Photo By Staff Sgt. Ashley Morris | Sgt. 1st Class Lorena Whitaker, a mortuary affairs specialist assigned to Headquarters...... read more read more
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FORT POLK, La. -- “When you’re in AIT (advanced individual training), they train you to always be on guard when recovering remains because you’re going to be in a combat zone,” explained Whitaker. “When you’re in DPAA (Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency), even though we’re all working very hard, it is a very relaxed environment. Very calm. It’s different. We’re there to help bring people home and help families get closure.”
U.S. Army Sgt. 1st Class Lorena Whitaker, a mortuary affairs specialist assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 10th Mountain Division (LI), enlisted of out Trujillo Alto, Puerto Rico in 2006.
“Since I was a little girl, I was always interested in death and dealing with the dead,” said Whitaker. “I grew up a farm so I got used to seeing dead animals, but I would occasionally see dead people. I was more intrigued than horrified.”
At the time, Whitaker was working on a bachelor’s of science degree in biology, with the intent to obtain a master’s degree in forensics. She said her ultimate goal was to find a job that allowed her to work with dead bodies.
Although the Army did not offer any forensics jobs, her recruiter did introduce her to mortuary affairs.
Whitaker would not only get a chance to work with the dead, she would also have the opportunity of a lifetime to help recover service members lost to previous conflicts.
After successfully completing basic combat training and advanced individual training, Whitaker arrived to her first duty station, where shortly after she deployed to Iraq in 2008.
While serving in Iraq, Whitaker worked at the mortuary collection point at Logistics Support Area Anaconda at Balad Air Base. Mortuary collection points are usually located on or near air bases to ensure the remains of fallen Soldiers are repatriated within 24 to 72 hours after their deaths.
Her first deployment was not what she expected.
“My expectations for when I got to Iraq was me, going in with teams and recovering the remains of the Soldiers, but that is not the case,” said Whitaker. “We are mostly static in one location and the remains come to us.”
During combat operations, the units are responsible for ensuring the remains are received at the MCPs.
Whitaker described working at the collection point both an interesting and heartbreaking experience. During the peak of the Iraq war, they would receive remains from not only U.S. Soldiers, but coalition forces and Iraqis as well.
“We would have so many remains come through, but I wanted to be the one to make sure they were all taken care of,” Whitaker said. “Seeing and taking care of these Soldiers opened my eyes to what war really was, and how awful it could be.”
A few years after returning from Iraq, Whitaker was once again deployed to the Middle East. This time she spent a year in Afghanistan as her brigade’s mortuary affairs liaison.
During her 2012 deployment, Whitaker was responsible assisting with collection of remains, presumptive identification using the Soldier’s record and returning equipment and sensitive information to the units.
“This deployment was different because I was actually able to go outside of the wire and see for myself what actually happened,” said Whitaker. “For me, it helped me better understand my job. Eventually I got to learn Soldiers habits like where they hide stuff on their persons and what to look for when trying to obtain identification.”
This new found understanding of her job proved to be very useful for Whitaker, when she ended up being assigned to what is now known as the Defense POW/MIA Accounting Agency, at Joint-Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii in 2013.
During her time with DPAA, Whitaker was able to go on three recovery missions to Laos, Germany and Japan.
The recovery teams were tasked with recovering remains from previous U.S. war conflicts. In Laos, they searched for remains of service members who died during a plane crash in the Vietnam War. The search in Germany was for a plane crash that happened during World War II. In France, the focus was on a tank that was destroyed, also during World War II.
When searching for service members lost to war, every little thing you find is important. Anything from lost equipment to a piece of cloth from a tore uniform places you one step closer to recovering someone.
Whitaker said personnel on the recovery teams are trained to identify items that belong to military items such as aircraft, parachutes and weapons, so that can distinguish them from any civilian items that maybe found.
“You go to a place, and you feel that energy,” Whitaker said, while explaining the atmosphere. “You want to soak it all in. You are standing in a historical area, then it hits you that someone lost their lives there decades ago, fighting for our country.”
During her three recovery missions, two service members were recovered in Germany and one was recovered in France. So far she only received notification that one person was identified, but Whitaker said she is hopefully that the other two service members will be reunited with their families.
When reflecting on her time at DPAA, Whitaker said helping families gain closure has been an added bonus of the job.
“Some of these people, their close loved ones have died,” said Whitaker. “The care and worry and need to have closure is passed down from generation to generation. Great grandkids, grandkids, cousins, third cousins, they’re all still holding on to that person’s history and their lives; the legacy that was left with that family of wanting them back. It is very important that we do give them that closure.”
Currently, Whitaker is serving as the brigade Sexual Assault and Response Coordinator, here. She hopes to get stationed at Dover AFB, Delaware, after completing her upcoming tour to Korea.
| Date Taken: | 05.21.2020 |
| Date Posted: | 05.21.2020 13:29 |
| Story ID: | 370547 |
| Location: | FORT POLK, LA, US |
| Hometown: | TRUJILLO ALTO, PR |
| Web Views: | 212 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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