No Tougher Duty, No Greater Honor
No Tougher Duty, No Greater Honor

Author: GySgt L. Bussler

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2017-07-27

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781546604938

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2018 NGIBA Finalist for Military category and Finalist for Autobiography in the 2018 Readers' Favorite Awards!! - An autobiographical account of one US Marine Reservists tours as a Mortuary Affairs Marine. His story begins in 2002 as an everyday postal letter carrier in Springfield, Ohio when he gets the call to muster. In the next three years, his life is thrust onto the world stage as an active participant in combat. His unique perspective as a MA (Mortuary Affairs) Marine puts him and his fellow teammates directly into the path of war. Told in first person view, read what it was like to witness a despotic regime crumble, walk the streets of terrorist held cities on foot patrols, go on Search and Recovery missions to recover the fallen off of battlefields, and feel the sting of loss of a friend to the harsh realities of war. These are the stories that are never spoken, by a Marine who was there, to return the fallen home with honor.

Mortuary Affairs
Mortuary Affairs

Author: Department of Defense

Publisher:

Published: 2012-10-26

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 9781480188136

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care and disposition of missing and deceased personnel, including personal effects (PE).Based on the guidance and direction of the Secretary of Defense (SecDef) and the Chairmanof the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS), the Joint Mortuary Affairs Program provides guidance tothe combatant commands (CCMDs) and Services. The combatant commanders (CCDRs)develop implementation plans based on CJCS policy and doctrine. Each Service implementsthe doctrine. The Joint Mortuary Affairs Program provides support across the range ofmilitary operations for:a. Search, recovery, identification (ID), evacuation, temporary interment, disinterment,contamination mitigation, and reinterment of deceased US military personnel, US civiliansand others (when requested by the Department of State [DOS]), and multinational partner,third country, local national, and adversary personnel. These mortuary affairs (MA)functions may be performed, under the civil support construct, in support of federal, state, ortribal authorities when requested by a jurisdictional federal department or agency andauthorized by SecDef.b. Operating MA processing points during military operations. MA processing pointsinclude mortuary affairs collection points (MACPs), theater mortuary evacuation points(TMEPs), MA processing points for contaminated remains, temporary interment sites, PEdepots, and Department of Defense (DOD) mortuaries.c. Preparing and coordinating shipment of human remains to the place designated by theperson authorized to direct disposition of human remains (PADD).d. Operation of the port mortuary at Dover Air Force Base (AFB), Delaware, and DODmortuaries outside the continental United States (OCONUS) for the preparation of humanremains and coordination of final disposition. Establishment of other port mortuaries, if sodirected.Note: The Armed Forces Medical Examiner System (AFMES) may, for logistical oroperational purposes, delegate the use of an OCONUS mortuary.e. Collecting, inventorying, storing, and processing PE of deceased and missing USmilitary personnel, US civilians and others (when requested by DOS), and multinationalpartner, third country, local national, and adversary personnel.f. Developing standards and specifications for the preparation of human remains,cremation, caskets, and urns.g. Compilation of records and other data to support search and recovery (S&R) ofhuman remains during operations in the theater.h. Developing standard policies and procedures for implementation of the JointMortuary Affairs Program.

Mortuary Affairs
Mortuary Affairs

Author: Paul A. Bethke

Publisher:

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13:

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Mortuary Affairs includes the search for, recovery, identification and disposition of remains of persons for whom the military services are responsible by statutes and executive orders. It is a physically, emotionally and psychologically demanding mission. In addition to these inherent challenges, mortuary affairs involves several others that warrant careful analysis and immediate corrective action. One such challenge is the decontamination of remains. This paper looks at this extremely difficult, sensitive and critical mission. It begins with a discussion of the threat, both on the battlefield and within our Nation's borders, that underscores the need for an improved mortuary affairs capability. Policies, directives, programs and plans are discussed that briefly outline Federal and State efforts to improve response capabilities to threats, to include the employment of Army mortuary affairs units in support of civil emergencies. An overview of Department of Defense mortuary affairs policy/doctrine is provided. It is followed by a more in-depth review of the Army's current mortuary affairs remains decontamination capability that focuses on force structure, training and equipment issues. Shortcomings are identified which strongly support the argument that the Army must now put renewed emphasis on mortuary affairs, especially its capability to process contaminated remains.

