"United States Military lost track of remains of war dead"

[The Bread Guy]

Hoping this really was some people making mistakes who were pretty severely punished.

Investigators revealed on Tuesday that the military's main mortuary mishandled remains of war dead, losing track of body parts twice and wrongfully removing a limb of a Marine.

The Air Force investigation into the mortuary at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware is likely to add to questions about treatment of America's fallen troops a year after a scandal broke at Arlington National Cemetery over the mishandling and misidentification of remains.

In a letter to President Barack Obama, the chief of the U.S. Office of Special Counsel -- which reviewed the probe -- lambasted the Air Force for a "failure to acknowledge culpability." It also criticized it for waiting too long to notify families of the fallen troops involved.

Air Force Chief of Staff General Norton Schwartz, while accepting blame on behalf of his service, rejected that criticism. He also defended a decision not to fire anyone over the affair and noted that disciplinary action was taken against one military officer and two civilians.

"You should have no doubt about how seriously we took the allegations," Schwartz told a news briefing at the Pentagon.

Asked whether anyone might still be dismissed upon further review, Schwartz responded: "While their performance did not meet standards, this was not a deliberate act." ....

Reuters, 8 Nov 11

More via Google News here.


Edited title for national clarity.

 

[cupper]

Imagine the horror of the families learning bout this.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/national-security/remains-of-war-dead-dumped-in-landfill/2011/11/09/gIQAz7dM6M_story.html?hpid=z1

The Dover Air Force Base mortuary for years disposed of some dead troops’ body parts by burning them and dumping the ashes in a Virginia landfill, a practice that officials have since abandoned in favor of burying the remains at sea.

The Dover mortuary, which is the main point of entry for America’s war dead, sent remains to the landfill from 2003 until 2008, according to Air Force officials. The manner of disposal was typically withheld from the relatives of fallen service members. The disclosure comes in the aftermath of several federal investigations into mishandling of remains at the mortuary.

Air Force officials acknowledged the practice Wednesday in response to inquiries from The Washington Post. They said the procedure was limited to portions of body parts that were unable to be identified at first or were later recovered from the battlefield, and which family members had indicated could be disposed of by the military.

 

[cupper]

This gets worse, just posted this as a separate topic.

Feel free to merge them.

http://forums.army.ca/forums/threads/103314/post-1089422.html#msg1089422

And here is the NPR report on losing track of remains.

http://www.npr.org/2011/11/09/142162458/air-force-admits-losing-remains-at-dover-mortuary

 

[Yrys]

Dover mortuary to face Pentagon body parts review

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-15667899

US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta has ordered a 60-day review of mortuary operations at an Air Force base that lost portions of soldiers' remains. A spokesman for Mr Panetta suggested that additional disciplinary action was possible. Three supervisors at the mortuary were cited for what the Air Force called "gross mismanagement", but not fired. All were demoted or moved to other departments, including a colonel who received a letter of reprimand. "Let me make very clear to the families of our fallen heroes that every step will be taken to protect the honour and dignity that their loved ones richly deserve," Mr Panetta said in a written statement announcing the review. George Little, a Pentagon spokesman told reporters the Air Force "did the right thing" by launching an investigation quickly. A similar inquiry by the Office of the Special Counsel, an independent federal body based at the Department of Justice, said the Air Force failed to "acknowledge culpability for wrongdoing". Credibility problems The whistle-blowing mortuary workers revealed 14 specific incidents at Dover.  They including the discovery of an empty bag that was supposed to contain an ankle from a soldier killed in Afghanistan, the Washington Post reported. In the search, officials found that the remains of two other soldiers were found to have gone missing three months earlier. In one grisly incident in April 2009, mortuary workers were ordered to saw off the arm bone of a deceased soldier in order to fit his body into a military uniform for burial, in accordance with the wishes of his family. The workers initially objected but eventually went ahead with the procedure on the order of their superiors - without gaining the consent of the family. The Office of the Special Counsel's report said the US Air Force's conclusions "do not appear reasonable", considering the base's responsibility to handle the remains of war casualties with the highest regard. "More concerning, however, are the findings that these managers ignored evidence given to them, presented baseless explanations that were 'simply not credible', and took affirmative steps to conceal the problem," Special Counsel Carolyn Lerner wrote in a letter to US President Barack Obama.

 

[tomahawk6]

All should have been fired for poor judgment if nothing else. Throw in the mess at Arlington and it makes you want to drink. So many dead. So many body parts caused by IED's. In some cases the body parts are all thats left.

