Photo By Dani Johnson | Marine Corps Staff Sgt. Sarah Sommer, Joint Mortuary Affairs Center (JMAC) instructor,...... read more read more
For the men and women in military mortuary affairs, there is no greater honor than bringing home those who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their nation.
At the Joint Mortuary Affairs Center (JMAC), The Quartermaster School, Fort Lee, Virginia, instructors are training the next generation of Army mortuary affairs specialists and Marine Corps personnel retrieval and processing (PRP) specialists.
“We train Army, Navy and Marines, both officer and enlisted,” said Army Sgt. 1st Class Melissa Meinzer-Benson, JMAC senior instructor. “For the officers the focus is on planning, the enlisted assist with planning collaboration, receiving, processing and evacuation of human remains and associated personal effects.”
The school trains approximately 250 students annually. Officers attend a two-week course and the advanced individual training (AIT) for enlisted is seven weeks.
According to the JMAC website, the Mortuary Affairs Specialist AIT course qualifies enlisted Soldiers and Marines to perform to search, recover, evacuate, tentatively identify, document and conduct proper disposition of remains and associated personal effects. Lessons covered include introduction to the mortuary affairs program, elements and activities; military map reading and land navigational procedures; search, recovery, and evacuation operations; procedures to establish and operate a Mortuary Affairs Collection Point and Theater Mortuary Evacuation Point; decontamination of remains operations; interment and disinterment operations; mortuary operations; and tentative identification procedures.
“The majority of the students (coming through JMAC) volunteer for this duty,” said Meinzer-Benson who has served in the career field for 20 years. “I did when I joined.”
“What we do is inherently dangerous and we need to have the capability across the force to handle those we lose,” said Army Capt. Travis Rogillo, instructor, Captains Career Course, Army Logistics University, Fort Lee. “We must ensure we are doing things right (when it comes to bringing the fallen home).”
For Marine Corps Pfc. Xavier Kimber, a reservist with the Marine Corps Reserve Center, Smyrna, Georgia, becoming a PRP specialist is about bring Marines home and providing families with closure.
“It’s not something I have ever done or experienced before the Marine Corps,” Kimber said. “It was my recruiter that told me about the MOS (military occupational specialty) and it sounded interesting so I volunteered.”
While some of the students have some forensic experience, many do not and asking the questions can be intimidating.
“I love talking about what I do and mortuary affairs, so instructing is right up my lane,” said Meinzer-Benson. “It can be uncomfortable and it took me several years before I could talk easily about it.”
The AIT students no longer work in tents with reefer trucks that took five to six hours to set up but operate with a mobile unit called a Mobile Integrated Remains Collection System (MIRCS) that can be operational in 30 minutes.
For the Army, there are two active-duty mortuary companies, both at Fort Lee, and the remaining six companies are in the Army Reserves. Most combat brigades have a mortuary affairs noncommissioned officer to implement the Mortuary Affairs Program and provide the commander with guidance and advice. For the Marine Corps, there are two PRP units in the Reserves.
| Date Taken: | 03.23.2018 |
| Date Posted: | 03.27.2018 09:43 |
| Story ID: | 270727 |
| Location: | US |
| Web Views: | 181 |
| Downloads: | 5 |
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