Shade It Black
Shade It Black

Author: Jess Goodell

Publisher: Open Road Media

Published: 2013-04-02

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 1480406554

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A female marine’s “absorbing memoir” recounting her work with the remains and personal effects of fallen soldiers and her battle with PTSD (Publishers Weekly). In 2008, CBS chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan candidly speculated about the human side of the war in Iraq: “Tell me the last time you saw the body of a dead American soldier. What does that look like? Who in America knows what that looks like? Because I know what that looks like, and I feel responsible for the fact that no one else does . . .” Logan’s query raised some important yet ignored questions: How did the remains of American service men and women get from the dusty roads of Fallujah to the flag-covered coffins at Dover Air Force Base? And what does the gathering of those remains tell us about the nature of modern warfare and about ourselves? These questions are the focus of Jessica Goodell’s story Shade It Black: Death and After in Iraq. Goodell enlisted in the Marines immediately after graduating from high school in 2001, and in 2004 she volunteered to serve in the Marine Corps’ first officially declared Mortuary Affairs unit in Iraq. Her platoon was tasked with recovering and processing the remains of fallen soldiers. With sensitivity and insight, Goodell describes her job retrieving and examining the remains of fellow soldiers lost in combat in Iraq, and the psychological intricacy of coping with their fates, as well as her own. Death assumed many forms during the war, and the challenge of maintaining one’s own humanity could be difficult. Responsible for diagramming the outlines of the fallen, if a part was missing she was instructed to “shade it black.” This insightful memoir also describes the difficulties faced by these Marines when they transition from a life characterized by self-sacrifice to a civilian existence marked very often by self-absorption. In sharing the story of her own journey, Goodell helps us to better understand how post-traumatic stress disorder affects female veterans. With the assistance of John Hearn, she has written one of the most unique accounts of America’s current wars overseas yet seen.

Air Force Handbook 10-247, Volume 4 Guide to Services Contingency Planning
Air Force Handbook 10-247, Volume 4 Guide to Services Contingency Planning

Author: United States Air Force

Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform

Published: 2016-10-30

Total Pages: 140

ISBN-13: 9781539822585

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This volume summarizes Services considerations for mortuary affairs search and recovery (S&R) operations in CONUS, PACAF, and USAFE and for OCONUS deployments. This volume is one of the AFH 10-247 series of publications that are guides to Services contingency planning. Topics covered include: Search and Rescue (S&R), mishap investigations, safety investigation board (SIB), accident investigation boards, aircraft crashes, case studies, terrain of search area, trajectory impacts. Purpose. This guide provides guidance for home station and deployed Air Force Services Prime RIBS personnel and base augmentees performing mortuary affairs search and recovery (S&R) operations. It identifies and provides home station and Air Expeditionary Force (AEF) contingency planning procedures for conducting search and recovery of deceased United States (US) military personnel, US noncombatants, allied, coalition partner, third country, and adversary personnel. The guide addresses requirements and approaches to S&R that should be considered by Services. It also addresses some of the circumstances where a Services mortuary S&R team may have to either perform expedient S&R or provide a non-Services unit with support for some type of expedient S&R. This publication is not directive in nature. Records required by directive publications will be maintained according to applicable Air Force record management programs and disposition schedules. Primary Sources. This handbook was developed from Air Force Services' publications, Tyndall (Silver Flag) Services Combat Training and Air Force Institute of Technology mortuary affairs search and recovery course materials, contacts with their instructors, and contacts with AFSVA mortuary affairs personnel. Additional sources for this publication were after action report inputs provided by locations supporting overseas deployments.