 

[FlyingDutchman]

Bit of an update.  Shared with the usual

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_MISHANDLED_REMAINS?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-12-07-21-52-14

Remains of 274 troops were disposed of this way.

WASHINGTON (AP) -- A published report says the remains of many more troops have been dumped in a Virginia landfill than the military originally acknowledged.

The Washington Post says the incinerated partial remains of at least 274 American troops were sent to the King George County Landfill in Virginia. The report was based on database information at the Dover Air Base mortuary, where the remains of most war dead return.

The families of the dead authorized the military to dispose of the remains respectfully and with dignity. They were unaware of the landfill dumping, and Air Force officials told the Post they have no plans now to alert the families.

Military policy or regulations did not formally authorize the practice. The mortuary has handled the remains of more than 6,300 troops since 2001.

 

[The Bread Guy]

What the military says it's doing as follow-up, as well as how such remains were handled post-2008 (highlighted)....

As soon as officials at the Air Force Port Mortuary in Dover, Del., realized cremated and incinerated service member remains were being disposed of in a landfill, they changed the process, Lt. Gen. Darrell D. Jones said today.

Jones, the Air Force’s deputy chief of staff for manpower, personnel and services, discussed with Pentagon reporters the disposition of subsequently indentified remains.

Jones said Air Force leaders are sorry if the process has caused families any further anguish.

The prevalence of improvised explosive devices in today’s combat -- everything from buried hand grenades to large bombs filled with hundreds of pounds of explosives – has complicated mortuary processes, Jones explained.

“The remains of many of our fallen are fragmented,” he said. “We strive to return these fallen to their families as intact as possible.”

This is often difficult and sometimes the armed forces medical examiner determines the remains are incomplete. A family member then signs a statement electing how to dispose of any subsequently identified remains, Jones said. “The family determines how the service will proceed if additional portions of remains are identified,” he said.

In some cases, the family does not want to be notified if additional portions of remains are identified, Jone said, adding that the additional remains most often are small portions of soft tissue or bone fragments.

Prior to 2008, when families chose not to be notified of these remains, the mortuary disposed of them using “appropriate industry standards,” Jones said. The remains were taken to a local funeral home for cremation. The cremated remains were then given to a contractor for incineration and subsequent disposal in a landfill. Remains of 274 service members were disposed of this way between 2003 and 2008, the general said.

“In 2008, the director of the Port Mortuary reviewed these processes and recommended to the Central Joint Mortuary Affairs Board that the services implement a retirement--at-sea option that was more fitting for subsequently identified remains,” Jones said.

The retirement at sea is a dignified ceremony, and that has been the standard since 2008. The remains are cremated and placed in a sea-salt urn. The mortuary arranges with the Navy to have the retirement at sea.

Jones said the mortuary mission is to treat all remains with dignity, honor and respect. Mortuary employees also stand ready to help the families of the fallen. In 2008, mortuary employees were the ones who pushed for the change once they realized how the remains were being disposed of.

“It was employees at the Dover Port Mortuary who, on their own volition, came up with that suggestion, that recommendation, to make that policy change back in 2008,” Pentagon spokesman Navy Capt. John Kirby told reporters today. “That wasn’t something imposed upon them. It wasn’t the result of some [inspector general] report. They came up with this on their own.”

The Air Force has set up a hotline for families who have questions about the processes the mortuary used. It is 1-855-637-2583. Or families with questions can e-mail officials at [email protected].

Defense.gov (Pentagon Info-machine), 8 Dec 11

 

[cupper]

You just have to ask, WTF were these guys thinking? :facepalm:

 

[tomahawk6]

Its got to be a thankless job as many of the fatalities were caused by IED's.The field doesnt have the lab resources to match the severed limbs so it falls to Dover.I suppose you could throw the body parts in a casket and seal it...

 

[cupper]

An update in today's Washington Post

Air Force to further discipline former supervisors in Dover mortuary controversy

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/air-force-to-discipline-former-supervisors-in-dover-mortuary-scandal/2012/03/16/gIQAVxmLHS_story.html

The Air Force said Friday it will impose harsher penalties on the former commander and chief deputy of the Dover Air Force Base mortuary after a federal probe found they retaliated against subordinates for reporting systematic problems there, including cases in which body parts were lost.

The Air Force declined to specify what action it will take against Col. Robert Edmondson, the former commander, and his civilian deputy, Trevor Dean, saying only that it had begun disciplinary proceedings that will last into next month. Previously, Edmondson had been issued a letter of reprimand; Dean had been placed in a lesser, non-supervisory position.