Management Preparing and Managing Correspondence

1 Army Regulation 25 50 Information Management : RecordsManagementPreparing andManagingCorrespondenceHeadquartersDep artment of the ArmyWashington, DC17 May 2013 UNCLASSIFEDSUMMARY of CHANGEAR 25 50 Preparing and Managing CorrespondenceThis administrative revision, dated 6 July 2015--o Makes administrative changes to paragraph text (paras 3-6c, 6-5c, and 6-5c(8)).o Makes administrative changes to table text (table C-4).o Makes administrative changes to figures (figs 3-1 and D-7).o Removes acronym standing operating procedure from the abbreviationssection (glossary).

2 This major revision, dated 17 May 2013--o Transfers proponency for the Army s Correspondence program from the DeputyChief of Staff, G-1 to the Administrative Assistant to the Secretary of theArmy (para 1-4a).o Allows for the use of Army Knowledge Online and Defense Knowledge Onlineinstant messaging for organizational and individual information transfer(para 1-7e).o Adds policy to capitalize Soldier for internal Army Correspondence (para 1-13a).o Adds policy to capitalize Family for internal Army Correspondence (para 1-13b).

3 O Adds policy to capitalize Civilian for internal Army Correspondence whenreferring to Department of the Army civilians and used in conjunctionwith Soldier and/or Family (para 1-13c).o Changes preferred font to Arial, point size 12 (paras 1-17a and 1-17b).o Allows for the use of courtesy copy on letters (para 1-19d).o Adds reference to Public Law 111-274 (Plain Writing Act of 2010) (paras 1-10and 1-36a).o Allows for the optional use of Army Records Information Management Systemrecord numbers after the office symbol on Army Correspondence (para 2-4a(2)).

4 O Revises policy on reducing cost and expediting distribution of official mail(chap 5).o Standardizes signature blocks for all retired military personnel (para 6-6).o Makes administrative changes (throughout).HeadquartersDepartment of the ArmyWashington, DC17 May 2013 Information Management : Records ManagementPreparing and Managing Correspondence *Army Regulation 25 50 Effective 17 June 2013H i s t o r y . T h i s p u b l i c a t i o n i s a na d m i n i s t r a t i v e r e v i s i o n . T h e p o r t i o n saffected by this administrative revision arelisted in the summary of u m m a r y.

5 T h i s r e g u l a t i o n e s t a b l i s h e sthree forms of Correspondence authorizedfor use within the Army: a letter, a memo-randum, and a This regulation applies tot h e A c t i v e A r m y , t h e A r m y N a t i o n a lGuard/Army National Guard of the UnitedStates, and the Army Reserve, unlessotherwise and exception proponent of this regulation is theAdministrative Assistant to the Secretaryof the Army. The proponent has the au-thority to approve exceptions or waiversto this regulation that are consistent withcontrolling law and regulations.

6 The pro-ponent may delegate this approval author-ity, in writing, to members of the SeniorE x e c u t i v e S e r v i c e w i t h i n t h e p r o p o n e n tagency. Activities may request an excep-tion or waiver to this regulation by pro-v i d i n g j u s t i f i c a t i o n t h a t i n c l u d e s a f u l lanalysis of the expected benefits and af o r m a l r e v i e w b y t h e a c t i v i t y s s e n i o rlegal officer. All requests for exceptionsor waivers will be endorsed by the com-mander or senior leader of the requestinga c t i v i t y a n d f o r w a r d e d t h r o u g h t h e i rhigher headquarters to the proponent.

7 Re-fer to AR 25 30 for specific internal control process. Thisregulation contains internal control provi-s i o n s a n d p r o v i d e s a n i n t e r n a l c o n t r o levaluation for use in evaluating key inter-nal controls (see appendix F).S u p p l e m e n t a t i o n . S u p p l e m e n t a t i o n o fthis regulation and establishment of com-mand or local forms are prohibited with-o u t p r i o r a p p r o v a l f r o m t h eAdministrative Assistant to the Secretaryof the Army (SAAA), 105 Army Penta-gon, Washington, DC 20310 improvements.

8 Users areinvited to submit comments and suggestedimprovements on DA Form 2028 (Recom-m e n d e d C h a n g e s t o P u b l i c a t i o n s a n dBlank Forms) directly to Army Re-c o r d s M a n a g e m e n t a n d D e c l a s s i f i c a t i o nA g e n c y , R e c o r d s M a n a g e m e n t D i v i s i o n(AAHS RDR C), 7701 Telegraph Road,Alexandria, VA 22315 This publication is availa-ble in electronic media only and is in-tended for command levels A, B, C, D,and E for the Active Army, the ArmyNational Guard/Army National Guard oft h e U n i t e d S t a t e s , a n d t h e U.

9 S . A r m (Listed by paragraph and page number)Chapter 1 Preparing Correspondence , page 1 Section IGeneral, page 1 Purpose 1 1, page 1 References 1 2, page 1 Explanation of abbreviations and terms 1 3, page 1 Responsibilities 1 4, page 1 Restrictions to this regulation 1 5, page 1 Objectives 1 6, page 1 Section IIGeneral Correspondence Guidance, page 1*This regulation supersedes AR 25 50, dated 3 June 25 50 17 May 2013iUNCLASSIFIEDC ontents ContinuedMethods of communication 1 7.

10 Page 1 Direct communications 1 8, page 2 Routing through channels 1 9, page 2 Writing quality 1 10, page 2 Exclusive For Correspondence 1 11, page 2 Section IIIS pecific Correspondence Guidance, page 2 Dissemination of command instructions 1 12, page 2 Unique capitalization 1 13, page 2 abbreviations , brevity codes, and acronyms 1 14, page 2 Letterhead 1 15, page 3 Paper 1 16, page 3 Type fonts and sizes 1 17, page 3 Ink color 1 18, page 3 Copies 1 19, page 3 Classified and special handling Correspondence 1 20, page 3 Identifying a point of contact 1 21, page 4 Identifying the originating office 1 22, page 4 Expressing a date 1 23, page 4 Expressing time 1 24, page 4 Suspense date 1 25, page 4 Addressing 1 26, page 4 Postscripts 1 27, page 4 References 1 28, page 4 Page and paragraph numbering 1 29.