of the Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the Joint Staff, the Combatant Commands, the Office of the
Inspector General of the Department of Defense, the Defense Agencies, the DoD Field
Activities, and all other organizational entities within the Department of Defense.
b. This instruction does not apply to:
(1) Inter-Service transfers pursuant to section 716 of Title 10, United States Code
(Reference (c)), except as provided in DoDI 1300.04 (Reference (d)).
(2) The appointment of Reserve commissioned officers as Regular commissioned
officers pursuant to section 533(f) of Reference (c).
(3) The appointment of commissioned officers designated for limited duty pursuant to
section 5589 or 5596 of Reference (c).
(4) Health professions officers (credit awarded as provided in DoDI 6000.13 (Reference
(e)).
3. POLICY. It is DoD policy that the award of service credit to any person appointed, assigned,
or designated as a commissioned officer will be equitably determined. This determination will
