Army Regulation for Memorandums: What Most People Get Wrong About AR 25-50

You're staring at a blank Word document, the cursor blinking like a taunt. You've got a deadline, a grumpy First Sergeant, and a vague memory of someone telling you the margins have to be exactly one inch. Or was it 1.25? Honestly, the army regulation for memorandums—officially known as AR 25-50, Preparing and Managing Correspondence—is the kind of thing that makes grown adults cry in their office chairs.

It's not just about typing words. It's about "The Army Way."

If you mess up the subject line, the whole thing gets kicked back. If you use the wrong font size, you look like an amateur. Army writing is a specific beast. It’s designed to be "read and understood in a single rapid reading," which sounds great until you realize you have to squeeze complex military logistics into a format that a toddler could theoretically parse.

Why AR 25-50 Still Matters in a Digital World

We live in the age of Microsoft Teams and Slack, but the formal memorandum is still the king of the Hill. It’s the legal record. It’s the paper trail. AR 25-50 governs everything from a simple "Letter of Concern" to a high-level policy change at the Pentagon.

The regulation was last significantly updated in 2020, and people are still catching up. One of the biggest shifts was the push for the "Active Voice." The Army hates the passive voice. Instead of saying "The humvee was driven by the PFC," you must say "The PFC drove the humvee." It saves space. It assigns blame—or credit—directly.

The Standard Layout Basics

Let’s get the technical stuff out of the way. Your margins are 1 inch all around. Period. No "adjusting" them to make your three-sentence memo look like a full page. The font is almost always 12-point Arial. Gone are the days of Times New Roman being the gold standard; the Army moved to sans-serif because it's supposedly easier to read on tablets and monitors.

The "Letterhead" is the first thing people see. It’s centered. It’s bold. It usually starts with "DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY" followed by your specific unit address. If you're using pre-printed letterhead, you've got it easy. If you're building it from scratch, God help your formatting.

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The Secret Sauce of the Subject Line

The subject line is where most people trip up. It needs to be short. It needs to be in all caps. But most importantly, it needs to be descriptive. "SUBJECT: MEMORANDUM" is useless. "SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR LEAVE EXCEPTION – SGT SNUFFY" is what the S1 wants to see.

Basically, the person reading it should know exactly what the memo is about before they even get to the "1. Reference..." section.

The "FOR" line comes next. This is who the memo is going to. If it's an internal office memo, you use "MEMORANDUM FOR RECORD" (MFR). If it's going to a specific person, you use their office symbol. This is where the acronym soup gets thick. You’ll see things like "MEMORANDUM FOR AFZB-KC-H" and wonder if someone fell asleep on their keyboard. They didn't. That’s just the hierarchy of the US Army distilled into letters.

Mastering the Body Paragraphs

Paragraphs in an Army memo are numbered.

1. The first paragraph is the "Authority" or the "Purpose." Why are you writing this?
2. The second paragraph is usually the "Background." Give the context.
3. The third is the "Discussion." This is where the meat is.

Don't use "I think" or "I feel." Use "This office recommends" or "It is determined." It’s weirdly impersonal but that’s the point. The Army wants the office to speak, not the individual.

The Length Problem

If your memo is longer than two pages, you've probably failed. The army regulation for memorandums actually encourages brevity. If you have a mountain of data, don't put it in the body. Use an enclosure.

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An enclosure is like an attachment in an email. You mention it at the bottom of the memo: "5 Encls." Then you list them. This keeps the actual memo clean and readable.

Common Mistakes That Kill Your Credibility

Acronyms. Oh, the acronyms.

Everyone in the Army uses them, but AR 25-50 is very specific: you must spell it out the first time. "The Commanding General (CG) decided..." After that, you can use CG all you want. If you start a memo with "The XCTC was a GO for the BCT," and you haven't defined those, expect a red pen to bleed all over your paper.

Another big one is the "Signature Block." It’s four lines below the last paragraph. It’s shifted to the right of the center. It includes the name (all caps), the rank, the branch, and the position. If you put "SGT" when they just got promoted to "SSG," you might as well throw the memo in the shredder. Rank matters. Ego matters more.

The Tone Shift

Writing for a General is different than writing for a Captain. For a General, the tone is extremely formal and brief. They have three seconds to look at your paper. For a Captain, you might provide more "fluff" or context. But regardless of the audience, the army regulation for memorandums demands clarity above all else.

Let's Talk About the "Memorandum for Record"

The MFR is the workhorse of the Army. It’s used to document meetings, phone calls, or "that one time the Sergeant Major said we could go home early but then forgot."

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It doesn't go to a specific person. It goes into a file. Because of this, people get lazy. They think, "Nobody's going to read this." Wrong. These are the documents that get pulled during IG investigations or when someone is trying to figure out why $2 million worth of night vision goggles went missing. Treat every MFR like it's going to be read by a judge. Because one day, it might be.

Practical Steps for Perfection

If you want to master the army regulation for memorandums, stop trying to memorize the 100+ pages of the actual regulation. Nobody does that except the people at the Adjutant General School.

• Download a Template: Don't reinvent the wheel. Every unit has a "Shared Drive" with a folder labeled "Templates." Use the one that’s already formatted.
• The "So What" Test: Read your first paragraph. If you can't answer "So what?" within ten seconds, rewrite it.
• Check the Date: The date format is specific. Day, Month, Year. No commas. "14 January 2026." Not "January 14th, 2026."
• The Signer's Preference: This is the unwritten rule. Every commander has a "Green Book" or a "Policy Letter" on how they want their memos to look. Some hate the word "utilize" (just use "use"). Some want two spaces after a period (the old school way) even though AR 25-50 says one. If the boss wants two spaces, give them two spaces.

Actionable Next Steps

To truly nail your next piece of Army correspondence, follow this workflow:

1. Open the latest version of AR 25-50. Keep it as a PDF on your desktop for quick searches (Ctrl+F is your friend).
2. Verify the Office Symbol. Call the S1 or the executive assistant. Don't guess. Using an outdated office symbol is an instant "return to sender."
3. Draft in "Plain English" first. Don't try to sound smart. Get the point across. Then, go back and "Army-fy" the language by switching to active voice and adding the necessary numbering.
4. Peer Review. Give it to someone who has no idea what you're talking about. If they can understand the "Who, What, When, Where, Why" in sixty seconds, it's ready for the Commander's signature.
5. Check the "Suspense." If the memo is due by 1600 on Friday, it needs to be in the "In-Box" by 0900 on Thursday to allow for the inevitable corrections.

Writing a memo is a perishable skill. The more you do it, the less you'll have to look at the regulation. Eventually, you'll start seeing 1-inch margins in your sleep. That’s when you know you’ve truly made it in the Army.

Note on References: The primary source for all memorandum standards is Department of the Army Regulation 25-50. Secondary guidance on writing style can be found in DA Pamphlet 600-67, which focuses specifically on effective writing for military leaders. Always check the Army Publishing Directorate (APD) website for the most current version, as supplements can be issued by major commands (MACOMs) that add specific local requirements to the base regulation.